Mid-West shipping enjoys plain sailing

IT’S boom-time for shipping in the Shannon Estuary, according to Shannon Foynes Port Company.

The authority has responsibility for the estuary’s six commercial port jetties.

A marketing drive by the port company is projected to yield a 10% growth in shipping this year.

Last year shipping carried 10.5 million tonnes of cargo and a new service enables Mid-West companies to ship 40ft containers in and out of the country on a weekly basis.

The new Foynes/Rotterdam service is being operated by Teamlines and their vessel, the Pavo, can take up to 100 containers.

Shannon Foynes Port Company commercial manager Martin Morrissey said they are pleased with the success of the new container shipment business.

Up to now, Mid-West firms had to use Dublin and Cork ports to ship containers, which involved huge road transport costs.

Mr Morrissey said: “Although it has only been operating for a few months, the loads are running at between 50% and 70% each week. The whole idea is to provide a new export and import shipping service to companies in the Mid-West and the wider western and midlands regions.

The company has received a major commercial study which sets out options to help develop shipping business in the Shannon Estuary in the next 20 years.

The company has approved a strategic development plan to invest €53.5 million over the next five years to create shipping, industrial and commercial facilities along the estuary.

The plan sets in place ambitious partnerships and project developments which will, according to the port company, represent the biggest ever boost to infrastructure in the west.

The main objectives of the plan include the commercial redevelopment of Limerick’s dockhands; major jetty extensions and restructuring of port operations at Foynes; the creation of a new port facility and the construction of a new deep-water container transhipment terminal at the western tip of the estuary near Ballylongford.