Construction work is well underway at Rosslare Europort to develop the south-east port’s masterplan and follows the massive surge in Brexit bypass freight trade traffic to and from the continent, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Each week the strategically located south-east port, nearest to mainland Europe, is the main ro-ro port in Ireland for direct connections to the Continent as it handles 36 sailings per week on routes linking Belgium, France and Spain and 56 round trips to the UK. In total this equates to a 41% ro-ro market share of a port that has Tier 2 National Port status.
In addition to freight and passengers, the port also caters for agricultural and trade vehicles, bulk cargo and oversize loads and cruise ships. There are six operators, Irish Ferries, Stena Line, Brittany Ferries, DFDS, Finnlines (freight-only) which combined link Fishguard, Pembroke, Cherbourg, Dunkirk, Zeebrugge and Bilbao. In addition to Neptune Lines, a trade-vehicles only service.
The rise of Rosslare Europort follows a six-fold increase in European services post-Brexit as the port authority, Irish Rail (Iarnród Éireann) was named European Ferry Port of the year at the 2023 European Ferry Shipping Summit in Malmo, Sweden.
The port had a record freight and passenger volumes being recorded and this was reflected in operators introducing larger cruise-ferry tonnage, among them the Stena Vision. Overall, the port accounts for 200,000 freight units per annum and likewise 810,000 passengers.
On foot of such dramatic demand, the Co. Wexford port has a vision for the future through the Infrastructure Masterplan (see video) which will see state of the art facilities, sustainable infrastructure and digitilisation with a Permanent Border Control Post being developed by the OPW. In addition the N25 Rosslare Europort Access Road and the development of an Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) hub as highlighted below (and latest related story).
The overall cost of the Masterplan is around €30 million and its investment is to enhance connectivity for all users of Ireland's most ro-ro connected 'Europort' which has road and rail links.
Passengers Rail & Sail
Rail transport for ‘foot’ passengers, however has been criticised for decades over the lack of connection in linking with sailing schedules and this month proposals have been announced to end operating direct ‘Inter-City’ services to and from Dublin. This has drawn much attention too, as this could see DART trains would stop in Greystones or Wicklow, requiring passengers to disrupt their journeys by having to alight and change onto intercity trains, however the NTA said this would allow more trains to operate between Rosslare and both stations in Co. Wicklow, but by linking in with the DART network to and from the capital.
'Freight' Rail & Sail ?
As for freight, however in a draft report, the All-Island Strategic Rail Review proposes in the re-opening of the Wexford to Waterford railway line to benefit the region's industrial sector.
Last year, Minister Eamon Ryan and coalition colleagues, launched at Rosslare Europort, the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) responsible for regulating development and activity in Ireland’s maritime area, including Maritime Area Consents (MACs) required before developers of offshore wind and other projects in the maritime area.
The minister also at the time focused on the re-opening of the rail link to Waterford as the Irish Independent reported on the wind energy plans for Rosslare Europort, where he insisted "that rail line will become centre stage in our future economic development,”. He added that when delivering the future, this would involve “key facilities” being built at Rosslare Europort to “help deploy the offshore renewable energy” and the utilisation of a rail line which has been traditionally underused.
He highlighted the need for an Atlantic rail corridor running from Rosslare to Ballina, Co. Mayo, so to assist in decarbonising, as haulage is the hardest, but he said we can offer a low-carbon route out to every business along that route.
At the weekend Green Party Conference, leader Eamon Ryan in his keynote speech praised Irish Rail in the reopening of the Limerick to Foynes Port railway line, which as Afloat reported is to take freight back away from congested roads and may include the resumption for passengers. In addition he mentioned the reopening of the line between Waterford and Rosslare.
In the meantime, Rosslare Europort is significantly investing in facilities through the Masterplan as Afloat observed in recent weeks the construction of several buildings. The masterplan according to Irish Rail, will also see the deployment of technology to create Ireland's smartest digital and automated port.
In addition to importing wind turbines over the years, Rosslare Europort has embarked to establish the port, its hinterland, and the south-east region as Ireland’s Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub. This is to facilitate a purpose-built quay and berth, an ORE quayside storage to enable a pre-construction site of up to 50 acres and for maintenance facilities to support offshore wind-farms.
The port claims that the ORE project has the potential to create up to 2,000 jobs.
