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Displaying items by tag: 3D seismic survey

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DDTTAS) advises that Polarcus DMCC is scheduled to carry out a 3D seismic survey in the Porcupine Basin, southwest coast of Ireland, in early September.

The survey will cover 633 sq km and is is expected to last for around 20 days, subject to weather.

The seismic vessel M/V Polarcus Amani (Call sign C6ZD3) is scheduled to carry out the work. The vessel will be towing 10 cables, each 8.1km long with 150m separation at depth of 14 metres, with a total array width of 1.35km.

A buoy equipped with a radar reflector and navigation strobe light will be deployed at the end of each cable.

The seismic vessel will be accompanied by support vessel M/V Bravo Sapphire (Call sign ZDJY8) and chase vessel M/V Nomad (Call sign EI5298). All work vessels will be listening on VHF Channels 16 and 67.

The seismic vessel in particular will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre while carrying out the survey so all vessels, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give the M/V Polarcus Amani, her towed equipment, the M/V Bravo Sapphire and the M/V Nomad a wide berth and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Co-ordinates for the proposed seismic 3D survey are included in Marine Notice No 52 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - Dolphin Geophysical AS, on behalf of Capricorn Ireland Limited, is scheduled to carry out a 3D seismic survey in the Northern Porcupine Basin next month.

The survey will cover 1,974.5 sq km off the west coast and is anticipated to commence at the beginning of next month for 45 to 60 days, subject to weather.

The seismic vessel M/V Sanco Sword (Call sign ZDNE7) is scheduled to carry out the work. This vessel will tow 12 cables, each 8km long with 100m separation at a depth of 16-24m below the surface, for a total width array of 1.1km.

The seismic vessel will be accompanied by support vessel M/V Sunrise-G (Call sign 3FKF6) and guard vessel M/V Ary (Call sign YJQJ5).

The seismic vessel will be restricted in its ability to manoeuvre while carrying out the survey, and all vessels are requested to give these 3D survey operations a wide berth. The work vessels will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

All other vessels, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give the M/V Sanco Sword, the M/V Sunrise-G and M/V Ary and their towed equipment a wide berth and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Full details of co-ordinates for this survey operation are included in Marine Notice No 44 of 2014, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises of a 3D seismic survey in the Porcupine Basin off the Kerry coast to begin in early July for a period of seven weeks, weather permitting.

Polarcus, on behalf of Kosmos Energy Ireland, is scheduled to carry out the work over an area of more than 5,700 square kilometres in a region previously identified as having potential for enormous oil reserves.

Carrying out the survey will be the seismic vessel M/V Polarcus Amani (Call sign: C6ZD3). The vessel will be towing 10 cables, each 7.2km long and 150m apart, at a depth of 10m. The total width of the array is 1.35km. A buoy with a radar reflector and navigation strobe light will be deployed at the end of each cable.

The seismic vessel will also be accompanies by the support vessel M/V Bravo Sapphire (Call sign: ZDJY8) and chase vessel M/V Calvin (Call sign: 3EGU4). All three will be listening on VHF Channel 16 throughout the project.

The work vessels will also be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre while carrying out the survey, and all other vessel are requested to give these operations a wide berth and keep a sharp lookout in the relevant areas.

Full details of co-ordinates and a map of the work area are included in Marine Notice No 28 of 2013, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

#MarineNotice - CGG, on behalf of Fastnet Oil & Gas, is scheduled to carry out a full 3D seismic survey at Mizzen Basin in the Celtic Sea off the south-west coast beginning this month.

Details of this survey - as part of Fastnet's option on the Deep Kinsale Prospect - were previously reported on Afloat.ie but some details have been amended since.

The survey is expected to run for 35 days, subject to weather.

For full details - including co-ordinates of the work areas - see Marine Notice No 22 of 2013, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

Galway Port & Harbour

Galway Bay is a large bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south. Galway city and port is located on the northeast side of the bay. The bay is about 50 kilometres (31 miles) long and from 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) to 30 kilometres (19 miles) in breadth.

The Aran Islands are to the west across the entrance and there are numerous small islands within the bay.

Galway Port FAQs

Galway was founded in the 13th century by the de Burgo family, and became an important seaport with sailing ships bearing wine imports and exports of fish, hides and wool.

Not as old as previously thought. Galway bay was once a series of lagoons, known as Loch Lurgan, plied by people in log canoes. Ancient tree stumps exposed by storms in 2010 have been dated back about 7,500 years.

It is about 660,000 tonnes as it is a tidal port.

Capt Brian Sheridan, who succeeded his late father, Capt Frank Sheridan

The dock gates open approximately two hours before high water and close at high water subject to ship movements on each tide.

The typical ship sizes are in the region of 4,000 to 6,000 tonnes

Turbines for about 14 wind projects have been imported in recent years, but the tonnage of these cargoes is light. A European industry report calculates that each turbine generates €10 million in locally generated revenue during construction and logistics/transport.

Yes, Iceland has selected Galway as European landing location for international telecommunications cables. Farice, a company wholly owned by the Icelandic Government, currently owns and operates two submarine cables linking Iceland to Northern Europe.

It is "very much a live project", Harbourmaster Capt Sheridan says, and the Port of Galway board is "awaiting the outcome of a Bord Pleanála determination", he says.

90% of the scrap steel is exported to Spain with the balance being shipped to Portugal. Since the pandemic, scrap steel is shipped to the Liverpool where it is either transhipped to larger ships bound for China.

It might look like silage, but in fact, its bales domestic and municipal waste, exported to Denmark where the waste is incinerated, and the heat is used in district heating of homes and schools. It is called RDF or Refuse Derived Fuel and has been exported out of Galway since 2013.

The new ferry is arriving at Galway Bay onboard the cargo ship SVENJA. The vessel is currently on passage to Belem, Brazil before making her way across the Atlantic to Galway.

Two Volvo round world races have selected Galway for the prestigious yacht race route. Some 10,000 people welcomed the boats in during its first stopover in 2009, when a festival was marked by stunning weather. It was also selected for the race finish in 2012. The Volvo has changed its name and is now known as the "Ocean Race". Capt Sheridan says that once port expansion and the re-urbanisation of the docklands is complete, the port will welcome the "ocean race, Clipper race, Tall Ships race, Small Ships Regatta and maybe the America's Cup right into the city centre...".

The pandemic was the reason why Seafest did not go ahead in Cork in 2020. Galway will welcome Seafest back after it calls to Waterford and Limerick, thus having been to all the Port cities.

© Afloat 2020