Maritime News Thread

blackwhite

Some arrangement struck with Liverpool - see they got back underway overnight

Topgear on Dave

blackwhite wrote: »

From what I’ve heard from someone working there, Dublin Port were instructed by senior civil servants to allow P&O to sail.

There is a time and a place to have a ding dong with a ferry company, and now is not the time or place.:pac:


Sort the whole thing out in court in a year or two.

Tabnabs

A High Court judge has ordered the arrest of a ferry ship which is due to dock in Dublin Port this evening.

The warrant for the arrest of the ship, Norbank, a car passenger and freight ferry, was sought over an alleged debt of €381,000 owed in relation to charter fees on another vessel.

Seatruck Ferries Ltd with registered offices at North Quay, Port of Heysham, Morecambe in Lancashire, UK had sought the arrest warrant.

Counsel for the company James Lawless BL told the High Court the warrant for the arrest of the Dutch registered vessel Norbank was sought in respect of security relating to a claim for the sum of €381,000 which Seatruck Ferries claims it is owed by P&0 European Ferries (Irish Sea) Limited, the owners of Norbank in respect of charterparty hire.

The Norbank travels the Irish Sea between Liverpool and Dublin and is due in Dublin Port at around 5pm this evening.(wed)

The claim relates to the charter of the MV Clipper Pennant to P&0 European Ferries (Irish Sea) Ltd by Seatruck Ferries at a daily rate of €12,500 for a year from November 2019.

It is claimed the €381,000 allegedly owed related hire from April to May and for passenger costs for February 2020.

Counsel told the court the arrest of the Norbank was being sought because P&0 European Ferries (Irish Sea) Ltd owned Norbank and the MV Clipper Pennant was also chartered to P&0 European Ferries (Irish Sea) Ltd.

In an affidavit to the court the solicitor for Seatruck Ferries, Helen Noble said the sums allegedly owed were due for payment on April 8 this year. She said Seatruck Ferries had been notified the MV Clipper Pennant had been detained at Dublin Port over the alleged failure to pay harbour dues. Ms Noble said another vessel chartered or owned by the charterer was allegedly detained at Liverpool Port which it is claimed is due substantial unpaid harbour dues.

Ms Nobel said Seatruck Ferries is very concerned that the sums owed to it will not be paid.

Mr Lawless told the court that a caveat in relation to €30,000 had been received but he said the debt was in excess of that amount which he contended rendered the caveat redundant.

Mr Justice McDonald made the order for the arrest of the Norbank as security for the claim in the proceedings.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/high-court-orders-arrest-of-ferry-ship-due-in-dublin-port-this-evening-995465.html

AndyBoBandy

Whats the deal with the ship anchored off Skerries the last few weeks?

I'm assuming a reduction in volume has meant they take it off it's route, and it's cheaper to keep her anchored somewhere out of the way, rather than paying harbour fee's somewhere? I'd presume there's a skeleton crew on board to keep systems in check and maintain an anchor watch?

blackwhite

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Whats the deal with the ship anchored off Skerries the last few weeks?

I'm assuming a reduction in volume has meant they take it off it's route, and it's cheaper to keep her anchored somewhere out of the way, rather than paying harbour fee's somewhere? I'd presume there's a skeleton crew on board to keep systems in check and maintain an anchor watch?

It came to the end of a charter, and Stena haven’t found anyone to take her on since. Costs nothing to go to anchorage compared to paying port dues somewhere, and no point burning fuel until they know where they’re going next

AndyBoBandy

blackwhite wrote: »

It came to the end of a charter, and Stena haven’t found anyone to take her on since. Costs nothing to go to anchorage compared to paying port dues somewhere, and no point burning fuel until they know where they’re going next

Most likely got a Filipino crew on board costing very little also?

blackwhite

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Most likely got a Filipino crew on board costing very little also?

I doubt it.

It's a 12PC so crew will be predominantly Deck or Engine crew. Given it's Stena I'd imagine it's largely Scandi, German or Polish officers and crew.


A quick google shows the Chief Officer is Swedish anyway
https://stena.teamtailor.com/people/50299-sabrina-jikander

Odelay

blackwhite wrote: »

I doubt it.

It's a 12PC so crew will be predominantly Deck or Engine crew. Given it's Stena I'd imagine it's largely Scandi, German or Polish officers and crew.


A quick google shows the Chief Officer is Swedish anyway
https://stena.teamtailor.com/people/50299-sabrina-jikander

Not what I was expecting. Nice.

Fann Linn

blackwhite wrote: »

I doubt it.

It's a 12PC so crew will be predominantly Deck or Engine crew. Given it's Stena I'd imagine it's largely Scandi, German or Polish officers and crew.


A quick google shows the Chief Officer is Swedish anyway
https://stena.teamtailor.com/people/50299-sabrina-jikander

I used to work for them. Normally crews on those freight ships operating on Irish Sea route are a mix of Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh, and that would apply to deck, engineering and catering ratings. Indeed one crew I worked with had a Chief Engineer from Tipp and an electrical engineering officer from Wexford.
Ships were unionised with ratings covered by RMT and officers by Numast. We sailed under the Red Ensign and took lead from UK Board of Trade Articles.

