Outward Bound

bound Outward

We investigate how the major shipping ports in the South East region have adapted to accommodate the demands of Brexit and what it means to be the gateway to Europe and beyond.

IRISH PORTS OFFER TRANSPORT SERVICES, FACILITIES AND MARITIME SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS TO A WIDE VARIETY OF INDUSTRY SECTORS. IRISH PORT TRAFFIC ACCOUNTS FOR OVER 90% OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS MOVED IN AND OUT OF IRELAND AND FACILITATES AN AVERAGE OF 4.5 MILLION FOOT AND CAR PASSENGERS EVERY YEAR. Ireland’s three main ‘Tier 1’ ports are Shannon Foynes, Cork and Dublin which account for over 80% of total bulk volume, with Rosslare Europort and Port of Waterford in the South East being classified as Tier 2 ports. In 2017 Irish ports handled approximately 53 million tonnes of goods, a near record volume. As a result, Irish ports are currently investing multi-million euro sums in expansion and upgrade projects guided by strategic masterplans. There is an increased focus on new investment in infrastructure, staffing and ICT systems at these ports to manage the necessary checks and controls on EU-UK trade post-Brexit. This investment will ensure the long-term provision of efficient and competitive port services to meet the growing needs of Ireland’s open trading economy.

Glen Carr, General Manager of Rosslare Europort

ROSSLARE EUROPORT

Rosslare Europort, owned and managed by Iarnród Éireann, is Ireland’s key geographically-located port for the UK and mainland Europe. It handles roll-on roll-off (RoRo) freight and passengers, agricultural and trade vehicles, bulk cargo, oversize loads, cruise ships, wind turbines and other offshore renewable energy facilities.

As a result of Brexit, Rosslare Europort has upped its sailings to Europe from three sailings a week to Europe to 16 in the first quarter of 2021, and Glen Carr, General Manager of Rosslare Europort, says more are being added, with negotiations are ongoing with a number of shipping lines to further increase this number to cater for the greater demand. Connections now run to Bilbao, Saint-Malo, Cherbourg, Roscoff and Dunkirk.

Rosslare Europort

Rosslare Europort “There is significant investment planned in Rosslare Europort’s facilities, through its Infrastructure Masterplan and the deployment of technology, to create Ireland’s smartest digital and automated port.”

“When we compare the first two months of this year to last year, continental freight (freight coming in and going out to Europe) was up 476% and now UK is down 43%,” states Carr. “Overall freight in Rosslare Europort is up 51% for the first two months of the year. Rosslare Europort has been a massive success in the first two months post-Brexit.

“In terms of the trade, we’re seeing it from across the board - food, ingredients, fruit, pharmaceutical, Amazon, IKEA, machinery - lots of big organisations both in Ireland and Europe. Typically, in the past, the continental traffic would have been mainly outbound. However, with the new services, we’re seeing slightly more inbound traffic.”

A SMART DIGITAL PORT

Over the coming years, there is significant investment planned in Rosslare Europort’s facilities, through its Infrastructure Masterplan and the deployment of technology, to create Ireland’s smartest digital and automated port.

The overall masterplan will see an investment circa €35 million. “We’re reconfiguring some of the layout of our port, and putting in additional infrastructure. There’s a new entrance being built into the port specifically for freight which will link into the main road,” explains Carr. It is anticipated that the N25 Rosslare Europort Access Road project could proceed through the statutory planning processes by the end of 2021.

Port of Waterford

“Port of Waterford, together with the port community here at Belview, is a proud facilitator of economic activity for this region and further afield.’’

The port’s strategic plan includes significant investment of circa €1.5 million in the digitisation of the port and will transform Rosslare Europort into a smart port capable of meeting the needs of a post-Brexit Ireland as the closest port to mainland Europe. This will include vehicle recognition systems, trailer tracking systems, compound management and check-in and check-out systems. The plan has identified opportunities for the port to make better use of available capacity, improve efficiencies and target specific sectors, while promoting the benefits of congestion-free access to European and UK markets.

RAIL FREIGHT STRATEGY 2040

Given that Rosslare Europort is owned by Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail), Carr is a keen advocate for greater use of rail for onward transport of freight. “We want to develop many more rail hubs connected to deep ports,” says Carr.

The submission by Iarnród Éireann to the National Planning Framework’s Ireland 2040 Plan highlights that improving both rail and road connectivity to Rosslare Europort will be a key priority over the NPF planning horizon, both in terms of connectivity to the port hinterland and international links to the UK and continental Europe.

Rail currently carries around 1% of freight tonne kilometres in Ireland. There is significant potential for growth in the sector to help Ireland meet EU targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Rail is the most environmentally sustainable form of ground transport, using just 15-25% of the direct energy per tonne-kilometre than used by road transport.

