The future of Rosslare Europort

[cosseric.coss]

I've put up this thread to discuss about the future of the port of Rosslare.  What are your sugestions for the port? 

Prehaps

- Container Terminal

-Container storage facility

-Cruise ship berth

- Extra RORO berths

-New Passenger Terminal building with gangways to all berths incuding cruise berth. excluding container ships.

[Niall]

The last option obviously.

[20knots]

On the "(very!)small side" I'd like to see two particular items in Rosslare Europort:

A television in the foot passengers' lounge. It would be a nice touch to have RTÉ and the news on for waiting passengers and in any case the tv could be totally off for most of the day. Pretty much every ferry terminal, even much smaller terminals without daily services such as the Isle of Man terminal in Belfast (no disrespect intended, merely a comparison) have a tv in their lounge.

A bicycle park. There is room aplenty on the forecourt e.g. seaward end between the building and bus bays for an under-cover bicycle park. This could potentially serve a number of purposes – cyclists going to/from the ferry wishing to leave their bicycle(s) somewhere for a few hours, port workers and incidental users. There's plenty of nice cycling countryside only a stone's throw from the port.

Two "touches" which in company/corporate terms are "pocket money purchases".

[Collision-course]

Rosslare had a bicycle park , it was removed due to lack of use (that and the salt air had corroded it quite badly).
Fully agree about the TV , RTE News Now would be very useful there.
Sadly I fear that Rosslare has no future so long as CIE own it , CIE is a bankrupt being kept alive on state payments , it is very unlikely there will be any investment in the port under CIE.

[20knots]

thanks Collision-course. Whereabouts was the bicycle park as I'm trying to place it?

[Collision-course]

It was beside the bottom of the wheelchair ramp facing out into the car park and bus stops.

[gerrym]

 As an aside to this topic, if I get the train to Rosslare europort, when I get off, is there public access to the pier,or any good points for photography around there?  How is the port infrastructure looking? and any news of any investment due?

[20knots]

There's no public access to the pier (it's in the secure area) but it's possible to walk along the beach to the back of the pier and this is a good spot for photos of the vessels as they arrive and depart. The beach can be accessed from beside the roundabout you'll see after leaving the rail station. There are also steps near the terminal leading to it.

The small green area at the top of the hill by the car park opposite the Harbour View Hotel/ Mailboat Bar is good. Just turn right once across the road at the roundabout and walk up the hill (port approach road). There's a footpath the whole way.  There are also good views from the path running along the clifftop beside Hotel Rosslare. Access the same way or via the 100+ steps.

There are self service lockers in the terminal if not wishing to carry stuff around. Needs a €2 coin but is refunded.

A final suggestion is a day trip to Wales as from the vessel leaving or entering port some great shots of the other vessels can be taken. Best to check the France sailing schedule so as to be sure one of either the Stena Horizon or Oscar Wilde will be there in the evening. Stena Line have a €5 day trip offer on Tuesdays. 10€ rest of week but not weekends. There's several B&Bs near the port in Rosslare if you needed to stay over. A €9.99 single fare Dublin-Rosslare is normally possible if booked ahead. Hope this is of some help

A day trip with Irish Ferries to Pembroke Dock will allow the opportunity to see various vessels along Milford Haven.

PS: If time allows, the Maritime Heritage Centre is just about 15 minutes walk, on the edge of Kilrane village:
https://www.facebook.com/RosslareHarbourMaritimeHeritageCentre

[gerrym]

 That's great, thanks for the info!

Gerry

[giftgrub]

Let the dredging commence !!

They have finally started

[giftgrub]

The dredger at work this weekend

[loch garman]

http://www.wexfordpeople.ie/business/rosslare-port-looking-for-investors-31255129.html

40 million euro to deepen the birth!! :o

[Steven]

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/operations-at-investmenthungry-rosslare-port-to-be-privatised-31256510.html

Seems CIE could be about to outsource operations.  Up to €60m said to be needed in investment.

http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2015/0527/704109-today-in-the-press/

[PaddyL]

Who is going to invest that sort of money given the quoted annual profits?

Maybe somebody would be interested if port was actually sold.

As various people have commented the Rosslare - Wales routes seem to be slowly dying.

[Davy Jones]

This is only a guess at best and speculation at worst, but....

Is the only reason that IF operate a big ship (IOI) on this route is to hold competition to another big ship (Stena Europe)?

Would both companies not be better off down-sizing a bit? Europe as we have said before is of pensionable age and the Inishmore may be much more use on the Central Corridor, taking over from Epsilon (probably when the charter finishes) and offering more serious competition to SSFX.

I would not like to see the southern link removed, but perhaps may be sustainable with smaller ro-pax vessels similar to Ben-my-Chree?