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Dublin is shaking off its image as the port Irish hauliers avoid. The arrival of major transport firms from the North and three new ferry services are testament to the docks' new-found confidence.
here is a RO-RO revolution going
on over the Irish Sea. Dublin
port—long shunned by most of the Republic's international hauliers because of its lack of capacity, sky-high rates and dockside practices—is enjoying a spectacular renaissance. Boosted by EU and government investment arrrthree new ferry operators, the port's RO-RO traffic has grown from 115,000 units in 1992 to an expected 200,000 in 1995. Its share of the RO-RO market for the whole of Ireland is set to increase from 16% to 22% this year alone.
The port's revival is ending the apparently bizarre practice of many of the Republic's hauliers adding a day to a round trip to England by heading north to Lame, near Belfast, and crossing to Stranraer. This journey was necessary because of the sheer gamble of securing a berth on one of the two ferries plying their trade between the Irish capital and Britain: most days haulage bosses now have a choice of 10. The arrival this year of Irish Ferries' superferry Isle of Innisfree and Steno's freight-only ship on the Holyhead route, together with Merchant Ferries' switch of its Heysham freight service from Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland, has more than trebled capacity. It has also introduced some badly needed competition to a port in which Pandoro had a virtual monopoly of the RO-RO market. For the first time in years, Dublin is able to offer a cost-effective alternative to Larne and Belfast for
southern Irish hauliers heading to Britain.
"We're delighted about what's happened to Dublin," says Jimmy Chrism, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association. "We've seen a 360° turn from what was a very restricted service three years ago to a very substantial one today. It's saving most of our members a truck's working day. With the increasing emphasis on social letislation, the last thing you want to do is have to head for Larne."
Success Another main indication of Dublin's new-found success is the number of northern-based transport firms which have moved into the docks. Two of Ulster's biggest hauliers, Woodside Haulage and Montgomery Transport, have increased their Dublin operations in the past few monthsto exploit the improved ferry service.
Earlier this year Woodside, based in Ballynure, north of Belfast, took a 99year lease on a site in Dublin port. General manager Jim McCrossan says it was a necessary move: "Our Southern Irish business has grown and we are an all-Ireland haulier now. We move the best part of 100 loads through here each week." Woodside plans to add bunkering, warehouse and maintenance facilities and to recruit local drivers. Already it has begun registering some vehicles in the South.
Newtownabbey-based Montgomery,
which has had a presence in Dublin for eight years, has opened a 2,000m2 storage site on the dockside and is currently sending about 15,000 trailers a year through the port. The company used to send most of its loads sourced in or destined for the Republic through Warrenpoint. Now, according to Noel Ebbs, general manager for the Republic of Ireland, at least half goes through Dublin. "It used to be cheaper to ship through Warrenpoint. But with the improved service and the dramatic expansion of our business in the South, it's no longer necessarily the case," he says.
But by far the biggest coup for Dublin has been O'Reilly Transport. Early next year the 50-truck outfit, based in Dundalk, just south of the border, will move its operation lock, stock and barrel to a new E2m depot at Dublin docks. The relocation makes sound economic sense, because most of its customers are in the Dublin area and the improved ferry service now makes it practical too, says managing director Eugene O'Reilly. The company had been based in Newry, north of the border, but moved to Dundalk 15 years ago where the fact that it could clear customs late in the afternoon for delivery in the UK or Eire the next day gave it an advantage over many of its rivals.
It used Merchant Ferries at Warrenpoint, just a few kilometres away, for most of its cross-Irish Sea business. When Merchant moved, and with the dismantling of border controls removing much of the advantage of being near the frontier, O'Reilly saw little reason not to do the same. "We like to think that, rather than us following them, we moved together," O'Reilly jokes. He admits the decision to shut the Dundalk site, which employs around 50 people, was taken after "a lot of soul-searching", but he says: "With most of our customers in the Dublin area, if we didn't move, we'd lose our competitive edge,"
Confidence Other factors in Dublin's new-found confidence include the growth in the Irish economy since the recession. EU funds have also provided some desperately needed infrastructure improvements. A link route from the north of the city to the docks is due to begin construction in 1997. This is designed to relieve chronic congestion on the banks of the Liffey in the city centre, used by half the trucks heading to the docks.
But perhaps the biggest catalyst to the port's change in fortune has been the sweeping away of the restrictive practices which had kept charges artificially high and deterred many shipping companies, RO-RO as well as deep-sea, from investing in Dublin. The crunch came in 1992, when, after a nine-month strike by dockers which had paralysed the RO-RO section of the port, the Irish government put the stateowned stevedoring company into liquidation and invited private contractors to tender for licences to operate all the goods handling. The result has been faster loading and lower rates for ferry operators.
The best news for Irish hauliers is that competition among the ferry companies is likely to keep rates keen and levels of quality high. "Before, hauliers in the South just couldn't hope to get into the volume lousiness because of high rates from Dublin," says O'Reilly. "It cost almost twice as much—E400 compared to £200—to send a driver-accompanied truck from Dublin as it did from Belfast, a similar sea
crossing. They say Dublin is a more expensive port, but it's not that much more costly. Now at last we've got competition that never existed before."
The ferry companies appear to relish the competition, especially when volumes from the port are set to continue to soar. "There is a tremendous potential for a huge growth in business," says Tony Kelly, group freight manager of Irish Ferries. "In the past hauliers were forced to use Larne and Belfast because of lack of capacity on the Dublin routes. Most of the extra traffic coming through Dublin is now on its natural routeing,"
Not everyone shares this optimism, however. Merchant Ferries' departure from Warren-point has left the tiny port without a RO-RO service. But, according to Fred McKenna, the Road Haulage Association's secretary in Northern Ireland, negotiations are taking place to lure another ferry operator in. If these are successful, many border-based hauliers could return to Warrenpoint, he believes. "Dublin is doing so well now because it did so badly in the past," he says. It's not a prospect that is likely to tempt back Eugene O'Reilly. "It's coming back to where it should have been had it not been for the abysmal labour relations." Jimmy Quinn is sure the port's future is rosy: "The dockers' outmoded practices have gone; there is a new commercial focus from Irish Ferries; and, while the Dublin Customs could previously hold you up in the docks for half a day, you can now show up minutes before the boat sails. It still costs more to sail from Dublin, but the differential is now so small, between Sand 10%, that it no longer justifies the dead leg through the North."
by Juliet Morrison