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Displaying items by tag: Airbus A380 Onboard

#AIRBUSship -As previously reported, the Airbus wing-carriership Ciudad de Cadiz (2009 /15,643grt) which was refloated off Mostyn over a week ago, arrived in Falmouth today, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Following the refloating of Ciudad de Cadiz which had arrived to load the wings, she sailed to Holyhead. The vessel had been anchored off the Anglesey port since last Sunday and where divers were to make hull inspections.

It is understood that Ville de Bordeaux was brought in to Mostyn, so to load the Airbus A380 wings constructed at the BAe factory at Broughton.

The Marseille-registered Ciudad de Cadiz, stayed in Falmouth until this evening, where she is heading for Pasajas, near the Spanish-French border.

Both vessels are jointly operated by French owners Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (through its subsidiary FRET SETAM) and Norwegian vehicle-carrier shipping company, Leif Höegh Autoliners.

 

Published in Ports & Shipping

P&SReview – Over the last fortnight, Jehan Ashmore has reported from the shipping scene, where the Stade, a cargo vessel rode out bad weather before docking at Fenit to load cranes built by Liebherr in Killarney, which as previously reported has received an order from the New Zealand port of Lyttelton.

The Port of Cork Company have signed up with Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) in targets for improved energy efficiency set for 2020.

Drogheda Port handled over 1m tonnes of cargo, this level in throughput has not been surpassed since 2007. The Co. Louth port is to welcome a flotilla of tallships during the Drogheda Fringe Festival over the May Bank holiday.

For the first time, Paris will host this year's European (Shortsea '13) Conference on 14 March at La Defense.  Last year the IMDO hosted the event in Dublin's Mansion House.

Ports across Europe urged governments not to touch the envelope of €31.7billion foreseen for Europe's transport infrastructure investments under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

Belfast Harbour had a record 19.6m tonnes in 2012, up 11% on the previous year. The growth was primarily driven from the bulk and roll-on/roll-off (freight) sectors.

Irish Ferries fast-craft catamaran Jonathan Swift, returned fresh from dry-docking, she operates the Dublin-Holyhead route, where she clocks up an impressive 162,000kms each year.

A grounded ship that carries wings for the Airbus A380, Ciudad de Cadiz (2008/15,643grt) was re-floated yesterday, having broke moorings during a gale in late January off the Welsh port of Mostyn.

 

Published in Ports & Shipping

#WINGSHIPRefloated – A ship designed specifically to transport huge Airbus A380  wings, Ciudad de Cadiz (2008/15,643grt) was successfully refloated this morning, following grounding on a north Welsh sandbank off Mostyn, more than a week ago, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The 125m vessel which operates between the port of Mostyn in Flintshire to Nantes, France, grounded on the Salisbury Sandbank on the Dee Estuary during 30 January.

She broke her moorings due to the severe weather conditions that led to the vessel beaching on the sandbank and within 1 nautical mile off the port's pier, to where she is now safely moored alongside.

 

ShipSpotting.com
© Barry Graham

 

Previous attempts to free the vessel which has no cargo on board, failed due to the continued gales and insufficient tidal heights.

The vessel was ballasted down and in an upright and safe position with tugs in attendance while the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) monitored the situaton. There were no reports of damage or pollution and that her 23 crew were reported safe and well remained onboard.

According to BCC North East Wales, the vessel is to head to Holyhead to undergo a full dive survey.

Ciudad de Cadiz, is one of three such specialist vessels that transport the wings manufactured at an Airbus plant at Broughton, from there they are firstly taken by road, then driven onto a custom-built stern-loading barge before finally reaching the port.

The components are then transferred via the pier's ro-ro linkspan and through the ships stern door ramp, and then sailed across the Bay of Biscay to Nantes (Montoir-de-Bretagne). From there the final leg of the journey is by road to the company's assembly factory at Toulouse in south-west France.

One of these ships, Ville de Bordeaux, (2004/21,528grt) had also recently called to Mostyn. The vessel which is jointly operated by two companies, had several years ago called to Rosslare to deliver trade cars, as the French partner's offshoot LD Lines, had run a short lived Rosslare-Le Havre ferry service by the ro-pax Norman Voyager.

 

Published in Ports & Shipping

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