#MaidenPortCall - Arklow Beacon, made her maiden port of call to Dublin Port this weekend, the second newest 'B' class dry-cargoship of the Arklow Shipping fleet, had docked loaded with slag from Spain, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 8,660 dwt Arklow Beacon's voyage across the Bay of Biscay began on Friday having departed Gijón in the Asturias region which forms part of 'Green' Spain.

She is the latest of six sisters, noting that second ship, Arklow Bay featured on Afloat.ie with a video voyage showing spectacular scenery of the Norwegian fjords.

Arklow Beacon has no bulbous bow, but to retain hull efficiency, her 119m hull form is optimised with 'green' credentials without compromising on cargo loadings. In addition the ships slender hull is designed to perform in varying sea-states.

As previously reported here on Afloat.ie, Arklow Beacon was launched last September and she began her career the following October.

She along with her sisters, were ordered for ASL's Dutch subsidiary, Arklow Shipping N.V. based in Rotterdam. It is also in the same country as to where the newbuilds were contracted to Ferus Smit's shipyard in Westerbroek.

The series are not to be confused with a pair of other ships beginning with 'B' names, the Arklow's 'Bridge' and 'Brook'. This pair were also Dutch built but by another yard, Bodewes Shipyards B.V. in 2011 and are in fact differently designed having a deadweight of 7,575 tonnes.

ASL 's combined fleet of Irish and Dutch flagged ships totals 45 vessels to date, the majority are registered in Arklow. The largest series in the fleet are those of the  'R' class series which number 15 vessels.

These 4,399dwt ships were all custom-built during 2002-2007, however what makes them differ to their fleet-mates is that they are the only same-ship series to fly both the Irish and Dutch flags.