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Issue 2 2015 - Freight Business Journal


Cork’s dairymen to milk export opportunities


Port of Cork chairman John Mullins is predicting “a surge in imported goods during 2015,” reflecting stronger consumer confidence. And commercial manager Michael McCarthy tells FBJ that this could be matched by increased exports with dairy producers “milling around the starting line” as they await the lifting of Common Agriculture Policy production limits in April. A study by the port indicated expansion


50% of dairy


products nationally by 2020, with 70% of this concentrated in Muster and South Leinster. Demand


will come mainly


from China, India, the Middle East and north and central Africa markets that McCarthy says Irish exporters will access via Europe’s “northern range” ports. He is upbeat as well about


the prospect of chilled and frozen beef exports to the US, after the Department of Agriculture (USDA) informed its


Irish counterpart December that in Ireland had


passed a beef slaughter inspection. This approval follows a decision by the USDA in March 2014 to end a ban on EU beef dating right back to the BSE outbreak of 1998. EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan, who was previously Irish environment minister, described the decision as “a vote of confidence after a long


wait”. McCarthy hopes the


development will persuade shipping lines operating westbound transatlantic services


from Le Havre,


expansion at Ringaskiddy is vital


to accommodate future


growth and take pressure off its existing facilities. It still awaits a decision on a planning application for


“ Aſter 16 years out of the market,


exportes have to reacquaint themselves with US customers ”


Rotterdam or even Liverpool to call at Cork to pick up cheese, Guinness and pharmaceuticals, all big sellers in the US, as well as beef. “After 16 years out of the


market, exporters have to re- acquaint themselves with US customers, but I see Ireland being first out of the blocks,” he says. In its annual results, the Port


of Cork said it handled 190,000 teu of containerised cargo at its Tivoli and Ringaskiddy terminals last year, up 13% over 2013. Imports and exports were almost exactly in balance, reports McCarthy. However, there was an


overall 4% fall in traffic due to a slowdown in oil movements through Cork and Bantry Bay. Animal feed and cereal imports were down more than 20% because of unusually fine weather through the summer and autumn, resulting in a favourable harvest for Irish farmers. The Port of Cork’s desired


improved infrastructure at the site, lodged in May 2014. “After an oral hearing in


September, we were promised a decision in November, then December,” McCarthy says. “In January, An Bord Pleanála came back requesting more information relating to the environmental impact statement. We’re hoping for a go-ahead in April or May now. “We’ve not been standing


still and are looking at potential partnerships, funding, and potential terminal design and layout. We still think we could have a multi-purpose 300 metre berth in operation by 2018, with an additional 250 metre berth in phase two, taking


400,000 teu.” Ahead of 2018, the port will


have to consider bringing in new equipment such as RTGs, straddle carriers and forklift trucks at its existing Tivoli facility - all items that could be relocated to a new site following planning approval.


new and


///IRELAND Quality Freight ploughs new fields


Quality Freight Group is touring the world, from China to County Laois in the rural heart of Ireland, to promote its business. And the company’s efforts are paying off, according to commercial director Roger Barham. A member of the WCA network


of independent forwarders, Quality Freight


attended the


organisation’s conference in Hong Kong in February. It is now collaborating more closely with an agent in China, generating containerised imports of a wide variety of products from the Far East into Ireland. Partnerships with small and


medium forwarders globally are crucial to success in the UK and Ireland, Barham explains. “An effective Asian partner is just one element. The WCA network creates revenue for us but also provides us with a bonded resource,” he says. “If we need advice on customs


capacity to 300,000-


regulations in Brazil, for example, we know someone in Santos we can email. Partnering agents with this local know-how, makes the world a smaller place. You know the network has vetted them, so you’re in safe hands.”


Ireland’s National Ploughing Championships, part


of Vessel chartering for all offices an


agricultural trade show that attracts almost 300,000 visitors to Ratheniska, Laois, was also part of Quality Freight’s marketing effort last year. “We took our new exhibition


stand there and met the Irish President and Taoiseach [prime minister],” Barham says. “It’s a major event on the calendar and led to project cargo and vessel charter enquiries.” Project work, involving door-to-


door movements of machinery and transfers of bulk material, is also growing for group offices in Dublin, Belfast and Knock as Ireland’s economic recovery continues. “Having a west of Ireland office in Knock was one reason why we attracted interest from a blue-chip pharmaceutical supplier,” Barham claims. Quality Freight recently


provided a vessel for a Dutch producer of minerals and additives


for the oil and gas


industry, when it needed to ship 2,000 one-tonne bags of bentonite to Dublin. On arrival, the material was de-bagged and moved on by road tanker.


is handled from Quality Freight’s Ellesmere Port office, where two resident chartered shipbrokers monitor vessel availability fixture possibilities worldwide, including the opportunity to service Ireland with bulk cargoes. Last


year, Quality Freight


Netherlands was established in Rotterdam alongside sister company Bulk Logistics Solutions, offering Irish and UK businesses a gateway to and from continental Europe for part and full loads. The group also sees a growth


opportunity in relocations, moving personal effects for corporate and diplomatic personnel when they go on overseas secondments. Many forwarders claim to offer


this service, Barham points out, but few can offer the attention to detail the relocation business demands, from the initial survey to the limousine transport at both ends of the journey that VIPs and their families may expect. “Again, this underlines the


value of being part of a network of experienced, capable partners,” he says.


Superior: from pallets to parcels


The white Sprinter vans and curtainsiders of Superior Express are a familiar sight around Dublin and the province of Leinster. The company delivers parcels and pallets right across Ireland, directly and through partners, and saw its business grow by more than 20% last year as the country’s economic recovery gathered pace. Contracted partners now


deliver pallets each evening into Superior’s 40,000 sq ft warehouse on the Western Industrial Estate, close to the M50 motorway, and head back up country overnight. The companies pay a hub charge, just as in the more formal pallet networks. A wide range of products


from pharmaceutical and food packaging to point-of- sale material are held in stock at the facility. Around 1,000 faster-moving consignments, including satellite TV equipment and electrical components for wind farms, move through the pallet system each night. Brian Cleary and his wife


Deirdre have been in business almost 30 years, setting up to deliver engineering parts in 1986 and soon building a network of 30 to 40 motorcycle couriers. They took over a couple of rival express carriers and then a transport company in Bray, south of Dublin. “We saw the depression


coming in 2006 and changed our IT structure to help us


weather it,” Cleary says. “We have always been big on service and introduced track and trace ahead of many of our competitors.” The company’s new IT


system provides planning, scheduling and dispatch solutions for the transport sector, and enables Superior to improve service levels while reducing its back-office staff. “We’ve been able to capitalise on the service failings of some of the other networks,” Cleary says. The company recently went


through ISO 9001 quality assurance and ISO 18001 occupational health and safety assessments, and hopes to be certified to both standards by May.


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