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From his office overlooking the Cherbourg docks, CEO Yannick Millet points out the Irish-bound trailers owned by Amazon and FedEx, new customers, and a sign of a potential big shift in post-Brexit trade.
Faced with red tape and delays after Britain’s disorderly exit from the European Union, Irish merchants are shipping goods directly to and from European ports, avoiding the once-faster route through Britain.
“Here you see the change in supply chains,” he said.
The five operators connecting Ireland to mainland Europe have increased ferry services in the last nine months, some moving forward with planned trips and others moving larger ships away from quieter British routes to meet new demand.
Millet predicted that Cherbourg would handle 9,000 trucks in January, equivalent to almost a quarter of what passed through the French port annually before the COVID-19 crisis.
For decades the land bridge provided Irish merchants with the fastest and most reliable route to continental Europe. It is a short sea crossing between Dublin and Holyhead in Wales and then a hop between Dover and Calais. Each year 150,000 trucks would use the route.
But post-Brexit paperwork and customs clearance delays are complicating the process, adding hours or days to travel and increasing costs. Many companies are changing course.
“This is a game changer,” said Chris Smyth, commercial director for Perennial Freight Ireland. The demand for cargo space to ship to Cherbourg, Dunkirk, Rotterdam and Zeebrugge was huge, he added.
Cherbourg’s pre-Brexit business had been split evenly between Ireland and Great Britain. Now the port would be geared towards Ireland, Millet said.
“I thought traffic would double, but it has tripled,” he said. “The question now is whether the traffic volumes we see today will hold up in the coming months.”
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A Brittany Ferries ship is seen in the port of Cherbourg, France, on January 20, 2021. Brexit delays and customs controls have led to increased demand to ship goods in and out of Ireland directly to European ports such as Cherbourg in France. Picture taken on January 20, 2021. REUTERS / Gonzalo Fuentes
AVOID THE MIDDLE
Stena Line, the largest operator in the Irish Sea, has doubled down on the burgeoning Rosslare-Cherbourg route, temporarily canceling some trips to Britain after cargo volumes fell 60% in the first half of January.
Irish Ferries has deployed a larger ship from Dublin and plans to add more weekly rotations next month, the port of Cherbourg said. Brittany Ferries also presented a planned crossing that will link France and Ireland.
Danish operator DFDS said freight ferries making their new 23-hour crossing from Rosslare to Dunkerque six days a week were “practically full”. Route director Aidan Coffey said capturing 30% of “land bridge” traffic would make the route viable and that DFDS could soon add two more departures per week.
“We are impressed by the demand,” Coffey said.
Nobody knows if the change is permanent.
Ireland’s Maritime Development Office, a government shipping advocacy body, said a return to pre-Brexit logistics chains would hinge on the speed of customs formalities along the land bridge and that ferries linking Ireland and continental Europe could not replicate their volumes.
Eddie Burke, a senior official in Ireland’s department of transport, said the route through Britain would certainly come into play again.
Ferry operators made decisions about capacity week after week, said Ole Bockmann, Stena’s chief operating officer in Cherbourg. Going back to land bridge routes was simple, he said. “We just take the ships out and go back to the old system.”
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Port staff moor a Stena Line ship in the port of Cherbourg, France, on January 20, 2021. Brexit delays and customs controls have led to increased demand to ship goods in and out of Ireland directly to European ports like Cherbourg in France. Picture taken on January 20, 2021. REUTERS / Gonzalo Fuentes
RENAISSANCE
It offers ports like Cherbourg and Rosslare in Ireland a narrow window to persuade traders that the longest sea crossing between Ireland and mainland Europe is commercially viable for just-in-time logistics.
Eighteen months ago, Rosslare, in the extreme southeast of Ireland, was struggling. Its traffic volumes stalled as its rivals enjoyed a 10-year growth streak.
Now its CEO, Glenn Carr, is defending himself against complaints about the number of trucks passing by after freight traffic jumped 500% in the first half of January.
Carr said the old perception that direct crossings from Ireland were too long for fresh food supply chains and just in time was changing. Many of the companies that had moved from the land bridge would remain, he predicted.
“I was talking to some multinationals this week and the question they asked me was, ‘Glenn, are you offering more services?'”
An 18-hour ferry ride away, Millet, from the port of Cherbourg, said his immediate priority was to respond to the shipping companies’ demands for better restaurants and restrooms for truckers and to fix dock problems in loading additional vessels.
“Brexit has been an opportunity for us to rethink our port,” he said.
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