The 'Sota Arritokieta'

The 'Sota Arritokieta' is a large cargo vessel built in 1981 in the Astilleros Balenciaga Shipyard in Zumala, Spain. Her owners were the Sota Line based in the Basque Region, Northern Spain. With a length of 90 meters, she has a deadweight tonnage of 4,500 tons.

The vessel traded with the Sota Line until 1987, when she became the 'Mango' and was owned by the Wilson Line until 2009. Then she was renamed the 'Wakil Star' until 2012. Currently, she sails under the name 'Itidal', working in the Eastern Mediterranean. Owned by the Ism Group in Beirut, the Lebanon, she trades mainly between Turkiye and Beirut.

Sota Line vessels regularly called to Wicklow Port from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. They imported chipboard and other building materials from Spain. The 'Sota Arritokieta' , as she was then, was the biggest ship of the Sota Line fleet, and probably one of the largest ships ever to visit Wicklow Port, although she was not as frequent a visitor compared to the fleet's smaller vessels.

In August 1982, while docked along the Packet Pier, she was found to have Colorado Beetle in her chipboard cargo. This necessitated the ship being impounded and moved to the East Pier where her lids were sealed and the vessel fumigated over a period of four days - a time when the whole port was closed off to marine traffic.

I recall that during these works, the Captain of the 'Sota' suffered a heart attack on board and had to be air lifted to hospital where, thankfully, he fully recovered. The Sota Line company flew in a replacement Captain just before her cargo was allowed to be unloaded. It was while I was recently retouching my mural of the 'Sota that I met two men who shared with me that, as teenagers, they were prevented from going fishing because of the port's closure at that time.

It was shortly after this unfortunate incident that I decided in August 1982 to paint my mural of this magnificent ship. I remember being fascinated by her huge size as she was tied up on the East Pier. The 'Itidal' is still sailing as a trader to this day. 

My retouching of the mural gives the vessel a very glossy look such that you would need sunglasses to view it comfortably on a bright sunny day, as you can see from the photo below!