Irish trucks taking routes through the UK to avoid the Brexit bureaucracy

DUBLIN – As the EU adjusts to its new relationship with Britain after Brexit, fewer lorries make their way across the Irish Sea.

For decades, the route through Britain (called a land bridge that lasted about 15 hours) was a vital and reliable artery for the transport of goods from Ireland to mainland Europe.

But with the end of the Brexit transition period, on 31 December, trucks from the Republic of Ireland (which is still an EU member) traveling through the UK and entering the mainland through ports such as Calais are now facing a lot of paperwork and bureaucracy. .

In the first week of January, operators such as Stena Line, Brittany Ferries and Irish Ferries added additional routes from Ireland to French ports such as Dunkirk, Cherbourg and Saint-Malo, as well as Bilbao in Spain.

Three months after Brexit, port authorities, carriers and ferry operators are facing this new normal in Irish-European trade.

DFDS, the Danish shipping company, recently added a route between Rosslare Europort from the south-east of Ireland to Dunkirk.

“In general, we are oversubscribed in capacity most days,” Aidan Coffey, DFDS’s director of roads, told CNBC.

“There are three ships currently rotating the programs. This will go up to a fourth ship very soon.”

The journey takes about 24 hours and is longer than it would normally take to drive across the land bridge.

Laurence O’Toole is the general manager of the logistics company O’Toole Transport, which transports various mixed cargoes on its trucks, including seafood. Before Brexit, most of his travels passed through the UK to reach Europe, but now he puts more trucks on these new routes.

“I’d say he’s completely upside down now,” O’Toole said.

For Rosslare Europort, the evolving dynamics of freight transport have increased the activity at berths. The port, more than 100 miles south of Dublin, has proven to be a popular ferry location for connecting ports in France and Spain.

Glenn Carr, general manager of Rosslare Europort, told CNBC that demand in the port had increased, but freight traffic in the UK fell by about 43%.

“It is still very worrying, this level of decline in the UK, but global transport via Rosslare Europort, combined UK and Europe, increased by 51% in the first two months of the year. This type of growth has never been seen in Rosslare “Carr said.

“Demand appears to be growing. We are certainly in talks with possible other operators and other services.”

He said ship operators need to move quickly to prepare routes. Typically, a route is laid out and gradually increases in demand over a period of 18 months before reaching capacity, but most journeys are at full capacity now.

“It’s unprecedented and certainly, speaking to shipping lines, it wouldn’t have seen the adoption of such a new service,” Carr said.

However, there are still only three months in this new environment – while the shocks of coronavirus to trade continue to be felt and – and shippers continue to adapt. It also remains to be seen how much of the land bridge traffic will eventually return in the coming months.

“But the talks are about the subsequent expansion (of direct routes), it’s not about any contractions,” Carr said.

Rosslare Europort has started an investment plan of 35 million euros ($ 41.3 million) to renovate and expand the port facilities to meet this demand. The works will run for the next four years.

In the port of Dublin, operators expect the dock to reach production capacity between 2030 and 2040. It has opened a consultation on its long-term future beyond 2040, as the construction of any additional facilities on the east coast of Ireland would take up to 20 years for design, construction and full operation.

These direct routes were not a total panacea for the challenges Brexit posed to Irish freight companies, according to O’Toole.

These voyages take longer, often between 18 and 24 hours, and, depending on the port where a ferry is approaching, can add several kilometers to the journey ahead of a truck.

Trucks that land in Cherbourg, but whose destination is in the north of France, the Benelux countries, Germany or beyond, face many other miles, hours and fuel costs. Meanwhile, Dunkirk is close to Calais, providing a familiar setting for ordinary bridge drivers.

“(Direct routes) are more expensive and slower, which is never good in transportation,” O’Toole said.

“A lot of paper is avoided, but for our customers and for ourselves, the costs have increased. We try to reduce this to our customers. It’s not easy with Covid, no one has money to throw away, so we are trying to keep everything as close as possible. “

He said direct routes still could not compete with the efficiency of the pre-Brexit land bridge.