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Displaying items by tag: Irish Sea Shipping Line 2014

#SeatruckAward- Seatruck Ferries was voted Irish Sea Shipping Line of 2014 at the annual Export & Freight Transport & Logistics Awards held in Belfast recently.

This was the second year in succession that the ro-ro freight company was presented with the much coveted award, sponsored by DSV.

A selected group of hauliers were asked to anonymously pick one service which offered the optimum level of service, quality, on-board facilities and choice of routes, registered their votes via a totally secure and carefully policed on-line 'one customer one vote' system.

Those attending the awards ceremony held in the Ramada Hotel heard that "Seatruck has truly stretched the boundaries of traditional shipping services. It remains the only Irish Sea operator solely focused on the transportation of unaccompanied freight."

Among the developments of the operator this year was the replacing in April of Arrow on the Dublin-Heysham route by the much larger  "P" series vessel, Seatruck Pace which as previously reported, Afloat.ie interviewed one of her masters.

The vessel's introduction bringing speed, schedule reliability and additional capacity are factors in which the operator confirmed strategic importance to the route.

On the Dublin-Liverpool service, a refit to all freight passenger twin-berth cabins were carried out on the pair of FSG vessels Seatruck Power and Seatruck Progress.

 

Published in Ferry

The Half Ton Class was created by the Offshore Racing Council for boats within the racing band not exceeding 22'-0". The ORC decided that the rule should "....permit the development of seaworthy offshore racing yachts...The Council will endeavour to protect the majority of the existing IOR fleet from rapid obsolescence caused by ....developments which produce increased performance without corresponding changes in ratings..."

When first introduced the IOR rule was perfectly adequate for rating boats in existence at that time. However yacht designers naturally examined the rule to seize upon any advantage they could find, the most noticeable of which has been a reduction in displacement and a return to fractional rigs.

After 1993, when the IOR Mk.III rule reached it termination due to lack of people building new boats, the rule was replaced by the CHS (Channel) Handicap system which in turn developed into the IRC system now used.

The IRC handicap system operates by a secret formula which tries to develop boats which are 'Cruising type' of relatively heavy boats with good internal accommodation. It tends to penalise boats with excessive stability or excessive sail area.

Competitions

The most significant events for the Half Ton Class has been the annual Half Ton Cup which was sailed under the IOR rules until 1993. More recently this has been replaced with the Half Ton Classics Cup. The venue of the event moved from continent to continent with over-representation on French or British ports. In later years the event is held biennially. Initially, it was proposed to hold events in Ireland, Britain and France by rotation. However, it was the Belgians who took the ball and ran with it. The Class is now managed from Belgium. 

At A Glance – Half Ton Classics Cup Winners

  • 2017 – Kinsale – Swuzzlebubble – Phil Plumtree – Farr 1977
  • 2016 – Falmouth – Swuzzlebubble – Greg Peck – Farr 1977
  • 2015 – Nieuwport – Checkmate XV – David Cullen – Humphreys 1985
  • 2014 – St Quay Portrieux – Swuzzlebubble – Peter Morton – Farr 1977
  • 2013 – Boulogne – Checkmate XV – Nigel Biggs – Humphreys 1985
  • 2011 – Cowes – Chimp – Michael Kershaw – Berret 1978
  • 2009 – Nieuwpoort – Général Tapioca – Philippe Pilate – Berret 1978
  • 2007 – Dun Laoghaire – Henri-Lloyd Harmony – Nigel Biggs – Humphreys 1980~
  • 2005 – Dinard – Gingko – Patrick Lobrichon – Mauric 1968
  • 2003 – Nieuwpoort – Général Tapioca – Philippe Pilate – Berret 1978

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