MARITIME 1
fleetMaritime: IRISH SHIPPING & FREIGHT Compiled by Howard Knott Edited by Jarlath Sweeney email: maritime@fleet.ie
Volume 5, No. 4 Winter 2010
“Rail link to Dublin Port Common User Terminal will be complete by early 2011”
D
ublin Port Head of Operations, Seamus McLaughlin has confirmed that, following the issue of a European Tender for the project in September, the Port Board has appointed a Contractor to undertake the 1.7 km track building project that will link the present Alexandra Road Rail Line to the Common User Container Terminal. He expects that work will be complete by early 2011. The line will run alongside the Bulk Cargo berths at Alexandra Basin and terminate under the gantries at the Container Terminal. That Terminal currently handles shortsea Lines including, Coastal Containers, Cobelfret and Cardiff Container Lines. Deep Sea Lines, APL, Evergreen, Yang Ming, OOCL, K-Line, Hyundai, Hapag Lloyd and Gracechurch run their traffic into the Terminal using mainly feeder vessels from Continental Ports. Its opening will facilitate the expansion of the present three times weekly intermodal train link from Ballina, County Mayo to a five times weekly frequency and allow considerably reduced transit times. The
an existing rail track traversing the terminal and its adaption to current standards is now under active consideration.
Iarnrod Eireann (IE) trains used on this service are chartered by Freight Forwarder, International Warehousing and Transport (IWT).
Dublin Port Company expects that the completion of these terminal connections will not only enable the existing Ballina link to offer competitive transit times with road haulage, but will also facilitate the opening of through routes to other destinations. The current lack of empty container availability outside Dublin will also drive this. One of the deep sea lines commented to Fleet Maritime, “I am aware that a lot more Munster exporters are coming to Dublin for empty equipment. As imports into Cork from Deep Sea locations have dropped off, so we have seen an increase in exports via Dublin”.
The DFT terminal further downstream handles container services operated by MSC, DFDS Logistics and sister Irish Ferries Group member, Eucon. Traffic through it will be further boosted by Samskip Line’s transfer of its services to there from MTL on the south side of the river. There is
In a related development Iarnrod Eireann has put out a tender document for the supply of low floor wagons that would enable it to operate efficient intermodal trains to and from any Port on the network laden with European standard 9’6” high containers.
Cobelfret sisters grow bigger
T
he Cobelfret Rotterdam and Zeebrugge services to Dublin are operated by the Line using two of its new builds. The line ordered a fleet of six identical ConRo vessels from the shipyard at Flensburg, Germany that had designed the somewhat similar ferries for the mainline DFDS Seaways North Sea services, but the fi nal two were launched in October and November with an additional semi-open sided deck and a new weather deck above that. Two of the sisters are currently being retro-fitted with the new decks. Their original cargo capacity was 390 double stacked containers on cassettes or a combination of 163 trailers and 105 cars. With the additional deck 80 extra trailers and 100 additional cars can be accommodated. In announcing the up-sizing of the vessels Michael Gray, CEO of Cobelfret parent Company CLdN, said that the Ireland-bound cargo consists mainly
Commenting to Fleet Maritime Irish General Manager, John Coleman said, “Container traffic aboard our vessels continues to grow but so do other cargo flows. I can see a further increase in unaccompanied trailer traffic as the concept is further implemented into the planning operations of the road carrier operators.” He went on to say: "there will always be a need for Landbridge due to transit sensitive operations. We can, though, service this requirement through our high frequency UK ferry routes.” of containers, while that to Britain chiefly includes Trailers and cars. He went on to say that, while the car traffic is still some 15% below 2008 figures, the trailer and container figures are back up to the precrisis levels. He also announced that the Line has recently ordered a further 250 trailers and 1700, 45 containers.
Another Cobelfret vessel that is a regular visitor to Dublin is the M/F ‘Celestine’. She was one of the ships that opened the Line’s first Irish service linking Rotterdam and Zeebrugge to Rosslare in 2008, but is now on charter to the Dutch owned RMR Line and operates its monthly Antwerp, Harwich, Dublin to Lagos, Nigeria service.
