#FinalGreen – Arklow Breeze has been chosen as the name of the final of six 8660dwt newbuilds that features a cargo hull designed with 'green' credentials, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The slender sharp hull lines of newbuild (no. 414)  are to be launched on 20 March from Ferus Smit B.V. Westerbroek. The Dutch yard is also where her 'B' theme named sisters: Bank, Beach, Bay, Beacon and Brave were completed for Arklow Shipping subsidiary Arklow Shipping Netherlands B.V. 

The series leadship, Arklow Bank which called to Dublin Port last month was completed a year ago. The 'bulb-less' hull forms part of her 'green' design is to reduce wave resistance while not compromising on cargo-loads. The vessels two-hold grain capacity is 9902,6m³ and for bale of 349.706ft³ . For further details click the above link.

Arklow Breeze is a bulk oriented general cargoship that ASL will mainly employ in the shipment of wheat, corn and other bulk commodities in European waters.

#ShippingVolumes - Irish ports and shipping activity rose by 7% in the fourth quarter of 2014 when compared to the corresponding period of 2013.

The figures released today are from the quarterly iShip Index* published by the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO).

The latest analysis also indicates that four of the five principal freight segments grew in the second quarter of 2014.

The Ro/Ro freight segment experienced volume growth of 4% in the fourth quarter to 429,814 units and is the eighth consecutive quarterly increase in Ro/Ro traffic, the majority of which moves between Ireland and Great Britain and is a simple but reliable indicator of the level of trade between both economies.

Container traffic (Lo/Lo) grew by 8% to 157,077 units. Encouragingly, container imports have now risen for five consecutive quarters. Container exports continued to grow, increasing by 4% to 67,888 units.

The overall bulk traffic segment saw tonnage volumes increase by 7% when compared to the previous year. Break bulk, which largely consists of imports of construction and project related commodities, increased by 16%.

Break bulk has now seen seven consecutive quarterly increases. Liquid bulk also rose by 16% and dry bulk increased by 1%, having both experienced negative growth in recent quarters.

For a breakdown of figures for the previous quarter, Q3 of 2014, click HERE

*The iShip index is a volume index for all freight traffic moved to and from the Republic of Ireland. This does not include passengers or trans-shipment activity.

Note: All freight and passenger comparisons are done on a quarterly basis (Q4 2013 v Q4 2014).

#LondonsLargest - Munkebo Maersk, a 195,000 ton Triple E-class became the largest ship ever to sail up the River Thames to DP World London Gateway, the UK's newest deep-sea port hub.

The 60m wide containership is 399m long - equivalent in length to almost four football pitches and capable of carrying more than 18,300 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units).

The sheer size of Munkebo Maersk makes her to be one of the largest such vessels in the world. She operates for the giant Danish shipping group, Maersk on the new East-West Network.

With the assistance of Port of London Authority's pilots, Munkebo Maarsk was last Thursday drawn alongside DP World London Gateway Port, Europe's largest logistics park.

Managing Director of Maersk Line (UK & Ireland), Brian Godsafe, said: "We're using DP World London Gateway to help ensure the right container equipment is available for our customers in the locations they want it. In this instance, that means out in the Far East where they can be used to transport goods across our East-West Network.

"We are delighted that DP World London Gateway has been able to support us in serving our customers, and are pleased to help them break the record of the largest vessel on the Thames to date."

The inaugural call of the giant containership comes only weeks after Edith Maersk called at DP World London Gateway, which at 366m long, which had held the previous largest ship record.

Afloat.ie adds that DP World is an Emirati marine terminal operator based in Dubai and is one of the largest marine terminal operators in the world. To date they have 65 terminals in six continents and plans for further expansion. 

Among the DP World portfolio of businesses is P&O Maritime, which owns and manages a fleet of specialist vessels. 

The company's P&O Maritime (Ireland) office in Galway oversaw the recent upgrading of the Marine Institute's RV Celtic Explorer. This involved hydrographic and geophysical sonar systems during dry-docking in A&P Falmouth.

#TransportIreland – Transport Ireland 2015, the annual conference now in its eight year running represents the transport sector in this country and is to open a month from today, 25 March.

The conference is to be held in the Chartered Accountants House, 47-49 Pearse Street, Dublin and between the hours of 9am to 2pm.

The venue (located close to Pearse St Railway Station) is to bring together key players from throughout Ireland, north and south, to focus on important issues facing transport policy-makers and senior managers in the sector.

An expert speaker panel will look at key issues including:
• Transport policy priorities International outlook for transport sector
• Public transport investment The Dublin port masterplan
• Exploring travel behaviour
• Strategic framework for investment in land transport Understanding customer needs
• Compressed natural gas as a transport fuel

Conference speakers are: Paschal Donohoe, TD, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, José Viegas, Secretary General, International Transport Forum, Dr. Matthew Niblett, Secretary-General, Independent Transport Commission, Enda Treacy, Senior Manager, EY, Dan FitzPatrick, Strategic Planning Manager,CNG, Gas Networks Ireland Anne Graham, Chief Executive Officer, National Transport Authority, Eamonn O'Reilly, Chief Executive, Dublin Port and Jim Meade, Director, Railway Undertaking, Irish Rail

To view the full conference programme, contact details and to how to register, click HERE 

#Ports&ShippingReview - Over the last fortnight, Jehan Ashmore has reported on the shipping scene.

