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Displaying items by tag: Largest ShortSea fleet

Norwegian based small-bulker shipping giant Wilson ASA of Bergen has turned in a booming second quarter result with its fleet of over 100 owned vessels under 8,500 dwt.

The Oslo-listed owner and operator is keen to use some of the money on fleet renewal in the form of secondhand purchases, but no newbuildings are on the horizon, chief financial officer Stig Vangen.

“Last year was already a very good year and this year we are already almost at the same result level of full-year 2021,” he said to TradeWinds which has more here. 

Afloat adds that on an annual basis, Europe's largest short-sea operator, Wilson ASA transport about 15 million tonnes dry cargo throughout the continent and with approximately 10,000 port calls a year.

As a fully integrated shipping company, they handle in house: chartering and operations, ship management, marine accounting, crewing, purchasing, legal and insurance. This involves employing about 2,000 staff employees with a head office in Bergen and branch offices strategically located in Europe.

Their blue-hulled cargoships ranging from 1,500-8,500dwt commonly trade in Irish waters. Among them Wilson Blyth (3,713dwt) which in 2015 made a most unusual call to Dun Laoghaire Harbour to enable a project cargo bound for the Guinness St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin. 

The Wilson Blyth which recently sailed to Dublin Port from Rouen, France, has departed the capital's port this afternoon bound for El Ferrol, Spain.

Afloat has also identified another example of their extensive fleet operating in Irish waters, the Cork Wilson (4,450dwt) as pictured above aptly at the ship's namesake port city when berthed at the South Quays nearby to the former R&H Hall silo.

The 1998 built cargoship at just shy of 100m length overall, also features on the front cover of the Wilson quarterly report (download in Norwegian), with the vessel seen on the same occasion during the call to the Port of Cork.

Further research reveals that other Irish Ports form the ship names of the following cargoships; Wilson Dunmore, Wilson Dundalk, Wilson Dublin and Wilson Drogheda respectively. In addition they are all of the 3,000dwt plus category. 

Published in Ports & Shipping

Irish Sailing Classes and Association – There’s no shortage of one-design classes from which to choose and each gives its enthusiasts great competition, fun and camaraderie, writes Graham Smith in this review of the classes. 

One-design racing is where it all starts. It is, after all, where all the top sailors earned their stripes, battling away for line honours without a thought for a handicapper’s calculator wiping away a hard-fought victory!

Indeed, you could count on less than one hand the number of top Irish sailors who didn’t cut their teeth in a one-design dinghy! Just think of Cudmore, Barrington, Watson, Wilkins, Hennessy and Dix to name a few and you realise that they honed their skills in everything from Enterprises to Lasers and a lot in between.

At present count, there are a little over 30 one-design classes in Ireland, split almost evenly between dinghies and keelboats, a statistic which might raise a few eyebrows. They range from the long-established Mermaids, IDRA14s and Dragons to the newer additions like Fevas, Topaz and RS Elite. They all fill a particular need and give their owners and crews considerable enjoyment.

Many have attracted their World or European Championships to Irish waters over the years and while 2009 is notable for a lack of such events here, the following year will see the Etchells Worlds at Howth and perhaps a few other international regattas too.

In addition to the review, we asked each class to complete a questionnaire giving details of their fleet numbers, whether they were on a growth pattern or holding their own, so we could highlight those ‘on the up’ and those remaining static in terms of numbers. The older traditional designs, as you might imagine, fall into the latter category, although that’s not a negative!

CLASS REVIEW  The State of the Classes – League Table (as at February 2009)

S = Static; U = Up/growing

275     Optimist   U

200+   Laser   S

189     Mermaid   S

160     Flying Fifteen   S

130     RS Feva   U

115     Shannon One Design    U

100+   Mirror   S

100+   Topper   U

99       Topaz   U

94       Laser SB3   U

87       GP14   U

85       Squib   S

70       Fireball   S

70       Ruffian   S

60       J24   S

60       Shipman   S

52       Dragon   S

50       RS400/200   S

50       420    U

43       Multihulls    U

42       Dragon    S

40       Water Wags    U

40       Wayfarer    S

34       IDRA14    U

33       Puppeteer    U

28       Etchells    S

27       E-Boat    U

26       Glen    S

25       Enterprise    S

18       Sigma 33    S

18       Howth 17    U

13       RS Elite    U