AS COUNTY Limerick was in lockdown last week for the storm of the century with motorists advised to stay indoors and keep well away from the roads, it was business as usual on the River Shannon.
Not a sausage was to be had in the local shops, but steely dockers at Limerick Dock were out in their thermals to make sure the freight ships were loaded and ready to set sail for distant shores with their cargo.
In fact, not only was it business as usual at Limerick Dock during the worst of ‘Storm Emma’ and the ‘Beast from the East’, but new records were set with the largest shipment of scrap metal to date, leaving Limerick this Monday despite the dismal weather conditions last weekend.
Mullock and Sons Shipbrokers Ltd are 240 years in business in the city this year and know just how important the River Shannon and Limerick Dock are to industry.
“The MV WARNOW is the largest cargo of recyclable scrap metal which we have shipped to date out of Limerick Dock,” John Dundon, managing director of Mulllock and Sons told the Limerick Post this week.
“Recyclable scrap is now going out of Limerick Dock for over the last two decades since Irish Steel closed in Cork and over 5,200 tons left on this lady with a six-metre sailing draft on a Spring tide.
“Because Limerick City did not get hit too bad by the snow we managed to load her over last Wednesday and get her away, which was a fair old task given that all other business was more or less shut down.
“Time and tide waits for no man. The great Limerick Dock and River Shannon is very important to our local industries. It acts as a sheltered artery too and from our business and homes, recyclable scrap exported one time, salt for our roads imported next time and a multitude of other commodities. These types of commodities cannot be moved except by this type of transport modes due to the considerable volumes involved,” John explained.
