Direct Ferries to the Continent must be sailing by January - IRHA

Started by ccs, September 23, 2020, 06:22:54 PM

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Chef

I read recently that the hauliers want a sea route to the continent that can match the 20 hour land bridge route , Rosslare to Cherbourg is 17 hours and if La Havre is their preference it's two and a half from Cherbourg so they still beat the 20 hour land bridge time .

awaityourreply

#16
Perhaps a "NEW" shipping line may not necessarily mean a brand new operator - it may refer to a shipping line that would be new to operating in/out of Rosslare Europort?

Maybe Rosslare Europort's exploratory discussions for launching another direct service to continental Europe is not solely examining France and may also look at other options like routes to The Netherlands or perhaps an additional route option to serve Spain?

Brittany Ferries had switched from their Cork to Santander route by replacing it with a Rosslare to Bilbao link earlier in 2020 although; it's difficult to gauge how successful the change of both departure & destination port has turned out given all of the ongoing disruption this year due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Brittany Ferries also announced their intentions to launch a new Rosslare to Cherbourg route next year. Stena Line already operates a Rosslare to Cherbourg service and Irish Ferries operates a Dublin to Cherbourg service.

There was also a delegation from the Port of Cork that visited Spain to examine the case for a possible Cork to Vigo service but there has been no further updates on that front since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
   

Paul747

A senior Stena crew member hinted to me that there is the ?potential? for Stena to move one of the Dublin Holyhead ships to Rosslare for a direct continental service IF in the event of a no deal brexit departure, demand reduces on the central corridor? Supposing Stena receive 25% of the annual 170000 annual land bridge units transiting through Holyhead, it would mean circa 800 units a week looking to avoid the grid locked UK landbridge. That could potentially support a 2000m+ lane metre ship on a three times a week service? Lot of what if?s and the biggest is obtaining support from the hauliers as it is a more time consuming crossing than is currently available. Un accompanied units are the more likely customers for this potential market, so a large RO Pax ship would not be cost efficient for any potential new route. Also which ever continental port is assessed it would need at least a 100+ trailer park to accommodate this potential traffic.

IFPete

It all hinges on Demand. Cherbourg is linked by rail to Bayonne and has good road access to French Motorway network.

Rosscoff is too far west for access to central europe.

Irish Ferries are operating Container services to Rotterdam and Antwerp.

If there was demand Irish Ferries would operate daily to Cherbourg,

Even with Brexit , Landbridge is quicker for most freight.

Portsmouth and poole are alternatives to Dover for traffic heading to France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal,

awaityourreply

One would presume that the Irish Road Hauliers Association are quite familiar with Cherbourg and it's onward access benefits although; I thought I read somewhere pre last General Election that a delegation from Irish hauliers went over to visit Le Havre with a view to establishing a Rosslare to Le Havre connection once again. Not sure if the IRHA favours an alternative port to Cherbourg or were merely on a fact finding mission but I gather it was with a view to a no deal Brexit after the transition period ends.

I understand that Le Havre is closer to Paris by road than Cherbourg however; maybe this is no longer as essential for Irish road hauliers using ferry transport?   

Perhaps someone directly involved with the IRHA can provide a fresh update as to what their current additional route preference is?

awaityourreply


Government may subsidise direct ferry routes to EU post-Brexit, says Coveney

Minister has urged companies to begin testing direct sea routes from next month

The Government is prepared to subsidise direct ferry routes to mainland Europe to ease the movement of goods in a post-Brexit trading environment, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said.

Goods between Ireland and Europe generally move over the UK ?land bridge? but its departure from the EU has made the route?s future problematic in terms of customs checks and queues at ports.

Mr Coveney has urged companies to begin testing direct sea routes from next month, anticipating some disruption along the land bridge from January.

Full article was published on IrishTimes.com (See below link)

Source:
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/government-may-subsidise-direct-ferry-routes-to-eu-post-brexit-says-coveney-1.4376891

Trucker

I had a conversation last week with a guy thats involved in the food export market ,and info he has been given is that DFDS are looking at the possibility of starting a daily Ro Ro from Rosslare to Dunkirk.
To complete within 20 hours though would require a steady 25 knots per hour.

Trucker

Also ,having used CLDN Dublin Rotterdam and return frequently ,its ideal if you are short on hours ,and a 45 can be got on it to keep the tacho right , sailing time 42 to 46 hours depending on weather.
Leave Rotterdam Friday evening ,arrive Dublin before lunch Sunday ,better than being parked up for the weekend in Belgium or UK.
3 meals a day ,few beers with lunch and dinner if you like ,and an ensuite cabin to yourself all included ,plus every ship I was on was spotless inside.
Not taking passengers at the moment though due to Covid.

awaityourreply


Irish truckers, ports warn time is running out over Brexit plans

https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/3986/1993362_19_articlelarge_dan_20ship_203.jpg
A container ship at Tivoli Docks in Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

SAT, 17 OCT, 2020 - 13:23
JOHN WHELAN
Irish and British businesses, ports, air, and shipping lines, as well as hauliers, looked on in disbelief as the EU and UK political leaders once again pushed out their 'we-want-a-deal-but-are-ready-for-no-deal' statements, following the failure to meet last week's deadline for an exit agreement.

