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Displaying items by tag: Mainport

Cork basedMainport which acts as shipping agent for container operator, Unifeeder A/S, has announced as of the start of this month that they have increased capacity between the Irish Sea and mainland northern Europe.

This has led to the deployment of a larger (658 TEU) capacity vessel, the MV Elizabeth which Afloat observed departing Dublin Port this week when bound for Belfast Harbour.

The news according to the IMDO, comes despite all the challenges with widespread congestion in North Europe, where Unifeeder have managed to maintain a very strong schedule integrity along with very short transit times to and from the UK port of Southampton.

The UK-all Ireland port rotation is also ideal for empty positioning of containers from Dublin and Belfast to Cork. This upscaling has been very well received by customers, deep sea lines and cargo owners.

Published in Ports & Shipping

The Cork Harbour based Ocean Spey has been sold by the Mainport Group which operated the supply/standby support vessel for the past five years at PSE's Kinsale Gas Field which was decommissioned this year, writes Jehan Ashmore.

According to Mainport, the Ocean Spey departed their fleet and made a delivery to Castellan, Spain to new owner, Open Arms.

Afloat add Open Arms is a Barcelona based non-profit organization that aims to protect the lives of the most vulnerable, provide first-aid at sea and in operating refugee rescue vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.

The 66m Ocean Spey, Afloat noted on AIS made its last departure from Rushbrooke last month and arrived a week later to Burriana, located south of Castellan, where the Irish tricolor was lowered for the last time. 

The Cork registered 1,864grt ship which Mainport acquired in 2016, had serviced the two Kinsale Gas platforms, located approximately 50kms off the south coast from where gas was first extracted in the late 1970's. As Afloat reported earlier this year, the gas had depleted, leading to the decommissioning of the gas field subwells and likewise associated platforms.

The role of the Ocean Spey in the Celtic Sea followed a succession of ships that Mainport was contracted to provide the gasfield with services for more than 35 years and through various owners. A slightly smaller vessel, Pearl of 1,579grt had performed the same role until Mainport disposed of this vessel.

Ocean Spey which has anchor handling capabilities was built in 2000 and had previously worked in the North Sea based out of Aberdeen, the oil capital of Scotland. 

Published in Cork Harbour

#PORTS & SHIPPING - Cork based marine services company, Mainport is investing $36 million (€27.6 million) to build three supply vessels which will support seismic survey ships searching for oil and gas deposits.

The bulk of the financing for the construction of the newbuildings has been provided by Dutch bank ABN Amro, with a syndicate of Irish investors assembled by Westboro Finance in Cork providing $5 million in mezzanine, or short-term, financing.

The three ships, which will provide support services for an unnamed client carrying out off-shore seismic surveys around the world, are being constructed at Shin Yang Shipyards in Malaysia, and will be delivered in mid-2013.

To read more about this report in today's Irish Times click HERE

Published in Ports & Shipping

Dublin Bay Sailing Club Turkey Shoot Winter Series

Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Turkey Shoot Series reached its 20th year in 2020.

The popular yacht series racing provides winter-racing for all the sailing clubs on the southside of Dublin Bay in the run-up to Christmas.

It regularly attracts a fleet of up to 70 boats of different shapes and sizes from all four yachts clubs at Dun Laoghaire: The National Yacht Club, The Royal St. George Yacht Club, The Royal Irish Yacht Club and the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club as well as other clubs such as Sailing in Dublin. Typically the event is hosted by each club in rotation.

The series has a short, sharp format for racing that starts at approximately 10 am and concludes around noon. The event was the brainchild of former DBSC Commodore Fintan Cairns to give the club year-round racing on the Bay thanks to the arrival of the marina at Dun Laoghaire in 2001. Cairns, an IRC racer himself, continues to run the series each winter.

Typically, racing features separate starts for different cruiser-racers but in fact, any type of boat is allowed to participate, even those yachts that do not normally race are encouraged to do so.

Turkey Shoot results are calculated under a modified ECHO handicap system and there can be a fun aspect to some of the scoring in keeping with the Christmas spirit of the occasion.

As a result, the Turkey Shoot often receives entries from boats as large as Beneteau 50 footers and one designs as small as 20-foot flying Fifteens, all competing over the same course.

It also has legendary weekly prizegivings in the host waterfront yacht clubs immediately after racing. There are fun prizes and overall prizes based on series results.

Regular updates and DBSC Turkey Shoot Results are published on Afloat each week as the series progresses.

FAQs

Cruisers, cruising boats, one-designs and boats that do not normally race are very welcome. Boats range in size from ocean-going cruisers at 60 and 60 feet right down to small one-design keelboats such as 20-foot Flying Fifteens. A listing of boats for different starts is announced on Channel 74 before racing each week.

Each winter from the first Sunday in November until the last week before Christmas.

Usually no more than two hours. The racecourse time limit is 12.30 hours.

Between six and eight with one or two discards applied.

Racing is organised by Dublin Bay Sailing Club and the Series is rotated across different waterfront yacht clubs for the popular after race party and prizegiving. The waterfront clubs are National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC), Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC) and Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC).

© Afloat 2020