34


Issue 2 2012


///IRELAND Belfast’s fortunes are blowing in the wind


The port of Belfast saw a 14% increase in trailer numbers to 357,000 last year thanks to the improved Stena Line service to Cairnryan. The operator’s new Scottish


terminal complements its earlier investment


in Belfast and the more reliable vessels serving the


route proved their worth during several winter gales, suffering no disruption, says port commercial director Joe O’Neill. Stena’s


service to Liverpool


suffered an untimely disruption on 7 March when its ferry Ferronia collided with a small cargo vessel, but this route, which replaced the


The port of Belfast prepares a 20hectare site where Dong Energy will assemble wind turbines


former DFDS Belfast-Heysham and Stena’s own Fleetwood-Larne services, is also understood to be performing well. Larne in particular continues to shrink, with P&O withdrawing its daily service from Troon. “We’re a better hub option,” O’Neill says. Containerised traffic in and


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out of Belfast remains flat, but breakbulk volumes are racing ahead, fuelled by steel imports for Northern Ireland’s engineering companies. FG Wilson (generators), Terex (screening and crushing equipment) and


Hyster (forkliſt trucks) Harbour are all


winning good export orders. Belfast


also


classifies offshore wind turbine components as breakbulk cargo. Harland & Wolff is shipping in growing quantities of towers, base


stations and blades for


partial assembly. Separately, Belfast is reinforcing its position as a renewable energy hub with the construction a £50 million terminal where Dong Energy will also assemble wind turbines in a joint venture with Scottish Power, set to open in 2013.


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Less ferry space, but rates remain under pressure


P&O switched European Endeavour to the Irish Sea following the departure of DFDS


Irish Sea ro-ro volumes fell by 3% last year, but analysts estimate there was a 10% capacity reduction following the departure of DFDS from the market. However, despite this apparent tightening, the market continues under pressure and the remaining players see limited scope to increase their rates. P&O saw a welcome increase


in volumes last year, “but the challenge was rate recovery,” says Charlie Greene, general manager, Republic of Ireland. “There is still a lot of overcapacity.” The operator discontinued its crossing between January.


daily freight Larne and Troon in attitude is key®


Troon can accommodate only shallow-draught vessels and the need for repair work on the Norcape, the only conventional ferry assigned to the route, forced P&O’s hand. P&O retains a seasonal


passenger-only fast ferry service out of Troon, while the Larne- Cairnryan service, currently operating three times a day, has absorbed all its freight traffic on the northern corridor. However, P&O has deployed


extra capacity on the key Liverpool-Dublin route following the loss of DFDS to the market, introducing


the ro-pax vessel


European Endeavour, with up to 1,500 lane metres available for accompanied trailers. Irish hauliers, including major


names, continue to go out of business every month and Greene has some sympathy with his freight customers. “The way the Irish economy is going, the flow of consumer goods is greatly reduced and imports have been massively hit. Hauliers have to be a lot more careful to get matching loads,” he says.


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