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Displaying items by tag: Louth County Council

1st July 2016

The Irish Maritime Festival At Drogheda Offers Something For Everyone

The festival, hosted by Louth County Council and Drogheda Port Company, takes place at the Port next weekend (Saturday 9 and Sunday 10th July) and promises something fun for everyone.

Drogheda Harbourmaster Capt. Martin Donnelly previews this year's maritime festival for Afloat readers.

The Irish Maritime Festival, in association with Maxol, is going from strength to strength. The festival, hosted by Louth County Council and Drogheda Port Company, takes place at the Port next weekend (Saturday 9 and Sunday 10th July) and promises something fun for everyone.

ON THE WATER
Drogheda has a rich Maritime Heritage and the festival celebrates all that is good about the majestic river Boyne. The quayside is lined with ships of all sorts including The Spirit of Oysterhaven, the Celtic Mist, vintage lifeboats and customs cutters. There is an opportunity, when the tide is high, to board to these ships and to imagine what life is like on the high seas.

Weather permitting, Drogheda will welcome the truly beautiful 112ft long twin-masted Brigantine “The Phoenix”. The 4,000sq. ft. of sail, is instantly recognisable to movie lovers as “The Sancta Maria” from the epic film "1492: Conquest of Paradise", the fictionalised story of Christopher Columbus directed by Ridley.

The Spirit of Oysterhaven will arrive on Friday with a complete crew of trainees and depart with a new trainee crew again on Sunday.

A series of river races will take place including the 14 km long Inver Colpa Rowing Race from Clogherhead to Drogheda, the Howth to Drogheda yacht challenge and the legendary Drogheda Raft Race. Perhaps the most gruelling and personally challenging of all the races is the Boyne Swim, where 200+ swimmers of all ages will take to the river for the 2.5 km past the festival site. This year, the Boyne Swim welcomes a delegation of 25 swimmers who have travelled from Finland just to take part.

One of the festival innovations for 2016 is the addition of live cameras to track the activities on the river. A combination of steady cam and drone footage will be fed to a big screen broadcasting live on the festival site. You will also be able to see the on the water action by tuning in to the Irish Maritime Festival Facebook page where the final stages of all races will be broadcast live.

New for 2016 is the arrival of The Vikings. Watch out for a 45 strong marauding hoard as they take over Drogheda Port and go into battle twice daily. They'll take over and set up their Viking Village and giving visitors to the festival an idea what it's like to live like a Viking. Watch out for their two Viking ships docked at the festival site.

And no Maritime Festival in Drogheda would be complete without the return of our battling pirates. The S/V Vilma and Soteria will once again bring with them the ever popular duelling and duetting pirates who provide fun for visitors of all ages.

And keep your eyes peeled you might just see Captain Jack Sparrow leading the pirate parade.

Speaking of spectacles, keep your eye on the sky - there might just be a surprise in store.

And There’s Lots Happening On-Shore Too …
The festival grows bigger each year and Festival Producer Karen Healy explains "We're trying to grow and diversify the festival each year to ensure that there are new, interesting and exciting activities for all our visitors. We hope that the mix we have created this year will have something for everybody visiting the festival. The festival boasts a fashion, health and beauty zone with fashion shows, make up demos and celebrity bloggers James Patrice and The Make Up Fairy. An artisan food and craft brewing will feature local producers, cookery showcases, brewing and cocktail making lessons. Live music is a huge part of the 2016 festival. There will be 2 live music stages featuring a selection of Ireland's top up and coming artists. Visitors to the festival can chill out and relax in the summer sunshine and listen to these fabulous musicians as they give it their all on stage.”

The family friendly activities are, as always, fun for all.

“And the festival is not just for the grown-ups and teens” continues Festival Director Mary T. Daly of Louth County Council “There is of course a whole host of fun and family friendly activities at the Festival again this year. Kids can join the pirate parade, visit the Viking Village, touch the sea creatures in the marine touch pool, build their own paper boats, laugh at Punch and Judy and marvel at the magic show. They can take part in free art workshops, learn to be an archaeologist in the kids archaeology zone, take a selfie on Simple Simon's throne, build sandcastles on the urban beach, visit the whale and dolphin workshops and watch out for the fly borders on the river. And of course, there is a fantastic funfair to top it all off.

