#MARINERS WITH MEMORIES – At the weekend representatives of the maritime community, relatives and visitors alike attended a screening of the 'Mariners with Memories' ceremony, which was shown in the Maritime Museum, Dun Laoghaire.

The ceremony which took place in Bray Harbour last July, is unique in that it recognises to all those lost to sea throughout the world and especially to those whose grave is the sea.

Shot by Colm Fynes, the film documented the day's proceedings with tributes made at the Co. Wicklow harbour and the flotilla that followed with floral tributes carried out close to the shore.

Captain Tony O'Grady who organised the Mariners with Memories ceremony, thanked all those to the museum and the support of the Maritime Institute of Ireland, whose newly renovated museum was a particularly apt venue, being the former Mariners Church.

Some of the relatives who attended the memorial event in Bray were also at the Dun Laoghaire screening and where they gave moving tributes to loved ones.

Commenting on the poignancy of the screening, Captain O'Grady referred to the on-going tragic events in Glandore Harbour and off the Italian island of Giglio.

He added that those involved in the various services off the West Cork fishing harbour would of liked to have attended but given the circumstances, all the resources were required at the scene.

It is hoped that following the inaugural ceremony, that Mariners with Memories will become an annually held event and the close relationship with the museum continues.

The museum which was especially opened for the screening will remain closed throughout the winter months though is open on an invitation only basis. Officially the museum is due to re-open this Easter, to keep posted of further developments visit www.mariner.ie

#CRUISE LINERS – The Port of Cork is to welcome 60 cruise vessels this season, an increase on 2011 levels when 53 calls were made, bringing over 100,000 passengers and crew to the region, writes Jehan Ashmore.

According to UK Consultants GP Wild, the average in-transit spend per passenger, while visiting an Irish port is between €73- €100 which provides a significant contribution towards the local tourism economy.

Last year Cork won 1st place for 'Best Destination Experience (Organised)' in the world and 2nd place for 'Best Port Welcome' in the Dream World Cruise Destinations Awards.

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines Balmoral is the first caller for 2012 when she is to dock at Cobh in April. Larger cruise ships to visit during the season include Celebrity Eclipse, Emerald Princess, Independence of the Seas, Costa Deliziosa and Caribbean Princess.

In addition Cunard Line's Queen Elizabeth is to return to Cobh in August. Her inaugural Irish visit was in September last year, when the 90,000 tonnes vessel called firstly to Dublin followed by Cobh, to read more click HERE.

For a list of the cruise schedule, click HERE, noting several calls are to Ringaskiddy and North Custom House Quay in Cork City.

#LINER TENDERS – As Dubliners and visitors alike enjoy the facilities of Cill Airne, the River Liffey's floating restaurant and bar venue, her sister, Canima is in complete contrast, as she rusts away on the far side of the Atlantic, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The Camina was originally launched as Blarna along with Cill Airne from the Liffey Dockyard in the early 1960's as passenger tenders serving the trans-Atlantic liners out of Cobh for the Cork Harbour Commissioners. The 1,000 passenger capacity sisters, each around 500 gross tonnes, were the last vessels to be built using riveted hull constructed methods in Europe.

With the collapse of the liner trade and proliferation of the jetliner in the early 1970's, they had served short careers in Cobh. Blarna was sold to North American interests while Cill Airne remained in Irish waters. She was sold to the Cork Institute of Technology for radar and navigation training on the River Lee and Cork Harbour.

By 2003 Cill Airne's days were numbered as she became obsolete when high-tech simulators formed part of the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) in Ringaskiddy.

She was sold to Dublin investors in 2006 having completed an extensive restoration project at Hegarty's Boatyard in West Cork. She reflects her liner era heritage with art-deco fittings, wood panelling and timber decks throughout, for more click HERE.

As for Blarna, she later served in Bermuda which lasted until 1988. To read more on what her former captain from the Bermudian career has to say on her fate in Canada, where there are plans to secure her future as reported on the RoyalGazette, click HERE.

#CRUISE LINERS – In 2012 the Dublin Port Company can look forward to welcoming 90 cruiseship calls, slightly up compared to this year's season, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The sector in 2011 performed positively with a 7.5% increase in cruise passengers on board 87 cruise-calls. In total  they brought over 135,000 passengers and crew to the capital, generating between €35 - €55m to the local economy.