Rebecca Wardell, Business Development Manager of the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) addressed the Irish Maritime Law Association's Spring Lecture in a talk titled, 'Understanding the Irish tonnage tax regime'.

Italian international shipowner, D'Amico Group with offices in Dublin, announced delivery of their largest ship to date, the 'Handy-Cape' type vessel Cielo d'Italia.

Drogheda Port Company handled over 1.2m tonnes of cargo in 2014, an increase of 17% on 2013. The port outperformed the Irish port sector in terms of year on year growth for third year running.

The stricken Solent ship, Hoegh Osaka, a vehicle-carrier went to A&P Falmouth for repairs following discharge of vehicles in Southampton after her deliberate grounding on a sandbank last month.

Lysblink Seaways a cargsoship has run aground in Scotland, while en route from Belfast to Norway. The incident took place near Ardnamurchan Point in the West Highlands.

The IMDO released Q3 figures for 2014 that show container shipping volumes, Lo/Lo rose by 9% in Q3. Ro/Ro experienced a 6% growth and Break-Bulk grew by 16%. This is in contrast however to total traffic volumes by Irish ports which fell by 3% overall in Q3, when compared to the same period last year.

#ContainerVolumes - The Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) today released Q3 figures for 2014 of the following main shipping sectors as detailed below.

Container shipping volumes, Lo/Lo rose by 9% in Q3. In the Ro/Ro sector this experienced a 6% growth and for Break-Bulk the volumes grew by 16%.

This is in contrast however to total traffic volumes through Irish ports which fell by 3% overall in Q3, when compared to the same period last year.

The decline is captured in the iShip index which fell to 818 points in the period under review. The reduction in total volumes is attributable to the Dry-Bulk and Liquids sectors and in particular to lower trade volumes in commodities such as coal, oil and fertilizer.

Activity in the Dry-Bulk market generally dips in Q3, however, the decrease this year was more pronounced with volumes dropping to 3,290,393 tonnes, their lowest level since Q3 2012.

A decline in coal imports was the largest contributory factor to the drop in the Dry-Bulk volumes, while Liquid-Bulk volumes fell by 16%, largely as a result of reduced oil imports. The markets for commodities such as coal and oil were influenced by mild weather conditions.

For the sixth quarter in a row the Ro/Ro sector has grown (up 6% on Q3 last year). Furthermore, Lo/Lo volumes increased 9% in Q3, the highest quarterly growth rate recorded in this traffic mode since 2007.

As the majority of consumer goods are transported on Ro/Ro and Lo/Lo services, increases in traffic volumes on these modes support findings of improved consumer sentiment in the Irish economy.

In September 2014, the KBC Ireland/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 92.8, its highest level since January 2007. In the Lo/Lo sector, laden imports rose by 13% in Q3, buoyed by a marked increase in demand for consumer goods from the Far East.

Ro/Ro freight volumes increased by 6% to 239,380 units in Q3, with 86% of this volume moving on services between Ireland and Britain.

Ro/Ro traffic on direct services to the continent has been sluggish for the first three quarters of 2014, with a year on year growth of less than 1% recorded.

Break-Bulk, which largely consists of imports of construction and project related materials, increased by 16%. Break Bulk has now seen five consecutive quarterly increases, supporting the view that the construction industry is experiencing sustained growth, albeit from a low base.

#Ports&Shipping –The latest IMDO Weekly Market Review includes the following stories as detailed below.

Irish Shipping News: The 2015 Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth annual conference will be held in Ringaskiddy and Haulbowline in Cork Harbour on the 10th and 11th July. This follows last year's inaugural event in Dublin Castle, which outlined the significant progress made to date in implementing the Government's 2012 Harnessing Our Ocean Wealth: An Integrated Marine Plan for Ireland.

Global Maritime News: Top UK shipping experts to advise government on maritime opportunity Top UK shipping executives with plenty of international experience are to join an advisory panel set up by the government to explore future opportunities for the country's maritime industries. It is felt that the only way to fully capitalise on the study was to utilise the experience and expertise of the country's industry leaders.

Port Congestion: Port congestion has provided the containership charter market with a huge boost in rates in recent weeks, while also keeping the inactive boxship fleet at low levels. The inactive boxship fleet stood at just 1.2% of the total containership fleet, representing 225,223 teu. This is far below the levels normally recorded at this time of year, when the inactive fleet tends to balloon for the quieter winter period.

For more on each of the above and other stories click IMDO Weekly Markets Review (Week 6).

In addition to dedicated coverage on Afloat.ie's Ports & Shipping News section.

