Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Belview Port

At the south-east Irish port of Waterford, the main terminal at Belview is where two trains were at the facility that led to maximised efficiency as an engine swap-over took place, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The swap-over was carried out last month at the Belview Port terminal located in Co. Kilkenny, which is downriver of Waterford City. According to the Port, there was a rails train to load out railtrack and then shortly afterwards, the liner service from Ballina, Co. Mayo had arrived with containers to be exported to mainland Europe on the Samskip/DFD Logistics service.

The engine for the first train laden with railtrack, swapped over and connected up with the container train to pull it out. Such an operation is unique, as the Port of Waterford is the only port in Ireland which can conduct this logistical procedure at the rail connected terminal.

With Belview Port having this capability, the terminal is at the forefront of the rail freight sector since the 1990’s, operating up to 30 trains per week using 4 rail sidings. Now with renewed investment in the rail sector, the terminal which also last month had dredging carried out by Freeway (update due) has proven its capability to meet the needs of the sector intregrated with maritime transport.

The train which transported the containers were offloaded and then loaded onto the 803 TEU lo-lo capacity containership, Samskip Express operated by Samskip on behalf of the joint service with DFDS Logistics. The short-sea feeder containership is part of the overall Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, Cork liner services to mainland Europe.

Samskip Express is run on biofuel and was today tracked by Afloat to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, noting in 2021, Amsterdam was added to service operations linking Ireland.

Published in Ports & Shipping

A maintenance dredging campaign has begun in recent days at the Port of Waterford where activities will involve the waters of Duncannon Bar, Cheekpoint, and at the port's main terminal at Belview, writes Jehan Ashmore

Prior to the operations at the south-east port, the Cypriot flagged Shoalway, a trailing suction hopper dredger had been carrying out operations for the Dublin Port Company. Shoalway sailed from the capital to arrive on the Waterford Estuary on Sunday. 

According to the Port of Waterford (click to consult campaign notice here), the dredger will dispose spoil at an approved site south west of Hook Head, Co. Wexford. Dredging will be followed by a bed levelling campaign by the vessels, Fastnet Sound and or the Glenesk.

Afloat adds that Irish Dredging which is a subsidiary of Royal Boskalis Westminster nv, the world’s largest dredging group, was given the contract from the Port of Waterford. The extensive fleet of the Dutch group provides Irish Dredging access to the use a of wide range of vessels for projects around the Irish coast.

Further tracking of the Shoalway since introduction on the Waterford Estaury has seen the 90m long dredger kept busy between Cheekpoint to the spoiling grounds out to sea.

The campaign according to the Port of Waterford is expected to last approximately 24 days.

Published in Dredging

#SeaRailFreight- A new container rail-freight service between Waterford Port and Ballina began operating this week, to link in with DFDS Logistics sailing schedules to and from Europe.

The container trains are running to a twice weekly service in each direction linking the Belview Port terminal downriver of Waterford City and the northern Co. Mayo town.

According to Irish Rail (Iarnród Éireann), the new service will benefit customers in the west and north-west of Ireland in particular, providing them with a cost effective alternative when compared with a road based shipping. Coupled with this, the customer also reduces their carbon footprint.

The trains are scheduled to meet DFDS lo-lo vessels sailing from Belview Port to Rotterdam, which allows for onward delivery into Europe. Customers can now load in the west of Ireland on Tuesday morning and deliver in The Netherlands on Thursday pm/Friday am.

Rotterdam also provides access to DFDS sailings to Norway, and rail connections to Italy, allowing for a rail-sea-rail connection from Ballina to Milan.

DFDS will utilise a significant amount of available rail-wagons, but have left scope to develop the service further by introducing new customers, both internal Irish traffic and import / export traffic.

This is an important addition to the DFDS services in Ireland, and as a customer for Irish Rail's freight division. The new service is covering a longer distance, guaranteed volumes and direct port access.

The introduction of the service will see freight volumes increase from 91m tonne kilometres in 2012 to 105 m tonne kilometres approximately in 2013.

