‘More European routes needed’ for Irish ports

The Government has been urged to commission a report on the ability of Irish ports to handle new routes and extra cargo bypassing the British mainland and going direct to mainland Europe in the event of the UK leaving the customs union.

Port of Cork commercial manager Captain Michael McCarthy said the volume of traffic from Irish ports using British roads to travel onto mainland Europe was so great that an adverse impact on Irish importing and exporting was certain unless alternatives were found.

He was echoing the call of the Irish Academy of Engineering in its submission to the draft National Planning Framework, in which it urged the Government to commission a report to examine “the capacity of our ports — including road and rail access — together with options for increasing air freight and the speed and frequency of cargo ships/ ferries to the continent”.