#CoastalNotes- A multi-million pound marina development planned for Fishguard Harbour, south Wales have fallen through.

This morning (Thursday) reports the Western Telegraph, the Conygar Investment Company released a statement to the London Stock Exchange, writing off their £2m investment in the Fishguard / Goodwick Marina Development.

Conygar said: "Conygar has been informed by Stena that they do not wish to have any further involvement in the proposed marina development and do not wish to proceed with the reclamation works of the harbour.

"Stena state that they are concerned that the marina development will interfere with the operation of the harbour and their ferry operations. They will also not support the promotion of the Harbour Revision Order, which is necessary to progress the development.

For much more on the decision by the ferry operator, click here.

#Ferry - Across Northern Ireland businesses continue to be disadvantaged by poor road access to their key markets in the UK.

Ferry operator Stena Line has raised concerns with local political and business stakeholders to increase the focus and necessity of addressing a critical infrastructure deficit which impacts a range of key NI business sectors including manufacturing, food production and tourism.

Whilst road connections in Northern Ireland have been better at keeping pace with economic development, a situation which will be greatly enhanced once work starts on the York Street Interchange project. The same cannot be said of key roads in Scotland, specifically the road network to and from Loch Ryan Port (Cairnryan), which handles approximately 45% of NI trade (through Belfast Port) with the rest of the UK.

Paul Grant, Stena Line’s Trade Director (Irish Sea North) said: “We have been working hard over a number of years to try to get key road improvements made on the A77 and more importantly the A75 heading south from Scotland. Despite significant investments by ferry operators between NI and Scotland, including Stena Line’s new £80m port and terminal facility at Cairnryan, which included the introduction of two larger ferries, successive administrations have been unable to commit the necessary capital resources to carry out these vital road upgrades.

“Access to and from Scottish ports is severely lacking compared with other UK hubs. Journeys could be made easier and travel times shortened which would help to reduce NI’s remoteness and help support key economic contributor groups such as hauliers and tourists. Investments have been made to roads at Holyhead and Heysham and these are already providing tangible benefits to business and tourism levels in their regions.”

Paul Grant added: “Local politicians need to engage with other stakeholders to get the Scottish and Westminster governments to work collaboratively to push for a fit for purpose road network system on both sides of the Irish Sea. The dualling of the A75 will be a long-term infrastructure project which could take a number of years to plan and complete. As it stands however, the clock isn’t even ticking so if we want NI to remain a competitive, forward thinking economy which can attract major investments in the future, we need to start the process of change and work collaboratively now to get the commitments and resources in place before a shift in trade away from NI becomes irreversible.”

#FerryNews - Animal welfare groups internationally have slammed the “disgraceful” calls from the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) to increase the live export of Irish livestock in 2018.

As the Green News.ie writes, the comments come in response to calls from the IFA’s National Livestock Chairman, Angus Woods at a Bord Bia seminar on live exports in Tullamore, Co Offaly yesterday.

Mr Woods said that the Minister of Agriculture, Michael Creed must “put all the necessary resources in place” to facilitate an increase in exports.

The IFA also met with senior officials from the Department of Agriculture to discuss transport options for the export of livestock.

Stena Line is due to refit their existing vessel (as reported previously on Afloat) which is used to transport live exports and the IFA want to ensure that a replacement ship is available for peak export weeks in February and March.

“It must be of the highest priority to Minister Creed that the new arrangements can deal with our live exports and shipping requirements during this peak export period. Market access is absolutely critical,” Mr Woods said.

To read much more including what are claimed as 'horrendous journeys' according to Campaigns at Compassion in World Farming, click here.

#FerryNews - An alternative livestock export vessel is to replace a Stena Line ferry and is due to be inspected by officials this week.

According to the Independent.ie, the announcement will calm farmer fears that the Stena Horizon's temporary removal would seriously hit vital calf export trade this spring.

Concerns had been raised over the transport of calves in the coming weeks with a large volume from the expanding dairy herd destined for export to Europe.

It comes amid a 'flying' start to the season at the first calf sale of the year at Bandon Co-Op Mart yesterday.

Manager Tom McCarthy described a "very good trade" with farmers and shippers "out of the blocks and raring to go".

