Wales and Ireland agree to relax rules on rest times for lorry drivers for a limited periodStena Line launches new Dublin-Fishguard routeTravel plans of tens of thousands of people in disarray amid fears Holyhead will remain closedThe Government is considering asking ports set up to carry freight to put in place temporary facilities to be able to carry passengers
This could result in Christmas parcels travelling to and from Ireland being delayed until after the festive season.
It was announced after Storm Darragh that the Port of Holyhead, owned by ferry company Stena Line, was to remain closed until December 20, with all services cancelled until then.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said on Monday the “seriousness” of the damage was becoming “more apparent as the days go by”.
“I think it’s highly unlikely now that we will see Holyhead port functioning in any real way this side of Christmas and, of course, that is a serious concern to both people who’ve bought goods and presents and gifts that they’re hoping will arrive, and also people that are understandably trying to get home for the Christmas period,” Mr Harris said in Dún Laoghaire.
“What I can say is this a huge amount of work is ongoing in government on this issue. Today, the Minister for Transport and the Minister of State for Transport will meet their Welsh counterparts.”
It’s a very challenging situation and probably the worst possible time of year for something like this to happen
Tens of thousands of ferry passengers travelling home from Britain this Christmas could be facing travel chaos. Around 150,000 passengers are hoping to travel on the Holyhead to Dublin route in the days leading up to Christmas.
Stena Line has brought in a new Dublin-Fishguard service as an alternative for passengers.
The Government is considering asking ports that are set up solely to carry freight to put in place temporary facilities to be able to carry passengers, the Irish Independent understands.
Junior transport minister James Lawless. Photo: Steve Humphreys
Junior transport minister James Lawless met stakeholders, such as Irish Rail and the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), this morning before meeting representatives of ferry companies Stena and Irish Ferries this afternoon.
The minister spoke to his Welsh counterpart Ken Skates, who has agreed to mirror a relaxation of rules on rest times for lorry drivers in a bid to alleviate a backlog of freight.
He said he had asked the National Transport Authority to ensure there were more public transport connections in place so people are able to travel to and from alternative ports.
“There maybe some use of shuttle buses, emergency reception facilities, et cetera, but we need to make sure that that system is in place and we need to make sure that those journeys can be made,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
He said Mr Skates agreed that “we really need to get accurate, high-quality information from Holyhead port in terms of repairs, in terms of the status”, and that he did not think the port would be back open before Christmas.
“Is this a more serious issue than was first thought. Is it going to take time to resolve? My instinct last week was that it is more serious and that’s why I instructed my own team and everybody, all the stakeholders to really plan for the worst and look beyond Holyhead,” he said.
“And that’s we’ve been doing over the last four to five days.
“It’s a very challenging situation and probably the worst possible time of year for something like this to happen, with people anxiously waiting for parcels to arrive, goods coming both directions, a lot of small exporters from Ireland wanting to get the goods to the Christmas market in the UK and vice versa, as well as all the normal business that transacts and then of course persons looking to come home for Christmas as well,” Mr Lawless added.
Alternatives
It is up to ports and ferries to provide additional capacity in order to ease the backlog created by the closure at Holyhead port.
It is hoped extra spaces in locations such as Larne and Birkenhead, near Liverpool, will provide additional capacity.
Ferry company Stena Line has announced the opening of a new route from Dublin to Fishguard.
Sailings will depart daily from Fishguard at 9am and from Dublin at 11pm according to the company’s website, with sailings so far only listed for today and Tuesday.
In an update on its website, Irish Ferries said: “Due to the ongoing closure of Holyhead port, Irish Ferries has cancelled all ferry sailings on the Dublin-Holyhead route to end Thursday 19 December, and are deploying ships on alternative routes to boost capacity.
“We are currently contacting customers booked to travel on the route to outline options available to them, including sailing on the Rosslare-Pembroke route, where we have added more space. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and thank customers for their patience as we work through this disruption.”
Rule change
An urgent rule change by the Department of Transport over the weekend saw Irish hauliers allowed to drive more and rest less in the run-up to Christmas, but industry sources say this is not a sustainable solution.
They predict “bedlam” later this week as diversions and sharply increasing passenger numbers will all come to a head.