 

Published in Ports & Shipping

Ireland & La Solitaire du Figaro

The Solitaire du Figaro, was originally called the course de l’Aurore until 1980, was created in 1970 by Jean-Louis Guillemard and Jean-Michel Barrault.

Half a decade later, the race has created some of France's top offshore sailors, and it celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new boat equipped with foils and almost 50 skippers Including novices, aficionados and six former winners.

The solo multi-stage offshore sailing race is one of the most cherished races in French sailing and one that has had Irish interest stretching back over 20 years due to the number of Irish stopovers, usually the only foreign leg of the French race.

What Irish ports have hosted The Solitaire du Figaro?

The race has previously called to Ireland to the following ports; Dingle, Kinsale, Crosshaven, Howth and Dun Laoghaire.

What Irish sailors have raced The Solitaire du Figaro?

So far there have been seven Irish skippers to participate in La Solitaire du Figaro. 

In 1997, County Kerry's Damian Foxall first tackled the Figaro from Ireland. His win in the Rookie division in DHL gave him the budget to compete again the following year with Barlo Plastics where he won the final leg of the race from Gijon to Concarneau. That same year a second Irish sailor Marcus Hutchinson sailing Bergamotte completed the course in 26th place and third Rookie.

In 2000, Hutchinson of Howth Yacht Club completed the course again with IMPACT, again finishing in the twenties.

In 2006, Paul O’Riain became the third Irish skipper to complete the course.

In 2013, Royal Cork's David Kenefick raised the bar by becoming a top rookie sailor in the race. 

In 2018, for the first time, Ireland had two Irish boats in the offshore race thanks to Tom Dolan and Joan Mulloy who joined the rookie ranks and kept the Irish tricolour flying high in France. Mulloy became the first Irish female to take on the race.

Tom Dolan in Smurfit Kappa competed for his third year in 2020 after a 25th place finish in 2019. Dolan sailed a remarkably consistent series in 2020 and took fifth overall, the best finish by a non-French skipper since 1997 when Switzerland’s Dominique Wavre finished runner up. Dolan wins the VIVI Trophy.

Dolan finished 10th on the first stage, 11th on the second and seventh into Saint Nazaire at the end of the third stage. Stage four was abandoned due to lack of wind. 

Also in 2020, Dun Laoghaire’s Kenneth Rumball became the eleventh Irish sailor to sail the Figaro.

At A Glance – Figaro Race

  • It starts in June or July from a French port.
  • The race is split into four stages varying from year to year, from the length of the French coast and making up a total of around 1,500 to 2,000 nautical miles (1,700 to 2,300 mi; 2,800 to 3,700 km) on average.
  • Over the years the race has lasted between 10 and 13 days at sea.
  • The competitor is alone in the boat, participation is mixed.
  • Since 1990, all boats are of one design.

2023 La Solitaire du Figaro Course

Stage #1 Caen – Kinsale : 610 nautical miles
Departure August 27 (expected arrival August 30)

Stage #2 Kinsale – Baie de Morlaix : 630 nautical miles
Departure September 3 (expected arrival September 6)

Stage #3 Baie de Morlaix – Piriac-sur-Mer : 620 nautical miles
Departure September 10 (expected arrival September 13)

Featured Sailing School

INSS sidebutton

Featured Clubs

dbsc mainbutton
Howth Yacht Club
Kinsale Yacht Club
National Yacht Club
Royal Cork Yacht Club
Royal Irish Yacht club
Royal Saint George Yacht Club

Featured Brokers

leinster sidebutton

Featured Webcams

Featured Associations

ISA sidebutton
ICRA
isora sidebutton

Featured Marinas

dlmarina sidebutton

Featured Chandleries

CHMarine Afloat logo
https://afloat.ie/resources/marine-industry-news/viking-marine

Featured Sailmakers

northsails sidebutton
uksails sidebutton
watson sidebutton

Featured Blogs

W M Nixon - Sailing on Saturday
podcast sidebutton
BSB sidebutton
wavelengths sidebutton
 

Please show your support for Afloat by donating