#A&Pfalmouth – Hoegh Osaka, the 51,770grt vehicle-carrier towed to Southampton following a deliberate grounding incident to save the vessel from sinking in the Solent last month, is undergoing repairs at A&P Falmouth, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The stricken-ship which had listed in early January, was unloaded of some 1,400 vehicles at the Hampshire port before proceeding to the Cornish ship-repairer. Offshore yesterday of the dry docks facility in the busy shipping lanes of the English Channel was a fleetmate, Hoegh Tokyo which departed Dublin Port over the weekend.

Hoegh Tokyo with a larger tonnage of 68,871 was transitting the English Channel with an eastbound passage. While making a westbound passage from the Baltic Sea to Cork albeit on the previous day, was the Marine Institute's RV Celtic Explorer (2002/2,425grt) which was a recent customer of A&P Falmouth.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the 65.5m vessel had a major upgrade of scientific equipment installed during an extensive refit under the supervision of P&O Maritime (Ireland) Ltd.

Following her survey work in both the Baltic and North Sea, the new equipment is to be tested with sea trials beginning today in Irish waters.

Among the vessels berthed in A&P Falmouth's facility are Irish Ferries Oscar Wilde which is to open the French route season on 25 February.

Staying on a ferry theme, Condor Ferries fast-ferry the Incat 86m built Condor Vitesse is also at the dry-dock facility. She along with sister Condor Express are to be replaced next month on the Channel Islands routes by a new 102m fast-ferry. The newcomer is the Condor Liberation due to make a debut just before Easter. 

Also in Falmouth is one of Wightlink's Portsmouth-Fishbourne ferries, St. Cecilia which operates the service to the Isle of Wight. She originally began her Solent career with Sealink.

#ArklowLeadship – Afloat.ie has followed the progression of Arklow Shipping's series of 'B' class newbuilds almost a year ago to the day and that of leadship Arklow Bank which departed Dublin Port yesterday, writes Jehan Ashmore.,

Arklow Bank is the first of six in a series of cargoships ordered for ASL's Dutch division, Arklow Shipping Netherlands B.V. The leadship newbuild was delivered into service in early 2014 from shipyard, Ferus Smit B.V. of Westerbroek.

Flying the Dutch flag, the Rotterdam registered 8,660 total dwt cargoship had arrived from Spain to Dublin Port to berth along the port's south bank quays on Monday evening. 

The previous port of call is understood to be from Gijon, however Afloat.ie can confirm that the cargo on board was granulated slag in bulk.

The quay at the Deepwater Berth (locally referred as the 'Coal' Quay) is also where scrap metal is a main trade carried out along this part of the port. It is also where a crane is dedicated in the memory of the famous musician Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners.

A Coops & Nieborg pontoon system operated the hatch covers of the 119m long hull which has a 'bulb-less' bow and a hull form designed with 'green' credentials.

By examining the slender hull while alongside the newbuild, the fresh sharp waterlines could be seen and notably that of her straight-stemmed bow. 

Both the design of the bow and hull combined are to reduce wave resistance even in rougher conditions and while not compromising on cargo load volumes.

She is classed with Bureau Veritas and has a two-hold grain capacity of 9902,6m³ and for bale of 349.706ft³ .

Powerplant is sourced from a Mak engine delivering a maximum 13 knots.

To date the Arklow Bank has been joined by a quartet of sisters with a final unit to complete the series. In the meantime, it was business as usual as the 'Bank' departed yesterday afternoon bound for Porsgruun in Norway.

#Ports - Drogheda Port Company handled over 1.2 million tonnes of cargo in 2014, an increase of 17% on 2013.

The port outperformed the Irish port sector in terms of year on year throughput growth for the third year running. The latest national volumes indicate that the volume of port and shipping traffic through the Republic of Ireland are slowly recovering.

Against this backdrop the port's volume growth is particularly impressive. Throughput volumes for 2014 are the highest recorded since 2005 when a record throughput of 1.4 million tonnes was achieved. The total value of goods traded through the port in 2014 was over €425 million.

A number of capital investments in the port were made in 2014 by the private sector with the aquisition of new cranes. The port has invested in new warehousing to be completed in 2015 and will expand the throughput capacity of the port and its role in the region supporting export businesses.

Nationally and internationally the outlook for the sector in 2015 remains challenging but positive, notwithstanding the current uncertainty in the financial markets.

Commenting on the ports performance CEO Mr Paul Fleming said “The company is pleased to report that trade volumes are continuing to increase significantly year on year. It is quite clear from the volume growth that the economy is starting to grow again and construction industry imports are increasing. It is also extremely positive for a number of indigenous companies who are exporting increasing volumes of product to the UK and Europe”

He also noted “The company will continue to support the local tourist economy with plans to provide facilities for cruise calls and the now established Irish Maritime Festival again taking place in the heart of the working port in June. The company are also supporting the development of the Boyneside greenway from Mornington to Drogheda.”