Every now and again whilst our regular ship went on refit or redeployed we would get another ship in and that replacement would in the main have their original officers and perhaps a bosun, but the majority of us would just be transferred across. If the ship was on a long term charter the officers would stay with us for a few weeks for loading/unloading berthing trials etc and then we would take it over, unless it was a term of charter that they remain.

I'd assume the same crewing arrangements are probably still in place, although it is over 20 years since I worked there, so they may have changed.

blackwhite

Fann Linn wrote: »

I used to work for them. Normally crews on those freight ships operating on Irish Sea route are a mix of Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh, and that would apply to deck, engineering and catering ratings. Indeed one crew I worked with had a Chief Engineer from Tipp and an electrical engineering officer from Wexford.
Ships were unionised with ratings covered by RMT and officers by Numast. We sailed under the Red Ensign and took lead from UK Board of Trade Articles.

Every now and again whilst our regular ship went on refit or redeployed we would get another ship in and that replacement would in the main have their original officers and perhaps a bosun, but the majority of us would just be transferred across. If the ship was on a long term charter the officers would stay with us for a few weeks for loading/unloading berthing trials etc and then we would take it over, unless it was a term of charter that they remain.

I'd assume the same crewing arrangements are probably still in place, although it is over 20 years since I worked there, so they may have changed.

As I understand it, Foreteller charters with full Stena crew on board. Stay with the vessel regardless of who she goes to

kub

A new freight ro ro service between Cork and Zeebrugee, I wonder how successful it will be ?


https://www.independent.ie/business/cork-gains-freight-link-to-heart-of-europe-39149905.html

Widdensushi

https://www.facebook.com/589824544423929/posts/3810057722400579/

Spanish fishermen that landed in castletownbere test positive for Covid19 when they returned to Spain

Atlantic Dawn

MV Alta scrappage could cost €10million...

International maritime salvage experts say it could cost upwards of €10m to salvage the MV Alta.
The ghost ship washed ashore off the Cork coast earlier this year.
The Receiver of Wreck said it was still trying to establish ownership as fears grow locally that she will be left to rust on the coastline.
Storm Dennis ravaged the country in February and in its wake the MV Alta washed ashore.
Abandoned 16 months earlier by her crew near Bermuda, the 44-year-old merchant ship had been adrift in the Atlantic, before the it washed up near Ballycotton.

https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2020/0504/1136399-mv-alta/

whisky_galore

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

MV Alta scrappage could cost €10million...



https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2020/0504/1136399-mv-alta/

I'd expect it to remain a landmark for some time yet. Pray for a storm to take it off our hands.

AndyBoBandy

I assume she's holed and would no longer float of her own accord?

Could she be patched up, and towed out about 200nm past the Goban Spur where it's 4,000m deep and scuttled? Surely that'd be a lot cheaper than trying to salvage her!

Kiwi John

The last owner was a Florida company and the US Coast Guard said they were making arrangements with the owner to have it towed so they must know who owns it . I would think that the government know who is responsible for removing it but getting them to salvage it would be the hard bit.
My guess is it will be staying where it is.

Hoagy

This is an interesting video about Princess Cruise ships and repatriating crew members, there is a more recent update on the Youtube channel as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbOltfFmQ2Y

Jim Gazebo

Very interesting read. Have a few friends stuck out at the moment and it's not pretty.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/may/11/cargo-ship-sailors-press-ganged-into-keeping-the-worlds-trade-afloat

Tabnabs

Good news for Rosslare port.

An offshore wind base is being established at an Irish port to supply future offshore wind farms and help scale up production in the region.

Dutch logistics management company XELLZ said it has secured approximately 200,000sqm of land at the Port of Rosslare, primarily a ferry port. The company will establish the offshore wind supply base through its offshore subsidiary 24shore and XELLZ Ireland Ltd with the aim of eventually equipping the port to serve to serve the Irish and the Celtic Sea as well as reaching the UK east coast and continental Europe where many OWF’s are planned.

Petrus Bouwhuis, CEO of XELLZ B.V., said the deal "marks the real beginning for this development to serve the future offshore wind farms in the Irish and Celtic Sea. EBP’s land gives direct access to the quay for loading and offloading of offshore wind equipment, and we are now ready to talk to interested parties".

The land has been named Europort Business Park (EBP) and divided into five different zones which are situated alongside the new planned access road into the port. The land connects the port area, with direct access to the quay, and will be used for offshore supply base operations including pre-installation assembly and mobilisation.

