Mainport Group Expand Marine Activities

In the past couple of years the group has established a completely new tug fleet to serve the Shannon area and are rapidly developing a sizable fleet of vessels to serve marine civil engineering projects in and around Ireland.

A new tug fleet conveniently based in Foynes, was formed from scratch in January 2000 by subsidiary Celtic Tugs Ltd and has become an integrated and efficient part of the local shipping infrastructure. The company was awarded a contract to provide towage services on the Shannon at the Electrical Supply Board (ESB) power stations at Moneypoint and Tarbert Ships are also handled at the Aughinish Alumina plant and Foynes Port, and towage services provided elsewhere in the area, including Fenit and Bantry Bay.

The eight-year contract with ESB (+ 2 year options) involves handling bulkers of up to 180,000 dwt at the exposed Moneypoint terminal and smaller tankers supplying coal to the Tarbert installation on the opposite shore of the Shannon estuary.

Bauxite arrives at Aughinish, upstream from Foynes, in ships of up to 80,000 dwt, and in Foynes port cargoes include fertilisers, coal, oil and meat and dairy products. In order to undertake this work three powerful tugs were procured for the purpose.

Flagship of the tug fleet is the Celtic Isle, a stern drive vessel of 34.2m in length originally built for the Hong Kong Salvage & Towage Company in 1986 as the Tai O. The tug is powered by two Yanmar Z280A-ET main engines of 4000bhp driving ‘Duckpeller’ fully azimuthing propulsion units incorporating fixed pitch Kaplan type propellers and integral nozzles. This gives the vessel a bollard pull of 56 tonnes at MCR and a maximum free running speed of 13.3 knots.

Celtic Isle is equipped not only for shiphandling but also deepsea towage, fire fighting and salvage.

One of her most recent seagoing operations was the delivery of the recently salvaged heavy lift ship Clipper Cheyanne from Foynes to France for repair.

Celtic Banner and Celtic Rebel make up the ship-handling fleet at Foynes. Both are stern drive vessels purchased in Japan. Celtic Banner is a 32.83m, Yanmar powered vessel of 3400bhp also with ‘Duckpeller’ propulsion units. Built in Japan in 1982 she has a bollard pull of 47 tonnes ahead and 45 tonnes astern.

The third tug, Celtic Rebel, is an interesting vessel powered by a Niigata propulsion package including 3500 bhp main engines and ‘Z Peller’ azimuthing units.

The vessel has a bollard pull of 48 tonnes ahead and 45 tonnes towing astern, with a free running speed of 13.5 knots. Both tugs are equipped for fire fighting and Celtic Rebel is fitted with a hydraulically operated high-level monitor that folds neatly into a space between her twin exhaust uptakes.

Among the many and varied interests of the Mainport group is Fastnet Logistics Ltd a company set up to operate tugs and barges for use in the marine construction industry, that now has three specialist barges available for charter. To date, the barges have been used to carrying rock for breakwater and pier construction, laying outfalls for pipelines, assisting in the construction of the Dublin Bay pipeline, transporting building materials to various islands around the coast, marine piling works and other marine related projects. The tug Fastnet Falcon, formerly the Abeille 18, with an 18 tonne bollard pull is an ideal size for coastal towage and in addition to towing the company’s own barges is also in constant demand from other marine companies. Capt. Dave Hopkins, Mainport’s Marine Director states that it is their intention to increase the fleet in these niche markets as market trends dictate.