Survey support ship Mainport Edge docks in Cork Harbour to restock

Mainport Shipping Limited has today welcomed its new offshore support ship, Mainport Edge, to Cork.. Picture: Clare Keogh

Ireland’s latest offshore wind survey support ship has docked in Cork Harbour, arriving fresh in from China via Turkey.

Owned by Cork’s Mainport Shipping, the Mainport Edge will support seabed survey facilities for global geodata specialists in the international offshore energy sector.

The new €25m ship, which was made in China and is 59.6m long, is the second wind energy offshore support ship in the Mainport Shipping fleet.

The CEO of Mainport Shipping, which was set up in 1957, Dave Ronayne said: “The complexity of surveying the seabed in deep waters, requires specialist vessels and support such as the Mainport Edge.

Our market is fragmented with many shipping companies each with a limited number of ships

Mainport Edge will work on an offshore wind project in Scotland, and it will conduct a geophysical survey consisting of a range of acoustic and sonar sensors to investigate the seafloor and subsurface.

Its visit to Cork is to restock the vessel and carry out necessary maintenance work.

The company has four survey support ships, including the 54.6m-long Mainport Cedar.