At the moment, frustrated ferry customers are being rerouted to Birkenhead and are arriving into Belfast instead of Dublin, creating a longer ferry journey and major transport diversions for passengers.
A spokesperson for Irish Ferries said they have also increased capacity on the Pembroke/Rosslare route.
Pembroke Port is on the southern west tip of Wales and is over a four-hour drive – or over 300km – from Holyhead in Anglesey, north Wales. Rosslare in Co Wexford is just over a two-hour drive to Dublin – 156km.
The two ferry companies based in Holyhead, Stena Line and Irish Ferries, are now facing a headache with their alternative port options for both passengers and freight.
Pembroke Dock is not big enough to facilitate the number of passengers expected to travel and Fishguard, another port in Wales, only has one scheduled sailing to Dublin a day.
Neither port is serviced to the standard of Holyhead for passengers.
Freight
Trucks and trailers sit parked at Holyhead Port. Photo: Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg
They are facing a similar challenge with freight, as neither Cairnryan Port in Scotland or Birkenhead suit the practice of drop-trailer deliveries, and only take accompanied freight.
This will not suit hauliers who need to drop their containers at the port.
“Holyhead would have processed 1,000 freight trailers a day. This is almost impossible to reroute around the UK without a build-up,” an industry source told the Irish Independent.
“Operation Stacked means efforts are being made to reroute ferries and to increase staffing hours, but it is only going to cause chaos as we get closer to Christmas.
“We are lucky in that the weather has been reasonably calm this week and it’s kept everything ticking.
“Minister James Lawless is only being told a small part of the story. It is expected to be bedlam in the coming days.”
IRHA president Eugene Drennan said he now expects “trouble for the freight”, as passenger numbers swell in the lead-up to Christmas and they are rerouted to other ports in Britain.
“We must count Holyhead out. Now, we have this mayhem and very tight lines to get the capacity,” he said.
“It’s almost Christmas. Passengers and people with children have to get priority, but they should have more ships on the lines and the ports should be working overtime. Only for the hauliers’ association, we’d be in total disarray. We upped the ante all week to force the Irish Government into meeting us.”
Eugene Drennan of the Irish Road Haulage Association
An Post has said the parcel backlog due to the port closure is now down to the last 16,000 parcels, which are currently en route.
However, Mr Drennan said this did not reflect the seriousness of the issue with the supply line.
“If it’s on this side of the water, it’ll be delivered, but they [An Post] are not the link between Ireland and England. We are, the ship is and the fishing lines are,” he said.
“An Post has delivered what has arrived, but they can’t deliver it if it doesn’t come.”
The main thing is don’t panic. The ferry company is obligated to get you there
Owner of Travel Extra, Eoghan Corry, said: “I don’t have any faith that Holyhead will reopen on Friday. Even if it does reopen, we have two ferry companies using the same berths.
“Under normal circumstances, at Christmas, we’d see 33,000 cars using that route. That’s around 100,000 passengers in cars and another 40,000 to 50,000 foot passengers.
“A large number of those passengers are carrying a lot of bags and presents. People take the ferry and the car, as they’re able to carry things that Ryanair wouldn’t allow on board.
“People will have to use another ferry route, which looks increasingly likely. And it’s quite a distance to drive to alternative routes. So this is quite an inconvenience for around 100,000 passengers over the Christmas period.
“The ferry capacity is there. It’s the port capacity that’s the problem. And Holyhead is the second-busiest port in the UK.
“I expect the ferry companies to deal with capacity, but the real issue is not being able to use Holyhead as a convenient port.
“The main thing is don’t panic. The ferry company is obligated to get you there. They’ll offer an alternative route, or refund.”
Mr Corry said some passengers could consider flying, but he reminded people there is a passenger cap.
He suggested Belfast being another route for people to fly into if they encounter any issues.
“From an air point of view, there’s no real remedy there to offer additional capacity,” he added.
He expected the busiest days for travel to be December 22 and December 27.
Responding, a spokesperson for Ryanair highlighted the ongoing passenger cap issue, which they said “has effectively blocked airlines from adding further seasonal routes for winter 2024”.
Aer Lingus was also contacted for a response.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said that “all efforts were being made in the background to resolve the problems associated with Holyhead’s closure”.
She added that a substantial backlog in freight had been cleared and all efforts will be put into ensuring everything is done to help freight and passengers travel this Christmas.