The largest dry bulk carrier to dock at an Irish port, the 183,000tonne P&O operated Panamian-registered Buccleuch, came along side yesterday at the deep-water jetty of the ESB generating station at Moneypoint, Co Clare. It was under the pilotage of the Shannon estuary port company.
The vessel is discharging 160,139 tonnes of coal from Richards Bay, South Africa, the largest unloaded at Moneypoint. The previous largest vessel to come into an Irish port was the Cape class Front Driver, a 169,000-tonne vessel which brought in 130,000 tonnes of coal last May for the ESB.
The docking was supervised by assistant harbour master Capt Jim Whyte, who said "only the Shannon estuary could accommodate a vessel of this size". The harbour master, Capt Alan Coghlan, said the size of the vessel made it more cost-effective. "As one of the longest deep-water estuarine ports in western Europe we see the Shannon estuary as having great potential for transshipment."
The Buccleuch has a draught of 17 metres and is 284 metres in length and 47 metres wide.