The threats sound increasingly less credible as the  coronavirus economic devastation becomes clearer by the week. In a rational world, neither the UK nor the EU could afford to add another crisis to the unprecedented recession.

The extent of the impact of Covid-19 on business preparations for Brexit was seen in a recent UK survey: It showed that two-thirds of businesses had their Brexit preparations disrupted, and only  25% were highly confident about dealing with the extra administrative burden.

The main barriers for Irish companies preparing for Brexit, said Enterprise Ireland, were the uncertainty around Britain's exit from the EU and Covid-19.

The Enterprise Ireland survey of 600 companies revealed that customs and logistics are the priorities among businesses as the January Brexit deadline approaches.

Most businesses are relying on their sub-supplier network of freight forwarders, hauliers, shipping lines, and airlines, as well as the port operators, to get their goods in and out of the UK market.

They are focused on upgrading their IT systems and training staff to handle the export-import documentation, safety and security filings, Vat, and tariff-duty payments.

The budget could have gone further in supporting companies in the freight-distribution and logistics sectors to prepare for the economic and operational shocks, said Aidan Flynn, general manager, Freight Transport Association Ireland.

"If a trade agreement between the EU and UK is not forthcoming, it will deliver a deep, sharp shock to the movement of goods between Britain and Ireland," Mr Flynn said. 

"This scenario would create significant logjams in customs systems and delays at borders, as the infrastructure, enforcement regime, and the private sector will not be fully prepared," he said, warning that the budget had failed to fund training and to encourage more direct routes between Ireland and continental Europe.

The British Road Haulage Association is of the same mind, saying that the "time is desperately short" to clarify arrangements for lorries and goods crossing the Irish Sea at the end of the Brexit transition period.

It said the UK government's proposals for goods movements between Wales and Ireland were still "slim on detail". If lorries are not prepared, they would be prevented from crossing.

The UK's Revenue and Customs indicate that around 600 lorries and trailers a day leave Holyhead Port, the UK's second-biggest roll-on-and-roll-off facility.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/cms_media/module_img/3986/1993488_13_articleinline_jw_20photo_20--head.jpg
John Whelan is the managing partner of The Linkage-Partnership.

There are no arrangements for a lorry park on Anglesey to hold any lorries unable to board a ferry for Ireland, potentially hitting Irish importers.

However, lorries arriving from Ireland will not face any checks by UK authorities, who have given until July 2021 for completion of import documentation.

The UK has signed up to the Common Travel Convention, which means exporters routing goods through the UK, and onwards to the continent, won?t face any change to the current customs documentation.

However, there are reports that the main EU-facing ports of Dover and Felixstowe may see extensive delays.

Irish ports will be required to deal with the impact of Brexit to varying degrees.

Dublin and Rosslare, which handle over 90% of the truck roll-on roll-off movements of goods to the UK, have invested heavily in facilities to handle the expected increase in customs inspections and documentation processing.

The Port of Cork, which is primarily a container lift-on lift-off port, is somewhat isolated from the tumult of Brexit, and there are signs that exporters worried about congestion in using the UK as a land bridge are moving to direct container shipping to the Continent.

Boris Johnson's internal markets bill has complicated trading with the North.

Businesses had geared up to the Northern Ireland Protocol, whose main tenet was that only goods meeting EU standards would be sold in the North, even if the goods were from Britain.

Traders and their hauliers will, once again, be expected to come up with instantaneous solutions to last-minute political decisions.

John Whelan is managing partner of international trade consultancy, the Linkage-Partnership

Irish Examiner

Source:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/economy/arid-40066968.html


Steven

A few points on this discussion

Le Havre from a ferry operator point of view is further away than Cherbourg for not a lot of benefit but increased cost and reduced utilisation.  From a haulier point of view they are potentially paying a driver to sit on a ship longer when they could be overtaking the ship on the road.

Running a ship at a "steady 25 knots" is pretty much out of the question.  Most ships likely to be employed on such a service aren't even capable of 25 knots!  Rosslare - Dunkirk might make more sense for a CLdN style unaccompanied service.  Speaking of which, I'm not sure CLdN/Cobelfret have any intention of taking drivers again, particularly on the longer sectors such as Ireland to Europe.  They've briefed press about how their costs are lower as they don't carry drivers for example.

The supply of suitable vessels for freight orientated services isn't that good at present, its passenger vessels like Stena Saga and Pride of York which are "spare".  Running the more passenger orientated vessels, even with subsidy, is unlikely to be very profitable IMO.