Businesses directly related to future Offshore Wind Farms (OWF’s) will be able to establish their companies at EBP. The area offers ample storage and assembly areas to manage the wind turbines, transition pieces and mobilisation equipment. For the future, there is also space available for small to medium enterprises (SME’s) interested in providing maintenance, operational, and repair services to this budding renewable energy market.

https://www.greenport.com/news101/energy-and-technology/irish-port-becomes-offshore-wind-supply-base?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTUdGbU1tUTBOMlE1TnpSbSIsInQiOiJvelJPR3VXandybjg3dWFnbjVQWHBaaW01VGpwRGV2RFwvQityR1hEOFdPTWRmemhZSVwvOXN3VjJKbVI2OFpiTnFxdFl5VFRJVVZQY1ErcFY2eUdVRkZjRGgwTXM1bHJsQ0FIamlcL3dBSHJ0ZlQ4ZVM0V2hlNUhIZmlXZEtzTUNNKyJ9

neris

On Rosslare I see their new TD Verona Murphy is looking for the Govt to flog off Dublin port and move it to Rosslare. Massive amount of infratsucture needed to get it up to any where like Dublin port and the road network is dire for anything that has to go by truck. Maybe as a long term staggered state project but not in the next few years

loyatemu

neris wrote: »

On Rosslare I see their new TD Verona Murphy is looking for the Govt to flog off Dublin port and move it to Rosslare. Massive amount of infratsucture needed to get it up to any where like Dublin port and the road network is dire for anything that has to go by truck. Maybe as a long term staggered state project but not in the next few years

she is/was also head of the truckers association. Benefits Wexford, puts more trucks on the road - sounds like her sort of thing.

ezra_

neris wrote: »

On Rosslare I see their new TD Verona Murphy is looking for the Govt to flog off Dublin port and move it to Rosslare. Massive amount of infratsucture needed to get it up to any where like Dublin port and the road network is dire for anything that has to go by truck. Maybe as a long term staggered state project but not in the next few years

To be fair, a lot of goods landing in dublin don't stay there. Free up the land, build more houses and run more ships into Waterford / Wexford.

With the M11 / M9, you've good access to the M7 and M4.

AndyBoBandy

Didn't they (someone?) announce they wanted to move Dublin Port up to Drogheda or Dundalk within a year of the Port Tunnel opening?

neris

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

Didn't they (someone?) announce they wanted to move Dublin Port up to Drogheda or Dundalk within a year of the Port Tunnel opening?

That was about 20 years ago. Think David McWilliams was flying that kite again last year but he was pushing for it in a practical way that the port couldn't just be moved as such and would have to be a long term project both to build a new port and infrastructure and to clean up the current port lands for development

Tabnabs

Bremore Port.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremore_Port

It was a political project and the big boys in Dublin Port were dead set against it.

Jim Gazebo

https://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/news/dry-dock-opens-new-chapter-with-arrival-of-troubled-ship-198910/

Saw a pic of this on Facebook today. Worth looking at. Picturesque, massive dry dock. Some operation.

whisky_galore

loyatemu wrote: »

she is/was also head of the truckers association. Benefits Wexford, puts more trucks on the road - sounds like her sort of thing.

Ironic or fitting, or both, that Rosslare is operated by a railway company not in the least bit interested in running a railway.

Tabnabs

Likely to be seen as controversial in some quarters.

A FEDERAL JUDGE in the US state of Virginia has ruled that a salvage firm can retrieve the Marconi wireless telegraph machine that broadcast distress calls from the sinking Titanic ocean liner.

In an order released today, US District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith agreed that the telegraph is historically and culturally important and could soon be lost within the rapidly decaying wreck site.

She wrote that recovering the telegraph “will contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic, those who survived, and those who gave their lives in the sinking”.

Ms Smith is the maritime jurist who presides over Titanic salvage matters from a federal court in Norfolk.

Her ruling modifies a previous judge’s order from the year 2000 that forbids cutting into the shipwreck or detaching any part of it.

Ms Smith’s order is a big win for RMS Titanic Inc, the court-recognised salvor, or steward, of the Titanic’s artefacts.

The firm recently emerged from bankruptcy and is under new ownership.

The Titanic had been travelling from England to New York when it struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the 2,208 passengers and crew.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which represents the public’s interest in the wreck site, fiercely opposes the mission.

NOAA argued in court documents that the telegraph is likely surrounded “by the mortal remains of more than 1,500 people” and should be left alone.

The company said it plans to exhibit the ship’s telegraph with stories of the men who tapped out distress calls to nearby ships “until seawater was literally lapping at their feet”.

“The brief transmissions sent among those ships’ wireless operators, staccato bursts of information and emotion, tell the story of Titanic’s desperate fate that night: the confusion, chaos, panic, futility and fear,” the company wrote in court filings.

The proposed expedition also has been controversial among some archaeological and preservation experts, and the firm may face more legal battles before salvage vehicles can descend nearly 2.5 miles to the bottom of the North Atlantic.

NOAA says the expedition is prohibited under federal law and an international agreement between the United and the United Kingdom. Those restrictions emerged in the years after the court’s 2000 order.

https://www.thejournal.ie/titanic-sos-salvage-judge-5103287-May2020/

whisky_galore

I thought that travelling circus Premier Exhibitions/RMS Titanic Inc had filed for bankruptcy?

Topgear on Dave

Interesting interview with Matt Cooper now with a crew member of a cruise ship who spent a few weeks in quarantine on his cruise ship off the US coast. He's from Waterford.

The passengers had already been unloaded but the 2000 crew seems to have been badly caught. 26 days in full lockdown and 3 more weeks of some restrictions.

Edit. Peter Smith. A very cheerful man but that must have been a very stressful experience.