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A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Displaying items by tag: Newbuild tanker

#NewbuildTanker- Ardmore Shipping Corporation this week have announced that its latest newbuild Ardmore Seafox, was delivered by SPP Shipbuilding Co Ltd.

The Sacheon shipyard in South Korea handed over the 49,999dwt product and chemical newbuild on 25th June 2015.
Ardmore Seafox increases the number of Ardmore vessels on the water to twenty with a total tonnage of 819,519 DWT.

She follows Ardmore Sealion which was also delivered bySPP Shipbuilding Co., Ltd but at their Goseong shipyard in Korea.

Technical management of the Ardmore Seafox will be provided by Univan Ship Management Ltd.

Commenting on her delivery, Mark Cameron, Ardmore Shipping's COO, said: "We are pleased to take delivery of this sister ship to the Ardmore Sealion and we extend our thanks to SPP Shipbuilding for their hard work and dedication throughout the build process. The addition of the Ardmore Seafox realises our continued commitment to incorporating high quality, modern and efficient vessels to our fleet.

As with the Ardmore Sealion, the Ardmore Seafox is a high quality eco-design Ardmore vessel, fully equipped with a variety of fuel-saving measures including Skysails technology and offering the highest standards of performance for our customers. With an average age of under four and a half years, the Ardmore fleet is among the youngest in the industry.

This is the second of four newbuild vessels to be delivered from SPP Shipbuilding this year and we look forward to continuing to work closely with SPP Shipbuilding on the remaining two vessels in the series due for delivery in the second half of this year. We wish the Ardmore Seafox and her crew safe seas and fair winds as she goes on to fulfill her long and successful service within the Ardmore fleet."

Published in Ports & Shipping

#TankerNewbuild- Newbuild oil products tanker, Kestral Fisher docked in Dublin Port today, she is the second of a pair of 7,072dwt vessels operated by James Fisher Everard of Barrow-In-Furness, Cumbria, writes Jehan Ashmore.

In June she entered service and her call to Dublin today sees her alongside No.1 Oil Berth, one of our such berths. It is understood she arrived from a Norwegian oil refinery at Slagen on the Oslofjord.

Likewise, her elder sister King Fisher (See Photo) as previously reported in March, are of the '8000' design launched from Damen Shipyards facility in Galati, Romania. They were outfitted in the Dutch group's Bergum yard in Harlingen.

Kestral Fisher was christened by Michelle Hartnup and was delivered to Dutch owners De Opfeart Beheer. Likewise she too is operated on an open management basis by James Fisher Everard.

Each of the 104m double-hulled 8,363m³ newbuilds have 10 epoxy coated-tanks. This will enable the newbuilds to carry gasoline, diesel oil, lubrication oil and jet fuels to ports and oil refineries throughout Ireland, the UK and north-western Europe.

They have accommodation for captain and ten-crew, plus a guest cabin, all of which are single and en-suite.

 

Published in Ports & Shipping

#TankerNewbuild- A newbuild oil products tanker, King Fisher departed Dublin Port this morning, she is a 7,072dwt vessel operated by James Fisher Everard of Barrow-In-Furness, Cumbria, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The double-hulled 8,363m³ (10 epoxy coated-tanks) is of the '8000' design and her sister, Kestral Fisher, were outfitted by Damen Shipyards Bergum yard in Harlingen and handed over in June. Both the 104m x 17m newbuild hulls were built by Damen Shipyards facility in Galati, Romania.

Likewise this Romanian shipyard built the hull for the ILV Granuaile, the aids to navigation tender that was towed to The Netherlands for outfitting before entered service in 2000 for the Commissioners of Irish Lights.

In a two-ship order deal, Kestral Fisher which was delivered to Dutch owners De Opfeart Beheer, will too be operated on an open management basis by James Fisher Everard. As a direct reference to the newbuilds trade, the pair's sponsors who both work for the oil industry, were Petra Gaensbacher who christened the King Fisher and Michelle Hartnup for the Kestrel Fisher.

The Dutch-flagged newbuilds will carry gasoline, diesel oil, lubrication oil and jet fuels to ports and oil refineries throughout Ireland, the UK and north-western Europe. They have accommodation for captain and ten-crew, plus a guest cabin, all of which are single and en-suite.

James Fisher Everard tankers are frequent callers to Dublin Port, among them Cumbrian Fisher which was christened at the port in 2006.

As previously reported, on Afloat.ie, she undertook lifeboat-practice drill exercises off Dalkey Island in 2011. A running mate, Galway Fisher appropriately calls to her namesake port and frequently to the Whitegate Oil Refinery in Cork Harbour.

Unlike the open management of the King Fisher and Kestral Fisher, the company previously had another pair of tankers also built by Damen Shipyards Bergum, the Shannon Fisher and Solway Fisher. The fleet of the company range from 3,000 to 14,000 tons.

 

Published in Ports & Shipping

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]