In the most northern port in France, Dunkirk (ranked 7th port in the Northern Range between Le Havre and Hamburg), is where the French port company is looking to mount a significant expansion of trade routes with its Irish counterparts, as the port sees Ireland as an “underestimated” market even post-Brexit.

The Port of Dunkirk's deputy chief executive said it was eyeing stronger links with existing trade routes through Dublin Port and Rosslare Europort, while also creating new routes for the first time to the Port of Waterford and further west along the south coast to the Port of Cork.

Last week, representatives from the French port which has 17kms of shoreline and accompanied by large port areas divided (east and west), were in Dublin with a range of companies. They included the transport and logistics sector, agri-food companies and the pharmaceutical industry which discussed the potential of new trade links with Ireland.

Following the UK's departure from the EU, this had the effect of removing the 'land-bridge' of Wales and England often used by hauliers traveling to and from Ireland, leaving in particular eastern ports to step in and take on the extra traffic to the EU.

A prime example is Rosslare Europort in Co Wexford, which said it has seen European freight pass through the port which saw a staggering 370% increase when compared to 2019.

Trade through the UK, however declined and is now approximately 20% lower compared to 2019.

Further reading from the The Journal.ie which has an interview here with Daniel Deschodt, the deputy chief executive of the French port which had been examining the viability of increased services for some time.