(Photo by Michael Green, Riversea (http://riversea.tugtalk.co.uk)

Bulker visits port that bears her name
The FURNESS HARTLEPOOL docks in Hartlepool



PD Ports recently welcomed the mv ‘Furness Hartlepool’, one of the largest vessels able to enter Hartlepool dock.

The bulk carrier, weighing 52,500 deadweight tonnes, had sailed from Bunbury, Western Australia, where it had loaded, amongst other cargo for Europe, nearly 10,000 tonnes of titanium ore for Huntsman Tioxide’s plant at Greatham.

The Furness Withy Company has a long-standing historical association with Hartlepool. Furness Withy & Co was founded in West Hartlepool in 1891, when local entrepreneur Christopher Furness merged his shipping and trading interests with Edward Withy’s shipbuilding business. Both companies jointly owned 7 steamer vessels and had part ownership in a further 21. Furness Withy also established a London office in the same year. The business flourished and went on in the last century to own hundreds of ships and operate a worldwide network of shipping lines. The business still continues today, with offices in London and Melbourne, as part of the Hamburg Sud Shipping Group.

In 1897 Furness Withy acquired Irvine’s Shipyard to expand the construction of its own vessels. Coincidentally the ‘Furness Hartlepool’ berthed at this very site on her first visit to Hartlepool in April. The Company went on to build the Haverton Hill shipyard in Middlesbrough, later to become Swan Hunters yard.

To commemorate the historical relationship between Furness Withy and Hartlepool docks and to mark the first voyage of the ‘Furness Hartlepool’ to its named port, the Company hosted a welcoming reception for local guests on board the vessel on 2 April 2007. The ship’s Captain was then presented with an original water-colour painting, depicting the old port of Hartlepool by the very lady who sponsored and launched the ship in the Philippines in April 2006, Mrs Sonia Hayley Bell.

The bulk carrier was built by Tsuneishi Heavy Industries at Cebu