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Displaying items by tag: Britains Biggest Energy Port

#Ports&Shipping - The south Wales Port of Milford Haven, Britain’s biggest energy port, has launched a survey to gather views on its roles and operations as a leading regional business.

The poll, which the Port says is critical to understanding issues faced by its many and diverse stakeholders, is a simple online questionnaire that takes no more than ten minutes to complete.

The Port of Milford Haven is a Trust Port with no shareholders, and its profits must be reinvested within the Port to ensure it remains a strong business at the heart of the local economy for future generations. As the Port’s Chief Executive, Alec Don, explained, a clear understanding of all stakeholder views is a key way in which the Port can ensure it remains accountable.

“The broad scale of our operations, from providing safe navigation for all river users, to supporting and developing strong and diverse businesses across our estates, means that what we do touches on the lives and livelihoods of many people and businesses both locally and regionally,” said Alec.

“It is our duty to listen to all views, be they about our own plans as a business or the numerous ways in which what we do impacts on others,” he added. “As importantly, it helps us build and improve relationships with local organisations, businesses and interest groups with a stake in what happens on and around this Waterway.”

A key finding from last year’s survey was that businesses and residents in Pembrokeshire welcomed the Port of Milford Haven’s role as a driver of the local economy. “Nearly all respondents set great store by a busy port’s ability to create opportunity for local business to emerge and grow,” said Alec. “We are working hard on projects such as Pembroke Dock Marine and Milford Waterfront to bring greater opportunities for local business. Engaging widely, during what will be exciting times, is very important for us.”

A link to the survey can be found at www.mhpa.co.uk

Published in Ports & Shipping

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)