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Displaying items by tag: Diesel removal

A former dredger, Hebble Sand which in September was refloated in Drogheda Port from where it has been derelict for almost a decade, is to have the diesel it is carrying removed in the coming week.

According to Alison Comyn's report in the Drogheda Independent, the removal of diesel follows a written request from the Mayor of Drogheda, Cllr Michelle Hall, who received a report from Louth County Council's Environmental Compliance Officer about the partial sinking and diesel spillage from the veteran vessel that originally began a career in the UK.

The report on the almost 60-year-old grab-hopper dredger that also served Irish Sea ports, stated that there was no evidence of an oil leak found but some residual diesel was discharged.

The diesel had mixed with the low tide and that booms had been placed around the hull of the 757-tonne dredger, this to prevent further dispersion in the Co. Louth port as per requirements in estuarine waters.

In addition the report found no evidence of impact to fish nor to wildlife arising from the Hebble Sand that is berthed alongside Merchant's Quay on the north bank of the Boyne from where as Afloat.ie reported in 2014 was part of the Irish Maritime Festival.   

More information was also given of the ongoing works by Drogheda Port Authority.

Click here for further reading on the story. 

Published in Drogheda Port

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.