[ad_1]
Stena says his new service from Dublin to Cherbourg sold out on its first day, with 175 trucks reserved to navigate.
However, carriers say direct routes to Europe cannot replace the British land bridge due to lack of capacity and the additional costs involved.
The Stena Estrid set sail from Dublin to Cherbourg, France at 3pm after being pulled off the Holyhead route for the weekend.
Stena’s Simon Palmer said they are responding to customer demand over fears of delays in Britain.
He said traffic on the Holyhead route is down 50% and the company wants to test demand on a weekend route in Cherbourg with the Estrid sailing Saturday and returning Sunday.
Palmer says Stena has also seen a 120% increase in freight traffic from Rosslare.
He said there are difficulties with the direct route to Europe as the Celtic Sea is part of the Atlantic and is more prone to cancellations due to poor conditions.
Although carriers have welcomed the new route, Brendan Dixon of Dixon International Transport says there is not enough capacity yet.
He says his company typically takes 100 loads a week to Europe, but currently they can only get 25-30 bookings.
Dixon estimates that the French route doubles costs due to the 19-hour navigation time and because Cherbourg is 700 km from the destination of his company’s trucks in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
Linda Stuart Trainor from Food Drink Ireland said the direct route is difficult for many of her organization’s members because Ireland is a small import market that has relied on loads distributed from Great Britain.
He has asked the government to find a solution to threatened tariffs of between 8% and 30% on imported food from British distribution centers.
Commissioners of Revenue said in a statement that they are meeting regularly with business representatives to address concerns, but cannot ignore compliance with customs regulations.
The statement added: “This would have serious consequences for the view taken by other member states of Ireland’s exports and their automatic right to free movement within the European Union. This approach would be very detrimental to Irish trade and business and The Irish Economy in General “.
[ad_2]