#BypassUK - The Port of Cork has ramped up talks with continental ferry companies writes Independent.ie about providing more direct freight routes between Ireland and mainland Europe due to Brexit, its chairman has said.

John Mullins said fresh food exporters in particular cannot afford the time to ship their produce to Europe via Britain if border restrictions are going to be imposed.
"If you're a mussel producer in west Cork and you need to get to the Paris market on Monday, and you're harvesting on a Friday, you cannot afford the time with fresh mussels, waiting in Holyhead, and then waiting again in Dover as you go over the landbridge," Mr Mullins said, at a recent Brexit event at UCD.

"It's not going to work. Most recently we've been speaking to continental ferry providers about actually having more direct ferry routes into continental Europe out of Cork, and out of Rosslare," he said. "You will see a reorientation of logistics."

Mr Mullins later told the Irish Independent that one of the options the port has long been looking at is trying to get direct access to Spain.

Such proposed direct services Afloat has reported on in recent years, follow this link. For more on the story from the Independent click here.