Displaying items by tag: Ports of New York & Dublin

3rd November 2017

Largest Irish Owned Flagged Ships Trading On Both Sides of the Atlantic

#BulkerSisters - Arklow Spirit last night returned to anchor in Dublin Bay to await orders while another bulk-carrier occupies the same berth to where the Irish flagged ship is one of a pair of the largest registered in the State, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As Afloat.ie previously reported Arklow Spirit on Monday made a maiden call to Dublin Port. The 182m long bulker registered in the Co. Wicklow port had discharged animal feed from Brazil via Cork (Ringaskiddy). A sister Arklow Spray, also of 33,905dwt are the largest ships listed on the Irish Shipping Register that are owned by an indigenous company, Arklow Shipping Ltd.

Arkow Spray the newer of the sisters dating to 2014 and built from the same South Korean yard, is currently docked in the USA at the Port of New York. The bulk-carrier docked at a berth off the East River that is reached by the Hudson River, had arrived in recent days from Providence, Rhode Island.

Normally both ASL bulk-carriers are to be found operating on global deep-sea shipping lanes compared to serving in domestic waters as in the case of Arklow Spirit. It is otherwise commonplace to have short-sea traders call to Dublin having operated within north-western Europe. It should however be noted that ASL's smaller 14,990dwt bulkers of the 'M' class trade within Irish waters too given Arklow Marsh made a recent call also to the capital.

As for the Dublin docked bulk-carrier referred in the introduction, this is the Cape Moreton a Hong Kong flagged ship that is berthed in Alexandra Basin. The bulker is marginally smaller in terms of both dwt (32,875) and in length overall at 179m. What is common though is that the trio of bulkers have the same number of cargo holds, five and served by four deck-mounted cranes.

Cape Moreton completed in 2010 is operated by Pacific Basin, one of the world's leading owners of modern Handysize and Supramax dry bulk ships.

The company is headquartered and listed in Hong Kong, an autonomous territory of China. The shipping company was established a decade before the handover of the former British colony to China took place in 1997, has currently a fleet of more than 250 vessels trading on a global basis.

This year Pacific Basin opened a commercial office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Published in Ports & Shipping

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Beneteau 31.7 sailing in Ireland

In Ireland, the Beneteau First 31.7 Ireland One Design Class Association encourages and develop the use of the Beneteau First 31.7 yacht as a one-design keelboat, mainly for racing.

Each year the association stages national championships with boats coming from different sailing across Ireland. The main centre is Dun Laoghaire Harbour where the bulk of the fleet (15 boats) are based at the National Yacht club but are moored at Dun Laoghaire Marina.

The Beneteau 31.7 boat is not new to Dublin Bay, as boats of this size and type have competed in DBSC in the Cruiser 2 class for some years.

However during the 2006 season, due to their increased numbers, DBSC granted the class its own racing start, thereby facilitating one-design racing for this cruiser/racer.

Since then it has become one of the biggest one-design keelboat classes on the Bay.

One-design rules were drawn up to discourage modifications, maintain a level playing field and set a generally ‘Corinthian’ ethos.

To preserve the cruising dimension, the boat races with cushions aboard.

Numbers entered in DBSC have settled down to approx 15-18 boats, and regular Thursday and Saturday attendances over the season are usually of the order of 14 to 16 boats, reflecting good participation by members. Racing is close and competitive.

In addition to scratch results, ECHO results are also posted. This combines the best of both worlds, providing one-design racing which the members like, while also providing an incentive and interest in turning out for those boats who may not always approach podium position on scratch.

At A Glance – Beneteau First 31.7 Specifications

L.O.A 9.61 m
Hull length 9.50 m
L.W.L. 8.80 m
Beam 3.23 m
Draught min (Deep draught keel) Cast iron 1.90 m
Ballast weight (Deep draught keel) 1 025 kg
Air draught (max) 13.90 m
Light displacement (EC) 3 750 kg
Fuel capacity 30 l
Freshwater capacity 160 l
Engine power 21 HP