The increase in passengers brings the total number of high-spend cruise passengers to almost 750,000 since 2000, providing a boon to city-centre businesses to the tune of over €400m in that period.

Once again cruiseships from the leading operators are scheduled to Dublin Port in 2012. They will appear in the form of  the small, medium and giant-sized ships, many of which will be making more than one cruisecall throughout the season, which starts in April and culminates in October.

To view a timetable of cruiseships calling to Dublin Port see below.

A newcomer will be Kristina Katarina (1982/12,668grt) which is operated by Finnish owners Kristina Cruises. The former Russian ship replaced Kristina Regina last year due to new safety regulations which forced the veteran vessel to withdraw from service. 

Mediterranean Shipping Lines (MSL) which operates container services to Ireland, will be deploying the 1,560 passenger MSC Lirica (2003/59,038grt). To view more about this French built cruiseship click HERE.

While the veteran Arion (1965/5,888grt) makes a welcome return for those with an affinity to smaller classic vessels, she orignially served in the Adriatic and was built at the Uljanik Shipyard in Pula, Croatia.

#CRUISE LINERS- In a first for Drogheda Port, the cruiseship, Clipper Adventurer (1975/4,367grt) is to call next May, and will represent  a new business to the port  as part of its circumnavigation of the island of Ireland, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 101m long vessel  will bring 236 American and Canadian visitors and a 65 crew, on a cruise organised by Adventure Canada, in association with Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

During the 10-day circumnavigation, the vessel will make calls to the Co. Louth port with passengers touring the Boyne Valley, The Skelligs, Aran Islands, the Gardens on Garnish at Glengariff and Tory Island. They will take in the history, archaeology, bird and marine life, culture, and Irish music in addition to a lecture programme from an on board team.

"With its downtown location, Drogheda Port is perfect for us," says Matthew Swan, president of Adventure Canada.

Last year, Swan visited Drogheda to conduct research for the cruise trip around Ireland. "I heard about your Graffiti and Samba Festivals before coming to town. It seemed like my kind of place, I'm definitely coming back for the Samba event."

Nessa Lally of Drogheda Port commented on the launch of the port as a new cruise destination: "Drogheda Port Company is pleased to announce the inaugural visit of the Clipper Adventurer to our port. This is the beginning of something special for Drogheda and the Boyne Valley.

The area has tremendous potential as a regular cruise destination with world class and potential world class attractions such as Newgrange, Slane Castle, Beaulieu House, the Battle of the Boyne site, the Hill of Tara and medieval Drogheda town itself, to mention just a few.

We will very much welcome the Clipper Adventurer and its passengers to our port and town and intend to give them a memorable visit to our locality. The port company has also commenced a dialogue with a number of interested parties to build and brand a full local itinerary for attracting and growing cruise business and tourism."

In the same month of the inaugural cruise, Drogheda will host a second cruise also by Clipper Adventurer, with Danish passengers organized through Copenhagen-based tour operator, Albatros Travel. They will undertake a 10-day Irish and Scottish itinerary that finishes in Bergen, Norway.

Clipper Adventurer is an exploration vessel which otherwise is often found cruising in polar waters, either Antarctica or the Arctic from Spitsbergen through Iceland, Greenland and Canada's Northwest Passage.

Over the last decade she has called to several Irish ports to include a once-off call to Arklow, where the Serbian-built vessel anchored offshore.

In order to facilitate this growth, the draft proposes switching existing berths used by large cruiseships away from unattractive cargo-docks in Alexandra Basin's West and East and at Ocean Pier. Up to three alternative locations were examined and the port agreed that the option identified in the Dublin City Council's Area Plan of the North Quay Extension is the optimum location.

Before any such development, it would require relocating an existing roll-on roll-off terminal (No.3), which is currently in use by P&O Irish Sea for their Dublin-Liverpool service. The company operate three sailings daily on the central corridor route.

The new facility could accommodate two large cruise ships simultaneously and would be much larger than the 43,524grt The World, the luxury resort vessel operated by Residensea, which docked at the North Wall Extension in 2010 (for report click HERE).

The location is on the doorstep to the East-Link Bridge and the neighbouring O2 Arena and Point Village developed by Harry Crosbie, who called for the relocation of cruise callers to be sited upriver.