"So that's it, that's our line-up for this year and we hope to welcome both locals and visitors alike to Drogheda port for a wonderful weekend of fun" concludes Mary T Daly. "The festival runs on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th of July at Drogheda Port. Admission for a family is just €10 for the day and that includes two adults and two children. There are special prices for teens, students and senior citizens. You can find out more about the festival by visiting www.MaritimeFestival.ie and, on behalf of Louth County Council, we do hope that you will invite friends and family across the country and invite them to join you in Drogheda for a fabulous fun filled weekend."

Published in Maritime Festivals
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5th January 2016

Dundalk Port Could be Controlled by Louth County Council

#DundalkPort- Dundalk Port could soon be controlled by Louth County Council following the signing of a bill by President Michael D Higgins on Christmas Day, reports The Talk of the Town.

The provision for the possible future transfer of the port from Dublin Port Company to the local authority was made as part of the Harbours Bill 2015, which came into force on December 25th.

The Harbours Bill 2015 provides the necessary legal basis for the transfer of ports to local authorities. Amongst the transfers that were made include Drogheda Port to Louth County Council while other ports that transferred as part of the Bill are Dún Laoghaire, Galway, New Ross and Wicklow.

Previously run by Dundalk Port Company, the local port as reported on Afloat had been run by Dublin Port Company since an amalgamation between the two companies in May 2011.

For further details on the control of the port, click here.

Published in Ports & Shipping
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About Dublin Port 

Dublin Port is Ireland’s largest and busiest port with approximately 17,000 vessel movements per year. As well as being the country’s largest port, Dublin Port has the highest rate of growth and, in the seven years to 2019, total cargo volumes grew by 36.1%.

The vision of Dublin Port Company is to have the required capacity to service the needs of its customers and the wider economy safely, efficiently and sustainably. Dublin Port will integrate with the City by enhancing the natural and built environments. The Port is being developed in line with Masterplan 2040.

Dublin Port Company is currently investing about €277 million on its Alexandra Basin Redevelopment (ABR), which is due to be complete by 2021. The redevelopment will improve the port's capacity for large ships by deepening and lengthening 3km of its 7km of berths. The ABR is part of a €1bn capital programme up to 2028, which will also include initial work on the Dublin Port’s MP2 Project - a major capital development project proposal for works within the existing port lands in the northeastern part of the port.

Dublin Port has also recently secured planning approval for the development of the next phase of its inland port near Dublin Airport. The latest stage of the inland port will include a site with the capacity to store more than 2,000 shipping containers and infrastructures such as an ESB substation, an office building and gantry crane.

Dublin Port Company recently submitted a planning application for a €320 million project that aims to provide significant additional capacity at the facility within the port in order to cope with increases in trade up to 2040. The scheme will see a new roll-on/roll-off jetty built to handle ferries of up to 240 metres in length, as well as the redevelopment of an oil berth into a deep-water container berth.

Dublin Port FAQ

Dublin was little more than a monastic settlement until the Norse invasion in the 8th and 9th centuries when they selected the Liffey Estuary as their point of entry to the country as it provided relatively easy access to the central plains of Ireland. Trading with England and Europe followed which required port facilities, so the development of Dublin Port is inextricably linked to the development of Dublin City, so it is fair to say the origins of the Port go back over one thousand years. As a result, the modern organisation Dublin Port has a long and remarkable history, dating back over 300 years from 1707.

The original Port of Dublin was situated upriver, a few miles from its current location near the modern Civic Offices at Wood Quay and close to Christchurch Cathedral. The Port remained close to that area until the new Custom House opened in the 1790s. In medieval times Dublin shipped cattle hides to Britain and the continent, and the returning ships carried wine, pottery and other goods.