Live cattle exports soared 35pc last year to over 196,000 head, while meat exports from the processors hit record levels in 2017 despite uncertainty over Brexit and currency issues.

To read further on this story, click here.

Afloat adds that while the passenger ferry Stena Horizon is temporary away on refit according to the Stena Line website there will be no sailings on the Rosslare-Cherbourg route 20th February – 19th March inclusive.

The last sailing from Rosslare to Cherbourg before refit will be at 16.30 on 17th February.

The first sailing from Rosslare to Cherbourg after refit will be at 21.30 on 20th March.

In addition for the latest 48 hour sailing information updates on the Ireland-France route click HERE.

#FerryFestive - An Irish Ferries cruiseferry on the French route based out of Rosslare returned yesterday prior to making a repositioning voyage to Dublin Port this morning in preparation of the busy festive season, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Cruiseferry, Oscar Wilde had completed a Cherbourg-Rosslare crossing. This was followed by the 1,400 passenger/700 car ferry transferring to the Irish capital to begin sailings on the core Irish Sea central coridoor route to Holyhead.

Sailings by Oscar Wilde on the French route have been suspended so to enable firstly the above mentioned capacity increased on the premier UK-Ireland route. In addition the absence of the ferry is to permit annual winter dry-docking of the 1987 built cruiseferry that is scheduled to return to the French service in February 2018.

As of late this morning Oscar Wilde made a first crossing to Holyhead and is due to return to Dublin this afternoon. Also running services to cope with the inward bound influx of seasonal passengers on the Wales-Ireland link are flagship cruiseferry Ulysses, fast-craft Jonathan Swift and ropax ferry Epsilon.

The chartered-in Epsilon, will operate Ireland-France sailings during the absence of Oscar Wilde from Wexford based sailings in 2017, but take heed of the following next scheduled sailings and ports used in both directions.

Afloat can confirm the next outward sailing to the continent is Dublin-Cherbourg and will be after Christmas, on Wednesday 27th December. The next inbound sailing to Ireland will however call instead to Rosslare, arriving on Friday 29th December. For further subsequent sailings details consult Irish Ferries through this link.

Rivals, Stena Line are expected to transport 65,000 passengers over the festive period also on their service between Holyhead-Dublin and on the St. Georges Channel link of Fishguard to Rosslare.

Information on Irish Sea routes, sailing dates, crossing times and more click here for Irish Ferries and for those travelling with Stena Line click here. From this webpage there are also links to their Cherbourg-Rosslare service. 

For those travelling on P&O Ferries click this link, noting the weatherline applies to both routes: Liverpool-Dublin and Cairnryan-Larne.

In addition should there be any ferry travel delays, disruptions and cancellations, they are included on the AA’s Roadwatch newsroom here.

#Dispute - A Dublin Port stevedore, Doyle Shipping, whose case against Stena Line was back in court recently, where a ruling on costs was reserved.

Earlier this month as The Irish Times reported, Doyle won an injunction allowing it to continue to provide services to Stena Line ferries docking in Dublin Port. Stena told Doyle last August that it was terminating a contract, worth €4 million annually to the Irish company, to provide services to the ferry company in Dublin.

However, Doyle maintains that this is in breach of a verbal agreement negotiated between the pair for the provision of those services until 2022. So the High Court ordered that Doyle continue to do the work until the case itself is tried. That will happen next year, and Stena is contesting Doyle’s claim on several grounds.

For more, The Irish Times continues with the story here. 

#dispute - An injunction has been secured by Doyle Shipping Group allowing it continue to provide services to Stena Line’s ferries docking at Dublin Port.

According to The Irish Times, the order applies until the full hearing of proceedings over the purported termination of the contractual relationship between the companies.

DSG had operated a contract, worth some €4m annually, with Stena Line Limited to provide services to allow Stena’s ferries dock at Dublin port for more than 20 years.

The services include stevedoring, checking-in and out of passengers, loading and unloading freight and administration services.

The contract was renewed periodically but, on August 31st last, Stena informed DSG it was ending the agreement and gave DSG three months notice.

DSG, which provides services at all of Ireland’s major ports, claims the termination notice is in breach of an oral agreement negotiated with Stena in 2015 for provision of services at Dublin Port until 2022.

For more on the story click here.

