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Issue 7 2015 - Freight Business Journal


///IRELAND Europe’s comeback kids


A business-friendly climate and new industries like pharmaceuticals have led to a revival of fortunes on the Irish Sea. Long may it continue, says beleaguered freight operators. Martin Roebuck reports.


Balancing the boxes


BG Freight Line’s weekly feeder service connecting Rotterdam, Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin has been extended this year to take in Greenock, opening up a new route to market for Scottish exporters of food and drink, chemical and high-tech manufactured goods. Three 1,000teu vessels now


serve the route on a butterfly schedule. “We’re confident that connecting Greenock with Liverpool, Belfast and Rotterdam strengthens our position in the Irish


Sea,” says Paul Mason,


Dublin-based director of BG. “The expanded service has taken off better than we expected and we would consider adding extra


capacity if required.” Imports into Ireland via BG


vessels are up 5 to 6% this year and exports 1-2%, reflecting increased consumer confidence and spending. This brings the container market into better balance, Mason explains. “Traditionally we were in


surplus, with lines repositioning empties to ports such as Rotterdam or Antwerp. That reversed during the downturn and we were bringing in empties, which was unprecedented. Now there are signs of this changing again as imports grow.” On BG’s Continent-Ireland route, cargo leaving Rotterdam


on Saturday morning can be in Dublin on Sunday night, Mason points out, ready for Irish distribution at the start of the working week. Similarly, boxes on the Tuesday departure arrive on Thursday. “It closes the service gap between lo-lo and ro-ro - we’re a cheaper and greener short sea option,” he says. He adds that the Irish Sea


hub concept promoted by BG’s parent company, Peel Ports, will move up to a new level when the Liverpool2 terminal opens in December, doubling the capacity of the port and allowing it to handle much larger container ships.


Ferries fight for centre ground


Irish Ferries carried 170,500 freight units in almost eight months of operation to 22 August this year, 11% up on the same period in 2014. Irish Continental Group (ICG),


which owns Irish Ferries and Eucon and operates container terminals in Dublin and Belfast, reported a slower growth trend in lo-lo over the period. Container freight volumes were up 1% at 183,800teu. There was a 20% year-on-year


increase in the number of units handled at the two terminals, thanks mostly to the group’s winning of


the sole handling


concession in Belfast. Underlying port liſts, excluding volumes at the new VT3 operation, were up 5% at 126,200. The lower cost of fuel was


additional capacity on the


Epsilon is helping drive Dublin to Holyhead ro-ro growth.


partly responsible for a tripling of group operating profit in the six months to 30 June, from €5.2 million to €16.4 million. ICG chairman John McGuckian reported: “This trading momentum has continued over the key summer period.” He warned there would be


“some easing in ro-ro freight volume growth rates” in the second half as the year-on-year comparison will reflect the more established carrying patterns of the Epsilon, which brought major


Dublin-Holyhead route in 2014. Irish Ferries now operates four times per day in each direction with conventional ferries on this core route, with two additional sailings by the high-speed Jonathan Swiſt. Industry data shows that Irish


Sea routes to and from the Irish Republic are running 6% stronger this year. The growth is mainly concentrated on


the central


corridor, driven by Stena Line’s introduction of the Superfast X on Dublin-Holyhead plus the bedding in of the Epsilon. The southern corridor,


comprising Irish Ferries’ Rosslare- Pembroke and Stena’s Rosslare- Fishguard routes, is up 3% year on year while Northern Ireland is seeing just 1% growth.


No milk bonus yet


The dividend Irish manufacturers expected from the abolition of EU dairy quotas has not yet materialised owing to a sharp slowdown in demand from Asia and the resulting collapse in the milk price. “It’s better that this has now rather than


happened


a year or two down the line when massive investment could have happened,” says Michael McCarthy, commercial manager for Port of Cork. “But it’s only a temporary setback


and we’re still expecting an 8 to 10% increase in box traffic this year to more than 200,000teu.” The port’s overall growth for


the first eight months of 2015 was at the upper end of that range, boosted by increasing oil traffic. McCarthy says consumption of petrol and diesel is up, a sure reflection of an improving economy. Cork is pushing ahead


with the first phase of its €100 million Ringaskiddy redevelopment project after


planning permission was granted in May. Within a month of this, the port secured €12.3 million of EU funding through the Connecting Europe Facility. “This endorses our position as a core network port,” McCarthy says. “We’re now looking at the detailed layout, customer needs and equipment requirements. The first spade should be in the ground next year and the new facilities will be open for business by mid- 2018.”


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