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Displaying items by tag: Nearing Completion

A massive development in the Port of Cork of a new container handling terminal at Ringaskiddy, is almost complete and, when operational, will future-proof the transit of imports and exports for Ireland.

Work on the €86m project - the biggest single investment ever made by the Port of Cork - started in 2018. It has been a huge undertaking, involving the dredging of 285,000 tonnes of silt and rock, the laying of 92,000 sq m of concrete and the development of 2kms of new roads at the 150-acre site.

A lot of the silt was buried at sea, close to Roche's Point, under an EPA licence, while most of the rock was ground up and used for infill at the site.

Jim Murphy, project and development engineer with the Port of Cork, explained that the new 360m-long quay (equipped with STS gantry cranes) had a 13m depth of water, meaning it is capable of handling the biggest container ships in the world.

“They are typically 300m long and 16 containers wide. The containers are 40ft long each and the Ringaskiddy terminal will be able to handle 280,000 of these containers every year,” Mr Murphy said.

Port of Cork's new gantry cranes Photo: Bob BatemanPort of Cork's new gantry cranes Photo: Bob Bateman

This is approximately 40,000 more containers than can be handled (upriver) at Tivoli, where operations will start to be phased out once Ringaskiddy is fully up and running.

Further Irish Examiner coverage of the port project here.

Published in Port of Cork

The GP14 is a popular sailing dinghy, with well over 14,000 boats built.

The class is active in the UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and parts of north-eastern USA, and the GP14 can be used for both racing and cruising. 

Designed by Jack Holt in 1949, with the assistance of the Dovey Yacht Club in Aberdyfi. The idea behind the design was to build a General Purpose (GP) 14-foot dinghy which could be sailed or rowed, capable of also being powered effectively by a small outboard motor, able to be towed behind a small family car and able to be launched and recovered reasonably easily, and stable enough to be able to lie to moorings or anchor when required. Racing soon followed, initially with some degree of opposition from Yachting World, who had commissioned the design, and the boat soon turned out to be an outstanding racing design also.

The boat was initially designed with a main and small jib as a comfortable family dinghy. In a design philosophy that is both practical and highly redolent of social attitudes of the day the intention was that she should accommodate a family comprising parents plus two children, and specifically that the jib should be modest enough for "Mum" or older children to handle, while she should perform well enough to give "Dad" some excitement when not taking the family out. While this rig is still available, and can be useful when using the boat to teach sailing, or for family sailing, and has some popularity for cruising, the boat is more commonly seen with the full modern rig of a mainsail, genoa and spinnaker. Australian boats also routinely use trapezes.

GP14 Ireland Event Dates 2023

  • O'Tiarnaigh (Apr 22-23) Blessington Sailing Club
  • Ulsters (May 20-21) East Antrim Boat Club
  • Munsters (Jun 17-18) Tralee Bay Sailing Club
  • Leinsters (Jul 7-9) Dun Laoghaire Regatta
  • SOYC (Aug 19-20) Rush Sailing Club
  • Nationals (Sep 1-3) Sutton Dinghy Club
  • Hot Toddy (Sep 30-Oct 1) Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club

 

At A Glance – GP14 Dinghy Specifications

Crew 2
Draft 1,200 mm (47 in)
Hull weight 132.9 kg
LOA 4.27 m (14 ft)
Beam 1.54 m
Spinnaker area 8.4 m2
Upwind sail area 12.85 m2

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