#GuinnessTanks – The first anniversary of the closure of the Stena HSS Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead route is tomorrow, however, the harbour witnessed a cargoship dock in recent days to unload brewing fermentation tanks for Guinness, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Asides the occasional cruiseship caller this season that docked inside the harbour, the call of a cargoship is rare, given the last shipment of brewing tanks was more than a year ago as previously reported on Afloat.ie. That batch of fermentation tanks was carried on board the cargoship Wilson Goole, operated by Norwegian owners Wilson Ship Management of Bergen.

On this occasion a fleetmate, Wilson Blyth (1995/3,713dwt) docked in Dun Laoghaire over the weekend rather than Dublin Port. This was due again to bridge-height restrictions in transporting brewing vessels by trucks along the city quays to St. James Gate Brewery.

On board Wilson Blyth there were six stainless-steel brewing vessel tanks manufactured by Dutch firm, Holvrieka that were loaded at Rotterdam from where the cargsoship arrived to Dun Laoghaire on Sunday.

Each of the 4.24 khL brewing vessels weigh 27.5m tonnes and has space to store 750,000 pints of beer. They will provide Diageo with extra fermentation and maturation capacity.

Colin O’Brien, Operations Director for Diageo’s supply business in Ireland, said: “These vessels, representing an investment by Diageo of nearly €10m, will enable us to meet the growing demand for our beers and to bring new products into the market. The investment underscores our continued investment in brewing in Ireland and the role that Diageo is proud to play in the Irish economy, supporting employment, exports, agriculture and tourism.”

The new brewing vessels measure 6m in diameter and 26m will be able to ferment or store up to 424,000 litres of beer and provide an extra 300,000 hectolitres of extra fermentation capacity annually.

Currently, the gleaming brewing tanks remain on the Carlisle Pier having been unloaded yesterday by a mobile mounted road-crane. This involved hoisting four of the brewing vessels from the hatch cover while the remaining pair where removed from the hold. Having discharged her cargo, Wilson Blyth took a pilot from the Dublin Port cutter Camac and set sail last evening.

The brewing vessels are to be transported in convoy to St. James’s Gate in the early hours of tonight (Wednesday morning, 9 September), when traffic is at its lightest.

Diageo are working with Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and An Garda Síochána to minimise disruption to traffic and to residents living along the route.