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Displaying items by tag: Trade Call

#HollandVisit- A Royal Netherlands Navy ship is to visit Cork City for crew rest and recreation in addition to promoting Dutch trade and business interests in the Munster region, writes Jehan Ashmore.

HNLMS Holland the leadship of its namesake class of around 3,750 tons full displacement is to enter Cork Harbour today. The Offshore Patrol Vessel is to berth at North Custom House Quay in the Cork City and remain until Tuesday.

Among the Dutch firms attending the trade events, is the engineering company Royal HaskoningDHV which has been appointed by Irish Water to the Dublin Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant project team. Royal Haskoning are to provide expertise on its sustainable wastewater reduction treatment technology.

As for the HNLMS Holland, she shares the same shipbuilder of the ILV Granuaile, the Commissioner of Irish Lights aids to navigation tender that was launched at Damen Shipyards Galați in Romania. Both vessels were also fitted-out at the Dutch group’s facilities back in the Netherlands.

The Holland class are designed to fulfill patrol and intervention tasks against lightly armed opponents, such as pirates and smugglers, noting the Dutch overseas territories in the Caribbean.

At the same time they are equipped to cope with much higher level electronic and radar surveillance capabilities used for military stabilization and security roles, short of outright war.

A surveillance system, Thales is integrated into the mast which integrates communication systems and where there are two 4-faced phased arrays for air and surface search.

At the stern are aviation facilities of a fully equipped hangar and flight deck for one medium-sized helicopter.

Published in Naval Visits

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!