[ad_1]
Ferry operator Stena Line will further increase its direct cargo capacity from Ireland to mainland Europe in response to increased post-Brexit demand by adding a new weekend sailing from Dublin to Cherbourg.
The new service will begin next Saturday and will lead to a temporary reduction in weekend capacity on the Dublin to Holyhead route, where demand has fallen dramatically since January 1.
The new route will use Stena Estrid, while the Stena Adventurer will continue to operate on the Holyhead route on weekends.
Trade volumes in the Irish Sea have dropped substantially to normal levels due to new customs procedures and systems that were introduced when the UK became a third country on 1 January.
Carriers and freight operators have complained of delays in getting goods through customs on both sides of the Irish Sea due to challenges.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s The Business, Paul Grant, Stena Line’s Commercial Director for the Irish Sea, said the operator’s cargo volumes between Ireland and the UK were down 60% in the first two weeks of 2021.
“Even this week, what we’re seeing is cargo volumes continuing to drop to Dublin and Rosslare,” he said.
“But we are seeing that some carriers are finding it easier to get north. There are clear differences in terms of processes, we are seeing some of our flows distorted.”
“And I know that from the perspective of the carriers, they just want to get their goods back as efficiently as possible to their destination.”
As a result, he said, Stena has been shifting its capacity to different routes, including direct to the mainland and from Belfast to Britain, to meet changing demand.
He added that this time last year the company had one ship sailing directly between Ireland and France, and now has two ships, and the capacity is increasing weekly from Rosslare.
Although concerned about the changing landscape, Stena Line believes that cargo flows will ultimately return to their central Irish Sea routes.
The Stena Estrid is one of Stena Line’s largest new E-Flexer vessels, with a 3100-meter rail capacity and 175 cabins.
The company recently moved its sister ship, Stena Embla, temporarily to the Rosslare-Cherbourg route.
read more
The Brexit effect: the storm before the storm
‘Big problem’ filling supermarket shelves
Also speaking on The Business, carrier Brendan Dixon of Dixon Transport said that he may see a major issue in the next two weeks due to disrupted trade flows.
He said that in the third quarter of last year his company’s fleet drove on average around 450,000 km per week, with around 300 loads each way to the UK per week.
But in the two weeks this year so far, 50 loads have been transported, he said.
He described how the yogurt arriving in Ireland was delayed because the import paperwork was not in order.
Dixon said it ended up in port for four days, before it was rejected at the delivery point as it had passed its accepted shelf life.
“Supermarkets will only accept products with a certain shelf life … it will be a huge problem if we cannot fix this problem,” he said.
He also said that his company has had 150 trailers returned home empty from the UK during the first two weeks of the year, because the goods are not moving.
Listen to The Business again
We need your consent to upload this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage additional content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Review your data and accept it to load the content.Manage preferences
[ad_2]