Eugene Drennan, President of the Irish Road Haulage Association is supporting the call for the movement of some of the activities to Dublin Port to Rosslare Europort as logical. The Ennis, County Clare based haulier, who was elected into the President’s chair recently stated that: “Rosslare is a logical fit for some of Dublin Port’s activities, it is the Port of choice for a large number of hauliers and provides the most efficient logistics solutions for their clients. Hauliers have no desire to clog up traffic in the capital city, it is a complete waste of their resources to have driver’s sitting in traffic for long periods of time adding to NOx emissions. In the context of Brexit, Rosslare is without a shadow of a doubt, the closest Port to mainland Europe and provides a viable alternative to the GB land bridge. Rosslare is currently as accessible as Dublin port. Parties serious about, engaging transport stakeholders, dealing with the carbon emission agenda and Brexit, must make the movement of some of Dublin Port’s activities to Rosslare top of their agenda.”
Commenting on the statement by Mr. Drennan, a spokesperson for Rosslare Europort said that the Irish Rail owned facility “continues to work with shipping lines, hauliers and industry bodies to ensure we grow our business and meet the needs of industry and our trade supply chains.”
“With recent new business secured, and investment ongoing in port facilities, infrastructure and technology, and finalisation of a Masterplan for the Port, Rosslare Europort is well positioned for further growth, and is aligned with our other major ports in supporting Irish business supply chains. As well as the inherent strengths arising from Rosslare’s geographic position and infrastructure connections, the Port has the capacity to play a role in easing congestion currently being experienced at Dublin Port,” he continued.
“It’s an interesting debate,” commented an industry insider to fleet.ie. “ I don’t think that it’s a case of build it and they will come. The hauliers, freight forwarders, etc., need to see this move as a viable proposition, in that routing through Rosslare gives them the quickest and cheapest route from point of collection to final delivery. Not sure that the residents of South Wexford would be too thrilled to see an extra 3,000 trucks a day on the local roads!”