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Displaying items by tag: Whiddy Island terminal

Workers who are members of Ireland's largest trade union, SIPTU have notified Zenith Energy Bantry Bay Terminals located on Cork's south-west coast, that they will take strike action next month.

The strike according to the Irish Examiner, is set to take place on 13 December at Whiddy Island where the storage facility provides for 1.4m cubic metres of crude oil,diesel,kerosene and petrol.

For more than 50 years the terminal has played a critical role in European energy storage and which has the ability to receive vessels up to the size of Vary Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) at their dedicated single-point mooring as Afloat's photograph depicts above.

The dispute concerns compulsory redundancies at the terminal in which the US based (Houston, Texas) energy company as Afloat reported in 2015 acquired the Whiddy terminal from Phillips66. 

Siptu's organiser Willie Noone said “This action results from the decision of the company to dismiss workers with long service on Wednesday, November 30, while planning to employ contractors on an ongoing basis to do their work”

Zenith which employs 31 in permanent positions at the terminal is undertaking a restructuring process which involves implementing five redundancies. 

In additon to the Irish terminal, Zenith has a terminal in the Netherlands in Amstedam and throughout the USA.

Published in Coastal Notes

The Rankin Dinghy of Cobh, Cork Harbour 

A Rankin is a traditional wooden dinghy which was built in Cobh, of which it’s believed there were 80 and of which The Rankin Dinghy Group has traced nearly half. 

The name of the Rankin dinghies is revered in Cork Harbour and particularly in the harbourside town of Cobh.

And the name of one of those boats is linked to the gunboat which fought against the Irish Volunteers during the 1916 Easter Rising and later for the emergent Irish Free State Government against anti-Treaty Forces during the Irish Civil War.

It also links the renowned boat-building Rankin family in Cobh, one of whose members crewed on the gunboat.

Maurice Kidney and Conor English are driving the restoration of the Rankin dinghies in Cork Harbour. They have discovered that Rankins were bought and sailed in several parts of the country.