Maritime economy: Mainport Group expanding in all sectors
Mainport Edge is the Mainport Group's offshore support ship, which supports seabed survey facilities for global geo-data specialists in the international offshore energy sector.
The Mainport Group is a provider of marine services to ship-owners, exporters, importers, oil companies, seismic survey companies and offshore wind energy development.
Founded in 1957 by the late Finbarr Ronayne, and steered today by his son David Ronayne, CEO of The Mainport Group, the company has worked in North & South America, the Middle East, Africa, Malaysia, Australia and the European Union.
With a fleet consisting of tugs, platform supply vessels, seismic support vessels and a seismic chase vessels and geophysical survey vessels. Mainport currently employs 200 people covering its shipping, stevedoring, agency operations, freight forwarding, warehousing and worldwide crew.
The Group specialises in ships agency services, provided nationwide, through partnerships around Ireland resulting in a single point of contact for all Irish port calls. Each of the group companies is well-established and can offer extensive local knowledge in each location giving a professional, flexible and efficient service.
“Business has varied in 2025, looking across the various services that we provide,” explains Seán Murphy, managing director of Ronayne Shipping Ltd. “Our stevedoring and vessel agency regular customer base have remained steady as well as new additional project cargo projects in 2025. Our warehousing portfolio has grown from 72,000sqft to 110,000sqft which caters for current customer expansion as well as new entries into the Irish market.”
The Freight Forwarding Department, looking after the various containerised cargos exporting to and importing from all four corners of the globe for customers, has faced challenges due to the geopolitical tensions which has impacted the markets.
“There was also a lot of front-loading of the markets due to potential Trump tariffs coming into play. From September through to November we see a seasonal peak with companies importing additional stocks to cover the festive season.”
Seán explains that Ronayne Shipping Ltd are pleased to continue to enjoy very long-standing relationships with a variety of customers: “I believe this is due to the calibre of our people and how they serve our loyal customers.”
These clients include Pipelife Ireland, Grimaldi Lines, Grasslands Agro, MSL Engineering Ltd, Euroforest Ireland, Yara Ireland, Stryker, Irish International Trading Corporation (IITC), Seabox Group Ireland, NRG Awareness, Dairygold Agri, Euroactive, David Lowe, Ceva Logistics, Lidl, Browne Brothers Site Services, Alliance Packaging, Asso Subsea (Celtic Interconnector Project) and QK Meats.
“With our stevedoring and vessel agency teams we enjoy going from the discharge of over 1,000 new vehicles for Grimaldi to unloading 4000MT of Bulk Fertiliser for Grasslands or Yara or 6000MT of Bulk Salt for IITC to loading Break Bulk cargos as very large and heavy modules for MSL. We also handle very large project cargoes like 130MT Reactors going to the refinery or copper pot stills and fermentation tanks going to IDL.”
Operations also include vessel agency teams looking after the Asso Subsea Celtic Interconnector Project cable laying vessels.
“It ranges from loading logs from Tivoli down to hand delivering a very important envelope or parcel anywhere in the world, if requested to do so. This doesn’t factor in the daily management and moving of goods around the world with the Freight Forwarding department or the multiple goods coming in and out of the warehouses.
“Every day is different, but that’s what we get a kick from and it’s all our own people carrying out these tasks,” he adds. As members of Seajet Logistics Network, they recently attended their annual conference in Dubai.
“During our trip we met with a number of new international partners, and one very interesting prospect is the Canadian agent, with whom we are in the final stages of a large new warehousing contract for Ireland, as well as discussing an exclusive all European representation agreement.
“Another interesting company based in Cork is MSL Engineering Ltd with whom we have been facilitating the loading of modules on project cargo vessels going to the USA for the semi-conductor industry. We are also moving other modules for them to Denmark for a new pharmaceutical plant being built. It’s unbelievable what MSL are achieving on the global stage with their module fabrication and installation offerings and we are extremely proud to be a small cog in the wheel of their success.”
Playing a key role in offshore renewable energy Looking to new markets, Ronayne Shipping Ltd has had a successful 2025 so far.
“We are in the process of expanding our airfreight department, since July 2025 we have tasked one of our team to focus his energy entirely on Airfreight sales, and since doing this we have seen our airfreight volumes triple. We are also steadily proving to Irish importers and exporters as far away as Galway that they can save on their freight rates by routing their cargos via Cork versus Dublin.”
There are savings to be made on rates as well as free time granted for their goods whilst transiting through the Port of Cork.
“The likelihood is that their containers / goods share the same vessels that are discharging or loading at both ports in any case,” he says.
Ronayne Shipping Ltd has 20 employees based at its HQ on Cork’s Monahan Road, but the numbers can grow and exceed 70 persons on any given day when its large stevedoring labour force is factored in, depending on the number vessels in port.
“I cannot see why the workforce will not grow in the future when you factor in how our diverse society is continuing to grow. As an island nation the majority of goods transit our ports which are an integral part to the success of our nation.”
The ongoing development of Offshore Renewable Energy offers a major opportunity for the company in the coming years.
“When you look around Ringaskiddy at the windmills, think of us. It was our stevedores that discharged these windmills from vessels in The Port of Cork’s Ringaskiddy Deep Water facility using their LHM mobile cranes prior to the delivery and erection on site,” he explains.
“We already have the stevedores experienced in handling such cargos in place and the new CORE1 facility coming on stream will allow for new ORE opportunities from Cork. We value the strong and collaborative working relationship we have with the Port, and we recognise the significant investment and strategic planning currently underway to expand capacity in Ringaskiddy, particularly to support larger vessels and the emerging offshore wind sector.”
As this development progresses, one of the key challenges facing all concerned is the availability of suitable land to accommodate future growth: “This is an important consideration not only for Ronayne Shipping Ltd (The Mainport Group), but also for the Port and the wider Cork Harbour economy, as unlocking and optimising land in Ringaskiddy will be essential to sustaining efficient trade flows and ensuring the region is well positioned as a leading hub for renewable energy activity into the future.”
With 2026 now just weeks away, Seán Murphy looks to the future with confidence that Ronayne Shipping will continue to grow in the years ahead.
“We are excited for the coming years and what they might bring for us, for Cork and the wider region. Especially with MSL Engineering who are close to finalising a project for a large fabrication and installation for a valued pharmaceutical client in Belgium.
“We know that we can lean on various third-party proven and reliable companies outside of what the Port of Cork can offer – like East Cork Crane Hire or Glenmill Engineering and many other reliable and local companies that complement these projects and what we do ourselves in ensuring and delivering on our customers promises to their client base globally. We feel we have the knowledge and personnel to deliver any task, idea or dream someone might come to us with – and we will do what we can to safely and successfully deliver it.”
- Seán Murphy can be contacted via email at:
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