PORT OF WATERFORD

Less than an hour from Rosslare Europort by road, Port of Waterford is Ireland’s closest multi-modal port to continental Europe. Originally based in the heart of Waterford

Port of Waterford

City, Port of Waterford moved to a purpose built site 8km downstream from the city, at Belview, Co Kilkenny in 1992. Currently around 500 commercial vessels call at the Belview terminals each year. In addition to these vessels calling at the Belview terminals, around 100 vessels call at the town of New Ross, using the common dredged navigation channel.

“The South East of Ireland has a compelling proposition to make around investment, lifestyle and people,” says Frank Ronan, CEO, Port of Waterford. “Port of Waterford, together with the port community here at Belview, is a proud facilitator of economic activity for this region and further afield.’’

The Belview Port zone encapsulates the IDA Ireland Business Park (which includes Glanbia’s Belview plant) plus the Smartply, O’Brien Cement and Signode factories. There is extensive warehousing, storage facilities and office space in the zone and considerable scope for further industrial and commercial activity.

IDA Ireland’s Strategic site at Belview comprises 60.9 hectares of fully-serviced land suitable for large-scale utility intensive industry, of which c.54.63 hectares of lands are currently available. Its convenient location on the Belview Port Road is approximately 2km from Waterford City.

PORT FACILITIES

The Port of Waterford is active in bulk handling, break bulk/project cargoes and lift-on lift-off (LoLo) container handling - in other words, using cranes to transfer shipping containers from the dockside to the ship.

The bulk side of the business is predominantly import and focussed on agri-inputs, while the container operation supports a wide range of imports and regional exporters from the food, pharmaceutical and other sectors. The port is linked to the national transport network both by road and rail. The annual value of goods through the port was estimated at €1.7 billion in 2017 with just under 1,000 jobs in, or supported by businesses in, the port zone.

“We handle over 1.5 million tonnes of bulk products annually (mainly agri-related) together with another 100k+ tonnes of break bulk (mainly timber, steel and project cargoes),” explains Ronan.

“The port also operates in the Container/ LoLo sector handling over 50,000 TEUs* with spare capacity to significantly increase that throughout. LoLo services run to/from Rotterdam and are operated by shipping lines DFDS and Samskip.”

NORTH WEST CONNECTIONS

“Belview has excellent inland connectivity including direct access to the M9 and active rail connections into the port,” says Ronan. “The Port’s position and available capacity provides a very strong basis for new rail freight and LoLo container service development in the short-to medium-term.”

Belview Port has full rail access with four rail sidings into the container terminal, allowing containers to be loaded directly to/from ships from rail or road transport. There was a twice weekly rail service connecting the North West Ireland region in/out of Port of Waterford chartered by DFDS and operated by Irish Rail, but this operation is currently suspended. It is a core objective of Port of Waterford to get this connection to the West/North West back in action.

Ronan states, “We anticipate a reopening of the rail freight services into the port from the North West in the near future thereby bringing the efficiency and capacity of our port to businesses from that area.”

READY FOR LIFT OFF

LoLo is currently a smaller part of the business in Port of Waterford. However, Ronan states, “It is certainly conceivable that LoLo trade has the potential to experience a step change in activity based on the requirements of the economy of the South East, the return to operation of the rail link and generally strong transport connectivity of the port, congestion in the larger ports, and the potential capacity available in the port of Waterford.

“Existing services to and from Europe provide a real option to using the UK landbridge or the more expensive direct RoRo routes to the continent,” states Ronan. “The multinational companies in the region which utilise the port for their exports understand utilisation of the best transport and logistics option has the ability to make a significant contribution to the carbon minimisation of their supply chains. It is good to see that understanding of the value of local and regional shipping is starting to become more mainstream.”

global THE meld

a

AS WE EXIT A YEAR WHICH HAS SEEN UNPRECEDENTED PRESSURE ON THE GLOBAL MEDTECH INDUSTRY, THE PATH OUT OF THIS PANDEMIC ALL LEADS UP TO THE SAFE PRODUCTION OF VACCINES. AS THE RACE TO VACCINATE THE WORLD GAINS MOMENTUM, JENNIFER McSHANE SPEAKS TO MSD IRELAND AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION PROCESSES (IPP), TWO KEY COMPANIES INVOLVED IN THIS PROCESS, TO SEE WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS AND WHAT THEY HAVE GLEANED FROM THEIR JOURNEY SO FAR.

MSD IRELAND

MSD Ireland (or Merck & Co in the US and Canada) is the seventh largest exporter of medicinal and pharmaceutical products in the world. The company plays a pivotal role in the Irish pharmaceutical industry as well as Ireland’s economy, employing almost 3,000 on Irish shores alone and 30,000 across the globe. Mairéad McCaul, Managing Director of MSD’s Human Health Business in Ireland, says the supply of quality medicines, regardless of the pressures of a pandemic, remains a top priority.