FLEETTRANSPORT FLEETMARITIME | DEC | WINTER 10/JAN 10 11 63
MARITIME 11
PORT PORTALS
Samskip Line opens Waterford Service
Cobh to Cork rail traffic boosted by Cruise Vessel traffic Volume 5, No. 4 Winter 2010 Pictured is the Royal Caribbean Line’s, 154,000 tonne Cruise Ship ‘Independence of the Seas’ at the Cobh Deepwater Terminal in Cork Harbour on 27th August. She totally dwarfed the 170 metre long ‘Astor’ seen leaving Port. The 4,370 passenger Liner was the largest vessel to call to Cork during the 2010 Summer season. Irish Rail boosted its services on the link to Cork City through the provision of an additional train every half hour while the vessel was in Port. Some 52 Cruise Ships called to Cork in Summer 2010 bringing in over 95,000 passenger and crew visitors. The Cobh Cruise Terminal presently houses a ‘Titanic’ exhibition telling the story of what was to be the vessel’s last call before the fateful iceberg disaster.
Richard Archer, General Manager, for Samskip in Ireland has announced that from December 2010 the line will operate twice weekly direct calls at Waterford Port with services to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge. Samskip is a major European Doorto-Door operator running a network of Lo-Lo services from the Benelux Ports to Scandinavia, Southern and Western Europe as well as further afield. On the Continent Samskip operates Block Trains carrying its trailers as well as containers. The Company’s services to Dublin and to Cork are of long standing. The Line’s revised Ireland schedules will also include a restoration of its direct call to Belfast. These calls will be on a weekly basis and will replace the current ‘slot-charter’ arrangements there.
TransAtlantic Line service offers more capacity to Irish exporters Ferry passenger traffic well up for first half 2010 The Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) released figures showing that ferry passenger numbers in the fi rst six months of 2010 grew to 2.12 million, an increase of 8% on the 2009 figure. Ferry cars grew by 13% over the same period. Most of the growth was in the April to June quarter boosted by the re-introduction of the Cork to Swansea ferry service with Fastnet Lines and the fallout for the volcanic ash cloud. Figures on the Ireland – France services were up by 25% in that quarter. Brittany Ferries whose network includes a weekly Cork–Roscoff service confirm that their results on the route over the Summer period have been good with increased passenger, car and freight traffic. The Company advised a recent Failte Ireland Marketing Conference of a substantial increase in the marketing effort in France focussing on Ireland in 2011. Fastnet Lines has confirmed that it will operate the Cork-Swansea route on a year round basis and seek to develop freight traffic citing the road mileage savings resulting from use of the service. Fastnet has launched a new Business Expansion Scheme (BES) funding drive.
64 FLEETMARITIME | WINTER 10
Irish Agents for Swedish owned TransAtlantic Lines, Irish Shipping and Transport (IST), has announced a substantial increase in the dedicated Lo-Lo service to and from Swedish Ports. John Hayes, Commercial Manager at IST told Fleet that the twice weekly service, which previously operated under the PalTrans name, provides twice weekly sailings to Sweden’s East Coast Ports of Norrkoping, Oxelosund and Vasteras, which are all with the greater Stockholm area. In addition the vessels call to the port of Ahus on Sweden’s south coast, not far from the Malmo/ Copenhagen regions. The transit time from Ireland to Sweden is an average of 8 days with the containers being fed via the UK Port of Goole. The Line operates its own 40ft and 45ft high cube equipment on the Irish market though it does have curtainside and ISO flat equipment which could be made available here if required.
Milford Haven Port considers Ferry port move The Milford Haven Port Authority (MHPA) is actively considering moving the Haven’s ferry terminal from the present Pembroke Dock location to the main Milford Haven Port. The move would not only reduce transit time for the Irish Ferries Rosslare service by over half an hour but would give much improved road access to the main truck routes. Milford Haven Port, unlike Pembroke, is main line rail connected. Irish Ferries has estimated that such a move would save it about €2 million annually and att ract more traffic. In Scotland, development of Stena Line’s new facility in Loch Ryan is proceeding on schedule and is due for completion by October 2011. Once that is in operation the Gothenburg based Line intends to replace the existing three vessels serving the Belfast – Stranraer route with two new-buildings. Stena is also believed to be considering replacing the 30 year old ‘Stena Europe’ on its Rosslare to Fishguard service. The move would, according to a leading UK industry publication, help to address the line’s disappointing results on the Rosslare route. Speaking at a recent CILT event in Dublin, Institute vice-president, Aidan Murphy, said that 90% of exports from Bulmers in Clonmel were shipped through Dublin Port, due to the relative inadequacy of services through Rosslare. Th is manifested itself through insufficient frequency of services and lack of freight capacity on the Stena vessel, in particular.
