Ferry firms have not agreed to stagger arrivals to ease port traffic post-Brexit

Dublin Port has expressed disappointment that shipping firms have not agreed to stagger ferry arrivals from Wales to ease lorry traffic for post-Brexit border controls on goods from Britain.

The State’s busiest port has completed internal road works and published a new traffic-management plan designed to keep traffic flowing after new border checks on goods from Britain are introduced when the UK leaves the European Union single market and customs union on January 1st.

Publishing a booklet, Six Key Messages for Hauliers, to help drivers to navigate a new traffic system just two weeks before checks begin, the port has raised concerns that Stena Line and Irish Ferries ships arriving from Holyhead in four daily waves risk delays and traffic congestion.

The port wants eight staggered arrivals with an objective of a three-hour gap to reduce the number of lorries going through border checks at any one time to avoid delays and congestion.

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“In making this request we guaranteed to the ferry lines that they could return to their current slot times at any time during the first 90 days after the new border controls come into place,” said Eamonn O’Reilly, chief executive of Dublin Port Company, as it released the new traffic plan.

“Disappointingly, one has refused our request and the other has yet to respond.”

The ferry operators have said their arrival times are set by customer choice and the port has already said that it would end up “in the courts” if it changed ferry arrival times unilaterally.

In the port’s booklet, hauliers have been told to tell ferry companies what their requirements are if “peaked arrivals and inevitable delays from border checks” change their requirements.

There will be a six-fold increase in the volume of goods arriving off ferries from Britain that will become subject to border controls for the first time in more than a quarter of a century.

Businesses, hauliers and logistics companies have been warned that if they do not have the correct customs paperwork they will not be permitted to board ferries, raising the potential for traffic congestion inside the port and possibly spilling outside onto the road network.

The port is especially concerned about the first 90 days after Brexit and wants to ensure that “extreme contingency plans” are not needed in response to congestion.

Eight inspection facilities have been built for Customs and Department of Agriculture inspectors at six different locations covering 14.6 hectares at the port at a cost of €30 million.

There are now 16,000s sq m of warehouse space with 25 loading bays giving an annual capacity for well over 100,000 physical inspections of containers and trailers at the port.

The port said supply chain operators will have to change after Brexit and “need to know what they can expect in terms of waiting times for border inspections by State agencies” to have “some sense of the delays that they will face and are able to plan their operations accordingly.”

“Delays because of Brexit border checks are inevitable, but congestion is not,” said Mr O’Reilly.

Dublin Port said that November was the fourth busiest month in its history for freight traffic volume as transport companies stockpile goods to avoid disruption in early January.

Under the new traffic plan, from January 1st, lorries will no longer be permitted to exit the port from Alexandra Road onto East Wall Road, the port road closest to the 3 Arena on the north quays.

HGVs needing to access Alexandra Road will have to enter the port through East Wall Road. All other HGV traffic will enter the port through Promenade Road, closer to the port tunnel.

For lorries driving off ferries arriving from Holyhead, “green-routed” HGVs and tourist traffic will take a 1.8 km route to the Promenade Road exit.

“Red-routed” HGVs must follow two specific routes as instructed by customs officers, either to Terminal 7, or “T7” – a route of 1.4 km – where customs, documentary and seal checks take place, or to Terminal 11, or “T11”, a 1.5 km route to a holding yard of 3.5 hectares for lorries.