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With his truck adorned with Irish, French and EU flags, truck driver John Carroll was one of the first to get off the first DFDS sailing directly from Rosslare Europort in Co Wexford to Dunkirk in northern France.
The service, which will run six times a week and each crossing will take about 24 hours, was introduced after Brexit took effect. This makes it a longer journey for carriers, but means that they don’t have to make customs declarations or face additional checks and inspections crossing from Britain to the UK.
It is seen by truckers as a means of avoiding bureaucratic problems on the UK land bridge, such as the long delays experienced by many vehicles trying to board ferries going from England to the EU.
“It was great,” Carroll, who works for DG McArdle International, said of his overnight trip. “It may have taken a bit longer, but I’ll be at my delivery point in Germany at 9pm tonight … We feel rested and ready to drive.”
Tom Bermingham was another of 65 truckers who made the trip on the Danish shipping company ship.
“We are fresh and well fed, it was a great service,” he said. “We sank before Christmas after being caught up in the chaos in Dover. We have avoided all the hassle of driving around the UK. “
The director of the company that operates Irish Ferries, Eamon Rothwell, has insisted that companies will continue to rely on the land bridge, which he says is cheaper, faster and less prone to cancellations caused by bad weather.
‘Horrible disaster’
But Eoin Gavin, who runs a Bunratty-based transport company, said he had “three trucks stranded all last week” because Irish Ferries services to Cherbourg were full.
“We would have been in terrible trouble if it hadn’t been for the direct trips to Dunkirk.”
Gavin said that to use the land bridge, he would need to navigate six different IT systems.
“Would you do all of that, regardless of Covid testing and possible delays, or would you just drive to Rosslare and take a direct trip to France?” I ask.
Gavin says his clients have insisted that their goods should not be transported across the land bridge.
“They are questioning why they should bother with all the additional paperwork involved. If customers refuse to provide us with the necessary invoices and statements, we have no choice but to avoid the UK. “
Aidan Coffey, Managing Director of DFDS Seaways Ireland, reinforces this point.
“It is not just the carriers who decide which routes the trucks should take. It is also manufacturers and producers who are telling drivers not to travel in the UK, ”he says.
“By using the land bridge, some of them run the risk of being subjected to veterinary checks or even their products being contaminated if the trailers are opened and checked.”
Added bonus
An additional advantage, he says, is that “direct trips also allow drivers to take their rest periods during the 24-hour crossing, rather than when they land in France.”
Daniel Deschodt, chief executive of the Port of Dunkirk, said the new route put Irish drivers “right on the ‘blue banana’ as we call it in France, right in northern Europe.”
“That compares with the trucks arriving in Cherbourg, which is a six hour drive from here. Dunkirk is only 20 minutes from the Belgian border, ”he says.
Seamus McKeegan, director of Co Antrim’s McKeegan International firm, says he is “avoiding Calais like the plague” after the delay faced by drivers traveling from Dover in the run-up to Christmas.
He says direct trips appear to be the best option for carriers, but he would continue to monitor the situation to see how it evolves.
Signage has been installed in the port of Dunkirk wishing the drivers ‘a céad méle failte’, but there was also a local man available to welcome the ship. Herve Tembuyser (49) was, despite the cold, dressed only in jeans, a leprechaun hat and an Irish rugby jersey.
“I’m French, but I feel a bit Irish,” he said. “I spent a week in Dublin once and I am engaged to an Irish woman… I hope they launch a passenger service to Rosslare soon. I will be the first customer. “
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