According to the draft, the closer proximity to the city-centre would provide a stronger presence and a more accessible link with the city. It would also avoid the unnecessary longer bus transfers between cruise berths and visitor attractions in the city-centre and locations in counties Wicklow and Meath.

Construction of facilities for a cruise terminal would expensive as it will involve new quay walls capable of accepting large cruise vessels but this could only be done after dredging the channel to a depth of 10.5m.

The facilities of the terminal are to incorporate a reception, tourist information and interpretive centre, a dedicated entrance for pedestrians, coaches, vehicles and traffic management measures would be implemented.

In addition the site would also require the expensive exercise in re-locating ESB underwater high-voltage cables. The initial costs suggest to develop new terminal facilities and associated works would be in the region of €30m.

Dublin Port Company, state that due to the relatively low revenues generated by cruise ships, such an investment alone could not be justified, however, they could part-fund the development but additional funding would be required from other sources.

With a short-turn around in port, more cruise-goers will be boarding for a mid-afternoon departure, marking the start of a 13-night Canary Islands & Madeira cruise. When she heads out of the port, the first port of call is Falmouth then it's off to Leixoes (Portugal), Agadir (Morocco), Arrecife (Lanzarote), Las Palmas (Gran Canaria), Funchal (Madeira), Lisbon (Portugal) and Vigo (Spain) before returning to Dublin.

The vessels final end-of season cruise from Dublin is on 25 October, with a 10-night cruise to Nice (returning by air). The interim ports of call are to Falmouth, Leixoes, Lisbon, Cartagena (Spain) Palma and Mahon (Menorca). To read more about this cruise click HERE.

In addition to Dublin calls the former Cunard Countess, also called this season to Cork Harbour. It was during a call last month to Ringaskiddy that another 'Cunarder' the flagship, Queen Mary 2 was also in port on a call to Cobh. To read more of that visit click HERE.

At 192m in length, the 600-passenger capacity cruiseship is operated by Pheonix Reisen. The German based travel agency also runs fleetmates Albratross and Artania. The later Finish built vessel was best known as Princess Cruises Royal Princess, when launched by the late Diana, Princess of Wales in 1984.

Apart from the handful of cruiseships that call, Bantry Bay is otherwise used by oil tankers bringing supplies to the Whiddy Island Oil Terminal. The terminal consists of an offshore single point mooring, tanker Jetty, and an onshore tank farm. The bay runs some 35kms long and is 10km wide at its broadest at the entrance and steadily narrows to 3-4kms at its head. In addition the bay is largest of the main inlets in the south-west.

Glengariff in recent years has also welcomed another German operator, Peter Deilmann's Deutschland (1988/22,496grt) and the UK based Cruise & Maritime Voyages Marco Polo (1966/20,080grt). To read more on this vessel which regularly calls to Irish ports click HERE.

Fram operates on cruises from Norway to Spitsbergen, Greenland, and Europe. She also cruises in Antarctic waters and explores the Chilean fjords. She can handle 400 passengers in 254 berths. On board there is a reception area, a large top-deck glass-enclosed observation salon positioned forward, bar, restaurant, library, shop and leisure facilities, including gym, sauna and jacuzzi. For further information and deck plans click HERE.

Throughout her interior she has traditional and modern artwork from a selection of Norwegian and Greenlandic artists. To read more on her Antarctic cruises and other destinations click HERE.

On this particular cruise, she had departed from Bergin and called to several Scottish ports prior to berthing in Belfast and docking in Dublin yesterday. This evening she heads for the Isles of Scilly, followed by a call to Portsmouth before disembarking her passengers in Hamburg.

As for Cary Ali, she is a 87ft long was built in 2007 by Nordhavn to a design of Jeff Leishman. From her stern flew the flag of the Marshal Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Inside the four-decked vessel there is the main salon, a dining room, galley and three guest staterooms, and a master cabin (click HERE). In total eight people can be accommodated. In addition she has a jacuzzi, fly-bridge and is equipped with a tender and has crew of four.

She has a speed of 24-knots and is equipped with 50hp bow and stern thrusters. To read more about the luxurious motoryacht including facts and figures click HERE.

The Cary Ali had berthed at the 100-berth marina of the Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club which caters lesiure craft up to 20 metres and is centrally located on the south side of Dublin Port. The facility has accommodated larger motoryachts over the years. Though even larger motoryachts such as Battered Bull, a Feadship 52m has berthed further upriver at Dublin City Moorings.