Its not often mentioned, but at present Ireland - France is oversupplied already (hence Brittany Ferries freight orientated service to France being seasonal, and Stena being able to put less than ideal (and in the case of Vinga, smaller) vessels on their Cherbourg route if Horizon is required elsewhere.  The most logical option to increase capacity would be Stena doubling frequency to Cherbourg, something that wouldn't be that hard to do considering they have ships which appear to be spare.  One of Flavia or Scottish Viking should be spare in January, and Stena Vinga is obviously already surplus to requirements anyway.  Hence her little excursion to our waters.  Its also a fact that a significant amount of landbridge traffic originates or is destined for Northern Ireland - for that it may be more attractive to use landbridge from Belfast, Larne, Warrenpoint and the North Sea.


Quote from: Paul747 on October 08, 2020, 10:27:33 AM
A senior Stena crew member hinted to me that there is the ?potential? for Stena to move one of the Dublin Holyhead ships to Rosslare for a direct continental service IF in the event of a no deal brexit departure, demand reduces on the central corridor? Supposing Stena receive 25% of the annual 170000 annual land bridge units transiting through Holyhead, it would mean circa 800 units a week looking to avoid the grid locked UK landbridge. That could potentially support a 2000m+ lane metre ship on a three times a week service? Lot of what if?s and the biggest is obtaining support from the hauliers as it is a more time consuming crossing than is currently available. Un accompanied units are the more likely customers for this potential market, so a large RO Pax ship would not be cost efficient for any potential new route. Also which ever continental port is assessed it would need at least a 100+ trailer park to accommodate this potential traffic.
There are 150,000 annual movements and that is for both directions (official figures).  Thats of around 450,000 total RoRo movements though Holyhead (the landbridge figure naturally doesn't account for trailers which stop and discharge or load partially in GB en-route of course).  Thats not as much as it sounds if we account for the fact that there is existing excess capacity on Ireland-France (some say its running at around 50%), and that not everything will be suitable to transit on the direct routes.  Rates are going to be a big factor as well - they'll inevitably be much higher on the direct routes than short sea. Of course, Calais and Portsmouth aren't the only ports used for landbridge via Holyhead either.  Dropping a ship on Dublin - Holyhead would massively reduce their capacity there, by at least 6,200 lane metres in each direction per day. 
Another point of note, for a lot of traffic which uses landbridge France isn't the ultimate destination.  Perhaps there will be increased demand for landbridge to the "Low Countries" rather than France, particularly if a scheme is agreed where trailers can pass through the UK more or less unobstructed if sealed and the appropriate paperwork is already forwarded as has been suggested.

Personally IF the worst case scenario happens I can see a combination of an increased use of North Sea (already happening), switch to unaccompanied direct services to Europe, and LoLo services.  CLdN are banking on the middle option and ICG will certainly like the last one!
Steve in Belfast (suburbia)

Flickr: www.flickr.com/tarbyonline

Steven

More on the potential for capacity being added by an existing operator here

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/brexit-buster-can-dramatically-increase-direct-ferries-to-europe-1.4384469

And a key quote

Quote"The company, which began sailing to Dublin in 2009, accounts for 40 per cent of all units moved between Dublin and continental Europe, averaging about 4,500 freight units a week or 116,000 a year each way."
Steve in Belfast (suburbia)

Flickr: www.flickr.com/tarbyonline

jgf

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/daily-ferries-to-france-starting-from-january-to-bypass-brexit-congestion-1.4401537
Irish Ferries and Stena plan to run alternate week schedules on their ferries to Cherbourg so that there is a direct, roll-on, roll-off ferry service for lorries every day from next year.

Irish Ferries will operate a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday service one week from Dublin to the port, in addition to their usual Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday weekly departures.

Stena will continue its service between Rosslare and Cherbourg on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and plans to add a Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday service on the week Irish Ferries does not sail on these days from Dublin to ensure a daily service between Ireland and mainland Europe.

Irish Ferries declined to comment on the new service.



It appears confusing, are they adding Ferries or just tweaking their schedules?

A83

It seems that the current ships [Stena Horizon and Epsilon or WB Yeats] are to make sailings on alternate days.

As always the NI ferry site is helpful here.

https://www.niferry.co.uk/irish-ferries-and-stena-line-to-offer-daily-ireland-france-ferry-service/

awaityourreply

#29
I was listening to Drivetime on RTE Radio 1 on Friday evening (6th November) and Verona Murphy was speaking about the challenges faced by road hauliers getting their produce from Ireland over to the Continent after 1st January and the point was made about Stena Line and Irish Ferries having reportedly agreed to cooperate to offer a daily service for the haulage industry between Ireland and France next year although it was claimed that the ferry companies have not confirmed anything to them. She seemed frustrated that government was not doing nearly enough to ensure that things would be in place from start of January and felt that haulage companies should be consulted properly before they go about formulating policy in this regard.