Irish Continental Group vessel comes off charter P & O Ferries have terminated its Portsmouth – Bilbao Ferry service at the end of September and have returned the ‘Pride of Bilbao’ to her owners, ICG. The vessel is now laid up in the River Fal in South-West England awaiting further charter.
MARITIME 111
Belfast Port hosts major EU funding workshop
I
n an event jointly promoted with the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) the Northern Ireland Department for Transport along with the Department for Regional Development, brought together a wide range of Maritime and other infrastructure interests in a workshop on EU Motorways of the Sea and other EU funding. The Workshop was hosted by the Port of Belfast at their offices. The principal speaker from the European commission was Morten Jensen. He broke out the TEN-T projects under two strands, the Maritime link based projects, which are Motorways of the Sea projects along main freight transport corridors based on maritime links (new or improvement of existing links), and the Wider Benefit Projects which could include implementation actions for IT systems, tracking and tracing systems and environmental issues. The potential participants in the Maritime Link projects could include two ports in Member
Gerry Kelly and John White of the N.I. Roads Service and Billy McLarnon, the EU Projects Manager of the N.I. Public Transport Performance Division spoke about the EU Funding experience in Northern Ireland in recent years. They pointed out that in the 2009 TEN-T Work programme the Commission received 95 applications from 20 Member States requesting a total of £360 million. Out of these the Commission selected 32 projects with total funding of £80 million. The UK had submitted seven projects and two of these were successful. Both of these came from N.I. securing £3.48 million. States, other infrastructure and facility owners, including hinterland, maritime service operators and, preferably, hinterland transport operators, broader consortia involving terminal operators, logistics companies or shipbrokers. For the Wider Benefit projects appropriate participants could include the Public Administration (e.g. Customs) and users.
The speakers, throughout the workshop consistently made the point that there is EU Funding available, though securing it is becoming much more competitive, and that the expertise exists on the island of Ireland to secure such funding.
Short Sea Shipping Company of the Year Award 2010 for Colbefret
T
he CLDN Colbefret Group was honoured with the Short Sea Shipping Company of the Year 2010 Award at the Irish Exporters Association Export Awards Dinner at the RDS Concert Hall, Dublin.
based in Dublin. CLDN Colbefret Group offers a range of transport options to Irish exporters selling to Europe. The Short Sea Shipping Award – CLDN Cobelfret. Pictured (l-r) Glenn Murphy, Irish Maritime Development Office; Michael Cigrang - CLDN Cobelfret; Batt O’Keeffe, T.D. Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Innovation and Mark Fitzgerald, President, Irish Exporters Association.
Sponsored by the Irish Maritime Development Office, the award recognises the strategically important role of short sea shipping to our economy. The other nominees were Eucon Shipping & Transport Ltd, Samskip MCL and Stena Line, all
New Volvo Ocean Race Trophy Unveiled
I
reland’s loss is Spain’s gain as a spectacular new Volvo Ocean Race Trophy was unveiled at the events Alicante Race Headquarters last month. The fi nal design of the new Volvo Ocean Race Trophy is the product of a highly fought over bidding process, which was eventually won by the Spanish company, Proxima Communication. The trophy, which stands 70cm (27.5”) high and weighs 9 kilos (19.8lbs) comprises of 11 wave shaped rings. Each ring representing one of the 11 races held so far, with the intention that a new ring is added after every future race. Th rough the masts supporting the rings, there is a glimpse of the blue ocean hidden inside. Its official unveiling marks the first
night of celebration to launch the 20112012 Volvo Ocean Race. Made of aluminium and silver plate, this trophy represents this legendary race, which has a 37 year heritage. Leading edge design, satellite communication, technolog y and innovation have always played an important role in the development of the event
and the new trophy reflects this. Engraved on each ring, is the year of the race and the route, together with the name of the winning boat and its skipper. The eleventh ring will be engraved at the end of the next race when it finishes in Galway in the summer of 2012. On the last occasion, Waterford Crystal designed and supplied the trophies. As with the Olympic Games, there is no financial reward for winning this 37,000 nautical mile race around the world, but this beautifully designed trophy symbolises the glory of winning what is still one of the most extreme challenges in the world of sport. Just competing in the Race represents an achievement with success meaning everything to those who have achieved it.
FLEETMARITIME | WINTER 10
65