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Displaying items by tag: North Wall Extension

Three Voith-Schneider tugs that are surplus to the requirements of the Dublin Port Company towage fleet are for sale, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Two of the three tugs, Deilginis and Cluain Tarbh that are painted in a cream and black livery scheme, can be seen berthed at the North Wall Extension, close to the East-Link toll-lift bridge. Moored alongside them are their green hulled replacements.

The smallest of the tugs for sale is the 17-tonnes bollard pull Ben Eadar (1972/198grt) which was built by Richard Dunston (Hessle) Ltd. She is berthed elsewhere in the port alongside the former Dundalk Port Company owned dredger Hebble Sand, which too has been recently put up for sale. For more information about the grab-hopper dredger click HERE.

Ben Eadar was decommissioned in 2009 and her 35-tonnes bollard-pull fleetmates Cluain Tarbh (1991/268grt) built by McTay Marine of Bromborough and Deilginis (1996/335grt) remained in service until late last year.

Of the trio Deilginis is the last tug commissioned by the Dublin Port & Docks Board (DP&DB) and the 30m tug is also the last to carry a traditional naming theme based on Dublin Bay coastal suburbs spelt in Irish. Deilginis is the Irish for Dalkey, Cluain Tarbh is for Clontarf and Ben Eadar is a translation for Howth.

Deilginis was launched from Astilleros Zamakona S.A. in Bilbao, the same Spanish shipyard that was commissioned by the Dublin Port Company to build two 50-tonnes bollard pull tractor tug sisters. The first newbuild Shackleton entered service late last year and she was followed by Beaufort in early 2010. In March of that year the tugs that cost €6m each to build were officially named in a joint ceremony.

Published in Dublin Port

About Quarter Tonners

The Quarter Ton Class is a sailing class of the International Offshore Rule racing the Quarter Ton Cup between 1967 and 1996 and from 2005 until today.

The class is sailed by smaller keelboats of similar size and is likely the world's most-produced keelboat class.

The Ton, Half, Quarter, etc. 'classes' were each given a 'length' and yacht designers had almost free rein to work the hull shapes and measurements to achieve the best speed for that nominal length.

The Ton Rules produced cranky and tender boats without actual downwind speed. Measurement points created weird, almost square hull shapes with longish overhangs.

They were challenging to sail optimally and lost value very quickly as any new wrinkle (e.g. 'bustles') to take advantage of the rule made older boats very quickly uncompetitive.

Although its heyday was 30 years ago, the boat class continues to make its presence felt by holding its own in terms of popularity against some fern race fleets.