#dispute - A dispute between ferry operator Stena Line and Doyle Shipping Group writes The Irish Times over the provision of services for docking at Dublin Port has come before the Commercial Court.

Doyle Shipping Group (DSG) had operated a contract with Stena Line Limited to provide services to allow Stena’s ferries dock at Dublin Port.The services include stevedoring, checking-in and out of passengers, loading and unloading freight and administration services.

The contract for providing the services was worth €4 million annually and was renewed periodically. On August 31st last, Stena informed DSG it was ending the agreement and gave DSG three months notice.

DSG, which provides services at all of Ireland’s major ports, argues the termination notice is in breach of an oral agreement negotiated with Stena in 2015 for provision of services at Dublin Port until 2022.

In its proceedings against Stena, DSG wants declarations including the termination notice is invalid and of no effect, and that the 2015 agreement is binding. It also wants injunctions restraining Stena breaching the contract with DSG or transferring any of DSG’s contractual obligations to any other party.

More on the story can be read here.

#ferryaward - After winning a top ferry company award, Stena Line celebrated a record-breaking 25th time at the annual Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards.

The ‘Best Ferry Company’ award was presented to Paul Grant, Stena Line’s Trade Director, Irish Sea North (ISN) at the awards ceremony last Friday at the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa in Newcastle, Co Down.

Northern Ireland Travel News has organised these prestigious awards for the past 26 years and this year’s ceremony was hosted by BBC's Pointless presenter Alexander Armstrong. The ceremony was attended by more than 430 guests and travel industry VIPs from all over the UK and Ireland.

Almost 30 awards were presented on the night, decided by votes from the travelling public, the travel trade, and by travel and tourism industry leaders.

Orla Noonan, Stena Line’s Travel Commercial Manager (ISN) said: “It’s an honour for Stena Line to receive this prestigious award coming as it does from our peers across the travel industry.

“Although this is our 25th consecutive year of winning the award we take absolutely nothing for granted and realise that each year we have to work even harder to provide our customers with a service which really is ‘award winning’.

“Whilst the travel industry is constantly changing and reinventing itself in an increasingly digital world, putting the needs of the customer first, every time, still remains the key objective for our business success, “added Orla.

Stena Line is the largest ferry operator on the Irish Sea, offering the biggest fleet and the widest choice of routes between Ireland to Britain including Belfast to Liverpool and Heysham, Belfast to Cairnryan, Dublin to Holyhead and Rosslare to Fishguard routes, a total of 228 weekly sailing options between Ireland and Britain.

In addition the ferry operator has a direct service from Rosslare to Cherbourg with three return crossings a week. Approximately three million passengers each year are carried on its Irish Sea routes, more than its rival ferry operators combined.

#ferry- Stena Line which also operates a UK landbridge route network on the North Sea to mainland Europe, announced earlier this year an increase in its freight capacity on the Harwich-Rotterdam-Europoort route by replacing the current two RoRo vessels with two larger ships.

The ferry company has now confirmed plans to also increase capacity on the Killingholme-Rotterdam route in January 2018. Consequently this will increase its total capacity through Europoort by approximately 20%.

A decision has been taken to introduce a larger RoRo vessel on the North Sea to replace the current chartered ship, Caroline Russ, when its contract expires in January 2018.

Next year Stena Line will also reposition the RoRo ships between the Europoort routes to further optimise the available capacity. On the Killingholme-Rotterdam route, which was started with one vessel in 2014 and which has daily departures since 2016, MV Misida and MV Misana will operate. The new ship will be introduced on the Harwich-Rotterdam route in January 2018 and join former Irish Sea freightferry, Stena Scotia. 

Annika Hult, Trade Director at Stena Line North Sea commented: “I am very pleased to announce that we will now take the next step in the strategic development of our Rotterdam (Europoort) Freight transport hub to the UK. We have seen a strong growth in the transport market to the UK over the past several years and we are currently trading at very high utilisation on both routes. We also see a good development in Freight volumes arriving to Europoort by train. We believe that the combination of rail and RoRo transportation will increase in the future and our vision is that Europoort will develop into a key rail freight connection point to and from the UK. These capacity increases clearly demonstrate our ambitions and we are confident our customers will react positively to our expansion plans.”