Irish Ferries owner ICG opposes any renewal of Government subsidies to rivals during Covid crisis   

The company said it would continue to turn down legally questionable and 'market-distorting' subsidies, and do its bit to keep loss-making routes open regardless.

Pictured the W.B Yeats Irish Ferries Ship makes its way through stormy waves into Port at the Pool Beg Light house Photograph: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie

ICG, the owner of Irish Ferries, said it was strongly opposed to the Government giving any further aid to rivals to keep Irish Sea shipping lines open during the Covid crisis, saying it would continue to turn down legally questionable and "market-distorting" subsidies, and do its bit to keep loss-making routes open regardless.    

In a trading update, ICG revealed the continuing high cost of the pandemic on its business, with revenues down €79m so far this year,  as it faces additional challenges of Brexit no matter what type of deal emerges in the coming days from the crunch EU-UK talks. 

ICG earns most of its revenues from ferry and freight crossings, which have been badly hit by the crisis, and from its Eucon container business in Dublin and Belfast, which have fared relatively better, and is one of the Irish companies that are vulnerable to Brexit uncertainty. 

Its shares rose slightly to value ICG at €812m on Wednesday, as it continued to benefit from the global buying spree of Covid-hit firms after pharma companies announced promising results for their vaccine trials this month. 

CEO Eamonn Rothwell is the largest shareholder with about 16% of the company, meaning his stake is worth about €129m. 

On the Public Services Obligation-style subsidies by Government, the company said it would continue to oppose any renewal of subsidies that expired in the summer using "the PSO model". 

"This was not an approach that we supported as we believe this model was liable to create distortions in the marketplace and could be open to legal challenge," ICG said in the update. 

"For these reasons, we decided not to participate in this PSO model, but we committed, without any specific Government support, to continue operating our loss-making routes, which provide a vital lifeline service to our island," it said. 

However, the Irish Ferries owner again complained about visitors from Britain traveling through Belfast and Larne and who are not asked to restrict their movements. ICG operates container services into Belfast from Britain but has no passenger services on that stretch of the Irish Sea.  

Overall, at €229m so far this year, group revenues were down 26% from 2019, with a "material impact" falling on passenger revenues, which were down by 71%. 

Its so-called container lifts at its Dublin and Belfast terminals were 12% lower.

On Brexit, it said uncertainty remains about the shape of the deal as talks continue between the EU and the UK.     

"The Ferries Division is highly dependent on trade flows between Ireland and the UK. Therefore, any slowdown in either economy as a result of the exit of the UK from the EU will likely have an effect on Irish Ferries’ carryings," it said.  

Regardless of the shape of the Brexit deal, it faces more regulatory burdens, saying its customers "also need to be prepared for the administrative changes" in January "regardless of a deal between the EU and the UK".