Post-Brexit demand for direct ferries causes capacity problems New ferry service ‘bumping’ lorries for vital imports of medicines and medical supplies
Wed, Jan 13, 2021, 01:44
Simon Carswell Public Affairs Editor Listen now 4:06
Hauliers are booked onto the new Rosslare to Dunkirk service operated by shipping line DFDS.
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Capacity issues are building on direct ferries between Ireland and mainland Europe as lorries avoiding Brexit checks through Britain are “bumped” to make way for vital imports of medicines and medical equipment.
Hauliers booked onto the new Rosslare to Dunkirk service operated by shipping line DFDS have complained that bookings are not being honoured where the ferries are overbooked.
Although the landbridge route is only part of his business, he is concerned that the systems at the French ports are not set up to expedite Irish lorries through green channels. âWe are not so concerned about it now because it is not even a day [of a delay], but we do fear that in January the process will become two days,â he said.
Aidan Flynn, general manager of the Freight Transport Association Ireland, said that transport companies were booking on to ferries from the UK into other French ports to avoid the âpinch pointâ of Calais.
âEverybody is trying to react to it and divert before they are caught up on it,â he said.
Truckers call for emergency trials at roads to Irish ports to plan for Brexit crash-out
Real-time exercises required to test plans for access to Irish ports to prepare for Brexit disruption
Freight trucks arrive at Dublin Port. Picture: PA Photo.
Thu, 10 Dec, 2020 - 18:04
Eamon Quinn
The Government will need to scramble and run emergency trials for trucks entering Dublin, Rosslare, and Cork ports, as the risks of a crash-out Brexit ratchet up, the head of a major Irish hauliers group has warned.
Aidan Flynn, general manager at Freight Transport Association of Ireland, said the real-time exercises will be required to test plans for access to Irish ports to prepare for Brexit disruption.