SHIPPINg & FREIgHT

Rosslare Ro-Ro services continue to develop

On 5 August DFDS launched a limited passenger service on the company’s Dunkirk/Rosslare service. Chris Parker, DFDS route director, explained: “we launched a freight service between Rosslare and Dunkirk in January 2021, and it has proved extremely popular with customers looking to move goods between Ireland and continental Europe without the need to use the land-bridge via the UK. Adding passenger services to the route will further strengthen the service and we expect strong demand from holidaymakers in Ireland and in Northern Europe. Rosslare is at the heart of the ‘sunny southeast’ and a short drive from Dublin and Cork, making it a very popular destination. Irish customers will benefit from a direct link into the heart of Europe.”

The new service is being focused on car and motorhome traffic initially using one of the two vessels currently on the route.

Finnlines has replaced the 2,681 lane metre Finnpulp with the larger Finnsun, which has a capacity for 40 additional trailers, on its twice weekly Zeebrugge/Rosslare route. This service also carries ECS containers and the container handling in Rosslare is carried out on behalf of the Line’s Agent, Ocean and General Maritime Agencies by International Warehousing and Transport (IWT) using its equipment.

Brittany Ferries will replace the Ro-pax Connemara with the substantially larger Cruise Ferry Salamanca from November. The twice weekly Rosslare/ Bilbao and once weekly Rosslare/ Cherbourg will be maintained as will be their once weekly Rosslare/Le Havre freight and passenger ferry service.

The Trade car service operated by Neptune Lines into Rosslare continues to operate bringing vehicles from Iberia and France while the ‘K’ Line owned ‘KESS’ Line brings vehicles from Zeebrugge on an ad-hoc basis.

SHANNON FOYNES PORT WElCOMES

RAIl RESTORATION INITIATIVE

Shannon Foynes Port’ which up to now has been the only EU Core network Port in Ireland not to be actively rail connected, has welcomed the opening up of the expressions of interest phase by Irish Rail in the reinstatement of the line linking Foynes and the active rail network at Limerick. Announcing this development Shannon Foynes Port CEO Patrick Keating said that the rail project is also very much endorsed at European level: “In 2015, we secured €800,000 from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility for a Feasibility & Detailed Design study, including all associated consenting requirements, for the regeneration of the rail link in 2015. Those works were completed in 2019 and were part funded also by Shannon Foynes Port Company and undertaken by Irish Rail. As a result, the reinstatement of the 40kms Limerick to Foynes line is now shovel-ready, so moving to this next ‘expressions of interest’ stage to realise this opportunity is a key moment.”

The Port will also benefit substantially from the re-development of road access directly from the port to the National Road network and plans to commence work on this project have also been announced.

At present the only port related rail freight services operating on the island of Ireland are the five times weekly Ballina/Dublin IWT container rail service, the twice weekly Ballina/Waterford XPO container rail service, and the three times daily Boliden mine to Dublin Port bulk ore service. Irish Rail has announced that they will shortly go to tender for the renewal of their wagon fleet with an expected order for over two hundred flat wagons. Due to the special characteristics of the Irish rail infrastructure specifying and manufacturing these wagons will be a prolonged process.

lIEBHERR SHIPS gIANT CRANES TO NEW YORK

The largest single objects ever manufactured in Ireland have been built by Liebherr Maritime Cranes at its plant in Killarney and shipped from the berth alongside Cork Dockyard. The various parts of the cranes were manufactured in Killarney, shipped to Cork, either by road or by sea using Fenit Harbour. They were then assembled at the Doyle Shipping Group’s 44-acre Cork Dockyard terminal facility, prior to shipment.

On the Big Lift Baffin’s arrival off Sandy Hook off the US Coast the cranes were partly re-stowed, and the vessel lowered using ballast so to enable it to pass below the Bayonne Bridge at the entry to New York Port.

Text: Howard Knott – howard@fleet.ie