#ShippingReview - Jehan Ashmore reviews the shipping scene over the last fortnight.

The big ship craze in the short sea shipping industry serving the UK and Ireland has arrived after investment was frozen for the last few years, delegates heard at the Multimodal event in Birmingham.

The annual European Maritime Day’s (EMD) to highlight the importance of the seas, oceans and the challenges facing maritime regions and sectors took place in Turku, Finland.

Sgt. Pepper was among several workboats that called to Dun Laoghaire Harbour to begin short to long term projects. Notably the project to dismantle and remove the former Stena HSS berth.

Port and shipping volumes in the Irish Republic rose 2% in Q1 2016 when compared to the same period of 2015. This is the highest i-Ship index for Q1 of a given year since records began in Q1 2008.

Arklow Cadet is first of a new design of 10 'C' class cargoships for Arklow Shipping nearing completion at Ferus Smit's Dutch yard. The order follows the 'B' class built for ASL by the same yard.