“As a leader in the pharmaceutical sector, we are always extremely aware that we have a responsibility to patients around the world who depend on the medicines and vaccines we develop. This is not only true during a global pandemic or in times of crises, it’s something that is part of our DNA at MSD at all times, across all levels of our business,” she says. “The last 13 months have really shone a light on the complexities of our healthcare systems at global level, with Covid-19 stress-testing institutions to the max, and our role in this very complex context must always remain, ensuring ongoing supply of quality medicines and vaccines for the patients and people who need them: that remains our first and most important duty.”

Cooperation with other global companies is key at this time, she says, as everyone works towards a common goal. “Earlier this year, we were very excited to announce our company’s US partnership with Johnson & Johnson, where we will make some of our existing manufacturing sites in the US available to help expand manufacturing capacity and supply of its Covid-19 vaccine to enable more timely delivery and administration. The partnership marks an unprecedented collaboration between two of the largest global healthcare leaders, joining forces to help expedite our collective return to normalcy. We know more hands on deck means speedier vaccine distribution, and that’s why this partnership is so important. Medicines cannot be put on hold.” “Global health challenges require a global response,” Mairéad continues, and in this way, a precedent has been set which should be maintained for the fight against other diseases. “We know surpassing this pandemic will require global collaboration among countries, industries, academia, patient organisations, and civil society - we won’t find solutions working in silos. Such ground-breaking progress could not have happened without a collaborative approach to science and innovation. Could it and should it be replicated in future for other disease areas? Certainly, and we should all strive to ensure that collaborative spirit is maintained.” She highlights the Irish teams in particular as a positive in terms of the global collaboration that has been so heightened and essential over the past year – and as something that can and will continue long after the pandemic. “The pharmaceutical

“The last 13 months have really shone a light on the complexities of our healthcare systems at a global level.”

industry’s huge presence in Ireland can certainly help and foster collaboration, both directly and indirectly – and this is something we see every day in our industry, something that has been present for years and not just as a direct result of the pandemic. Industry associations and representative bodies can play an invaluable role opening up room for dialogue and debate. People have a huge part to play in this as well. Ireland has a very highly skilled and talented workforce. The culture at our Irish sites has always been vibrant and dynamic, and moving that culture to the online remit was not easy, but it is a testament to the talent and passion of our teams that we were able to do so almost seamlessly.”

“I think, if anything, the current context has proved our ways of working to be resilient,” Mairéad adds. “From constant contingency planning to agile teams and hybrid work systems, we have found a new way of operating that has brought both challenges and opportunities. As society hopefully starts to reopen, we have a job ahead of us to be able to identify what worked and what didn’t during the past 12 months, for our employees, for our business, for our communities - listening and adapting to the needs of the people at the core of our organisation.”

“You’re talking about product safety which effectively is about patient safety, It’s been a massive effort and all for the greater good.”

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION PROCESSES (IPP)

Cork firm IPP is another company playing a key role in the safe distribution of vaccines, including the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. IPP, trading for almost four decades, is a technical distributor of manufacturing equipment for the pharmaceutical, medical device and electronics industries, as IPP’s Managing Director Jack Daly explains: “[Our focus] is in terms of packaging, testing, packaging validation and packaging serialisation. Within the serialisation we supported Pfizer in Europe as part of those serialisation requirements, which came into effect in early 2019, where you have to track your product from manufacturing site to usage for all pharmaceutical products. Once the vial is made there is a barcode on it that we capture, and we can link all individual barcodes and break it down at every level and report and trace the entire journey through to the end user. So what we do from an IPP point of view is we basically provide the equipment on the manufacturing lines that allows for Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies to execute this feature.”

“You’re talking about product safety which effectively is about patient safety,” he says. “It’s been a massive effort and all for the greater good.”

In terms of the case being made for a similar fight when it comes to other infectious diseases, Jack says the main difference here was how fast it became a problem on a global scale. “It really comes back to the scale of the problem and reaction. It goes deeper than ever before, making different arguments for different age groups and for different cohorts of workers and so on. And we need those principles of science, industry, and politics coming together to get the world back on track as a multi-generational, oncein-a-lifetime event. And what it does show is that with science, if it’s properly funded, you can truly see the benefits of it, as opposed to just focusing on it on a commercial level. There’ll be a lot of learnings from this ultimately and it’s just very nice to see that we, as a small company were recognised for our contribution for that; the workforce’s skill set was of use outside of the commercial activity and we can make a small contribution in helping to get the vaccines rolled out.”