Displaying items by tag: Main Ports

26th October 2022

Trade Handled through Main Irish Ports Up 1% in Q2

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released new figures that show Irish ports handled a total of 13.1 million tonnes of goods in the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 1% compared with the same time last year.

Of the seven main Irish ports - Dublin Port, Bantry, Cork, Drogheda, Rosslare, Shannon and Waterford - 3,085 vessels in total arrived during the three months from April to June.

This marked an increase of 2% on the same time last year.

Also according to the CSO was that Dublin port had accounted for 63% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports in the three month period.

For more RTE News reports on statistics from trade between Northern Ireland and Britain.

Published in Irish Ports

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CSO Figures Show Goods Handled in Main Irish Ports Marginally Down in Q3 of 2020

The CSO has released new figures on the performance of six of the main Irish Ports. Above: a containership departing in lower Cork Harbour and where a tanker is berthed at the Whitegate Oil Refinery.

Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show a marginal decrease in the volume of goods handled in six of the seven Irish ports in the third quarter of 2020.

Six of the main Irish ports - Bantry, Dublin, Drogheda, Cork, Shannon and Waterford - handled 12.3 million tonnes of goods in the third quarter of 2020, down 0.1% compared with the same time in 2019.

Goods forwarded from these ports amounted to 4.2 million tonnes during the three months from July to September, while a total of 8.1 million tonnes of goods were received.

The CSO noted that the data for Rosslare is not included in these new figures.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Yacht Race or 'K2Q', previously the Fastnet 450

The Organising Authority ("OA") are ISORA & SCORA in association with The National Yacht Club & The Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Race (K2Q Race) is a 260-mile offshore race that will start in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown), around the famous Fastnet Rock and finish in Cork Harbour at Cobh (formerly Queenstown).

The K2Q race follows from the successful inaugural 'Fastnet 450 Race' that ran in 2020 when Ireland was in the middle of the COVID Pandemic. It was run by the National Yacht Club, and the Royal cork Yacht Club were both celebrating significant anniversaries. The clubs combined forces to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Of course, this race has some deeper roots. In 1860 the first-ever ocean yacht race on Irish Waters was held from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (now Cobh).

It is reported that the winner of the race was paid a prize of £15 at the time, and all competing boats got a bursary of 10/6 each. The first race winner was a Schooner Kingfisher owned by Cooper Penrose Esq. The race was held on July 14th 1860, and had sixteen boats racing.

In 2022, the winning boat will be awarded the first prize of a cheque for €15 mounted and framed and a Trophy provided by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world.

The 2022 race will differ from the original course because it will be via the Fastnet Rock, so it is a c. 260m race, a race distance approved by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club as an AZAB qualifier.

A link to an Afloat article written by WM Nixon for some history on this original race is here.

The aim is to develop the race similarly to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race that runs in alternate years.

Fastnet 450 in 2020

The South Coast of Ireland Racing Association, in association with the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay and the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, staged the first edition of this race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock on August 22nd 2020.

The IRC race started in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22nd 2020. It passed the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet Lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches's Point bears due East. The course was specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.