510 acres. The modern Dublin Port is located either side of the River Liffey, out to its mouth. On the north side of the river, the central part (205 hectares or 510 acres) of the Port lies at the end of East Wall and North Wall, from Alexandra Quay.

Dublin Port Company is a State-owned commercial company responsible for operating and developing Dublin Port.

Dublin Port Company is a self-financing, and profitable private limited company wholly-owned by the State, whose business is to manage Dublin Port, Ireland's premier Port. Established as a corporate entity in 1997, Dublin Port Company is responsible for the management, control, operation and development of the Port.

Captain William Bligh (of Mutiny of the Bounty fame) was a visitor to Dublin in 1800, and his visit to the capital had a lasting effect on the Port. Bligh's study of the currents in Dublin Bay provided the basis for the construction of the North Wall. This undertaking led to the growth of Bull Island to its present size.

Yes. Dublin Port is the largest freight and passenger port in Ireland. It handles almost 50% of all trade in the Republic of Ireland.

All cargo handling activities being carried out by private sector companies operating in intensely competitive markets within the Port. Dublin Port Company provides world-class facilities, services, accommodation and lands in the harbour for ships, goods and passengers.

Eamonn O'Reilly is the Dublin Port Chief Executive.

Capt. Michael McKenna is the Dublin Port Harbour Master

In 2019, 1,949,229 people came through the Port.

In 2019, there were 158 cruise liner visits.

In 2019, 9.4 million gross tonnes of exports were handled by Dublin Port.

In 2019, there were 7,898 ship arrivals.

In 2019, there was a gross tonnage of 38.1 million.

In 2019, there were 559,506 tourist vehicles.

There were 98,897 lorries in 2019

Boats can navigate the River Liffey into Dublin by using the navigational guidelines. Find the guidelines on this page here.

VHF channel 12. Commercial vessels using Dublin Port or Dun Laoghaire Port typically have a qualified pilot or certified master with proven local knowledge on board. They "listen out" on VHF channel 12 when in Dublin Port's jurisdiction.

A Dublin Bay webcam showing the south of the Bay at Dun Laoghaire and a distant view of Dublin Port Shipping is here
Dublin Port is creating a distributed museum on its lands in Dublin City.
 A Liffey Tolka Project cycle and pedestrian way is the key to link the elements of this distributed museum together.  The distributed museum starts at the Diving Bell and, over the course of 6.3km, will give Dubliners a real sense of the City, the Port and the Bay.  For visitors, it will be a unique eye-opening stroll and vista through and alongside one of Europe’s busiest ports:  Diving Bell along Sir John Rogerson’s Quay over the Samuel Beckett Bridge, past the Scherzer Bridge and down the North Wall Quay campshire to Berth 18 - 1.2 km.   Liffey Tolka Project - Tree-lined pedestrian and cycle route between the River Liffey and the Tolka Estuary - 1.4 km with a 300-metre spur along Alexandra Road to The Pumphouse (to be completed by Q1 2021) and another 200 metres to The Flour Mill.   Tolka Estuary Greenway - Construction of Phase 1 (1.9 km) starts in December 2020 and will be completed by Spring 2022.  Phase 2 (1.3 km) will be delivered within the following five years.  The Pumphouse is a heritage zone being created as part of the Alexandra Basin Redevelopment Project.  The first phase of 1.6 acres will be completed in early 2021 and will include historical port equipment and buildings and a large open space for exhibitions and performances.  It will be expanded in a subsequent phase to incorporate the Victorian Graving Dock No. 1 which will be excavated and revealed. 
 The largest component of the distributed museum will be The Flour Mill.  This involves the redevelopment of the former Odlums Flour Mill on Alexandra Road based on a masterplan completed by Grafton Architects to provide a mix of port operational uses, a National Maritime Archive, two 300 seat performance venues, working and studio spaces for artists and exhibition spaces.   The Flour Mill will be developed in stages over the remaining twenty years of Masterplan 2040 alongside major port infrastructure projects.

Source: Dublin Port Company ©Afloat 2020. 

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