Thirteen cargo ships serving the controversial Aughinish Alumina plant, the aluminium oxide refinery in Co Limerick, have been detained by Irish authorities in recent years, more than at any other port in the State.
The ships were detained for defects including safety concerns, a lack of training and poor crew conditions.
Almost a quarter of all ship detentions by Irish authorities since 2020 have occurred at Aughinish, one of 28 official ports in the State.
Ships docking at Aughinish Port exclusively serve Aughinish Alumina, the largest aluminium refinery in Europe.
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The plant is located close to the Shannon-estuary towns of Foynes and Askeaton and is owned by Rusal, a Russian company founded by oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Vessels operated by shipping companies bring in bauxite and then export finished aluminium to Russia and other countries.
Figures published by the international maritime group, the Paris MoU – analysed by The Irish Times – show how since 2020 Irish maritime authorities have conducted 232 inspections of ships at the refinery’s port on the Shannon Estuary.
Inspectors found 351 faults across all inspected vessels.
One detained ship, the River Global, which was flagged in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, had 17 defects including a lack of adequate knowledge of fire or abandon-ship drills among the crew.
The 190-metre bulk carrier was also found to have unsafe working conditions and missing personal protective equipment.
All 13 ships detained at Aughinish were released after a few days on condition they immediately sailed to an agreed repair yard to address the identified issues. The longest detention period was seven days.
During the period, more ships were detained at Aughinish than at the busier ports of Dublin, which handles 50 per cent of the country’s maritime trade, and Cork.
Since 2020, 513 ships have been inspected in Dublin and 10 have been detained. There were just under 290 inspections at Cork, resulting in three detentions.
Foynes Port, a facility further up the Shannon Estuary which handles most of the region’s cargo traffic, also reported a high rate of detentions. In the last five years, there were 155 inspections and 11 detentions.
Aughinish Alumina, which employs around 450 people, has avoided international sanctions to date despite being owned by Russian aluminium giant Rusal.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Irish officials have successfully lobbied to keep the plant, one the region’s major employers, off international sanctions lists.
Mr Deripaska, the founder of Rusal, holds a minority stake in the company. He had close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin and was placed on the US sanctions list following the invasion of Ukraine.
However, it is believed Mr Deripaska, a critic of the invasion, is no longer favoured by Mr Putin. Some of his assets in Russia have been seized by the authorities there.
Ireland conducts ship inspections under a system called Port State Control (PSC). Since 2020, it has conducted more than 1,500 PSC inspections and detained 53 ships.
In extreme circumstances, ships can be banned from Irish waters entirely.
According to the figures, in recent years Ireland has banned one ship, the Evora. The Evora was detained in Galway Bay by Irish authorities in 2019 and later sailed away without permission.
The Department of Transport said it carried out inspections based on risk factors “such as the type of ship, the age of the ship, flag state, company performance and previous inspection records”.
“When a ship is found not to comply with the relevant instruments, enforcement action will be taken to ensure that any deficiencies are rectified,” a spokesman said.
“Enforcement action may result in the detention of a ship until deficiencies are rectified or an agreed time frame for any deficiencies to be rectified.”
Rusal did not respond to requests for comment.
