Bump in the road for Irish Sugar
TOP level meetings are taking place to plan the logistics of bringing mountains of beet that would have been processed at the now closed Carlow Sugar Factory to the Irish Sugar company’s sole remaining plant in Mallow by road. Irish Sugar planned to bring two-thirds of that beet to Mallow by rail and some by road.
A new rail depot, similar to one in Wellingtonbridge, Co Wexford, was to have been established at Bagnealstown, Co Carlow, to facilitate the operation. But the proposal fell through. Now, there are alternative plans, which have yet to be formally announced, to develop a rail head at a different Co Carlow location, Milford, to bring that beet to Mallow for an extended 120-day processing campaign beginning in September. But delays have occurred with the planning for that depot, although Irish Sugar, part of Greencore, stressed that arrangements for establishing a railhead in the Carlow area are continuing. There is a growing acceptance, however, that the Milford depot will not be ready in time for this year’s campaign and that some 450,000 tonne of beet from the Carlow factory catchment will have to be brought to Mallow by road.
This has the potential to create a traffic nightmare at the already congested Spa and Bridge Street in Mallow, where work has just started on the first phase of a long awaited multi-million euro flood alleviation project and is due to continue until the year end. However, the intention of the local authorities is to have the elements of these major works on the beet trucks route completed by the time the sugar campaign starts in September. Meanwhile, engineers, politicians, Gardaí, hauliers, the IFA and others are expected to examine the possibility of diversions being put in place in other parts of North Cork so that much of the heavy traffic can be siphoned away from the narrow streets in and around Mallow Bridge. Historically, Mallow factory processed 9,680 tonne of beet per day with 7,180 tonne of it being brought to the Newberry factory site by road in 290 loads a day and another 2,500 tonne by rail. With the closure of the Carlow plant, Mallow will process 12,100 tonne a day with 6,775 tonne being conveyed in 274 loads by road and another 5,325 tonne by rail. An existing rail depot at Wellingtonbridge, Co Wexford, will continue to be used. Some 1.3 million tonne of beet is expected to be processed in Mallow during the upcoming campaign.
But with the proposed Milford rail depot unlikely to be up and running for this year’s campaign, the number of loads to be brought by road to Mallow will increase by around 90 per day. Total deliveries by road, including those from the Mallow factory’s own catchment, will be 364 a day compared with 290 loads previously. However, the transport arrangements have angered growers in the Kildare, Offaly and Laois areas.
Even with the Milford depot in operation their beet will still have to go by road to Mallow, adding further costs to their operation.
According to their spokesman, John Lowry, they had sought the provision of an additional rail depot in Portlaoise to facilitate the transport of their beet and had agreed to put up €3 per tonne to help finance it for three years. They reckon that transporting their beet by road to Mallow will be around €10 per tonne more than if it was carried by rail and that this extra cost would put their viability as growers at risk. The growers have also warned that there will be massive congestion in Mitchelstown and Mallow this year with the extra haulage traffic caused by the closure of the Carlow factory. However, Irish Rail insists there are no time slots for beet trains from Portlaoise. As a result, Mayor of Mallow Cllr Sean Sherlock has called on the Agriculture and Transport Ministers Mary Coughlan and Martin Cullen to intervene.
He said the ministers should ensure that, when the beet campaign starts in the autumn, increased rail capacity will allow for less congestion on roads in North Cork and particularly through Mallow town. “It is vital that Irish Rail increases its capacity at Portlaoise by creating more slots to facilitate transportation of beet into the railhead at Mallow. Current indications would suggest that Irish Rail will not be providing these extra slots. The only sustainable policy is to ensure that Mallow doesn’t grind to a standstill during the beet campaign. We could do with Irish Rail’s help on this matter.” Mayor Sherlock said Mallow town is not physically able to handle the increased traffic that this year’s beet harvest will bring. “I am urging the Ministers to ask Irish Rail to help the people of Mallow by diverting a larger percentage of beet traffic from road to rail. We must seek alternative routes throughout North Cork to divert traffic away from the Spa area Mallow, which is undergoing significant flood alleviation works,” he said.
Meanwhile, the IFA Sugar Beet Section revealed that it had attended 10 meetings seeking the development of a railhead in Portlaoise. Sugar Beet section chairman Jim O’Regan said Irish Rail explained there are no time slots available on the track while Irish Sugar indicated it was building only one depot and that was at Milford. “We have had a number of meetings with politicians from the Laois-Offaly constituency to push for time slots to be made available on the Dublin-Cork line and for the provision of funding for the construction of a depot in the Portlaoise area. We are frustrated and disappointed with the level of progress.” Laois-Offaly is represented in the Dail by four Government TDs, Finance Minister Brian Cowen, John Moloney and Sean Fleming, Fianna Fáil, and Minister of State Tom Parlon, Progressive Democrats, and by Olwyn Enright, Fine Gael. Mr O’Regan said the IFA sugar beet section had met with Minister of State Parlon three times and with the other Laois-Offaly TDs on a number of occasions.
A depot in the Portlaoise area, which would help to protect the future of beet growing in the region, would become a reality if €1.5m in Government funding was made available. Mr O’Regan said it is imperative that beet growers in the Laois-Offaly constituency keep up the pressure on their TDs to deliver that funding.
Regarding the prospect of transporting all sugar beet from the Carlow area to Mallow in the event of the Milford depot not being ready for the processing campaign, he said the IFA had attended meetings with Cork County Council members and engineers. Other meetings will follow with the Council to ensure no roadworks will be on the approach roads and with Irish Sugar so that there will be a smooth delivery.
A certain amount of beet from north Laois, Offaly and West Kildare can be taken by road via Portlaoise and Limerick to Mallow, with the result that it can by-pass the town centre on the way to the sugar factory in Newberry. Irish Sugar said it has been working with Irish Rail, IFA and other relevant parties on the detail of the structure and logistics surrounding the proposed depot in the Carlow area and, for its part, will do everything it possibly can to reach a satisfactory arrangement on the proposed plan. “Irish Sugar has been on record since the rationalisation announcement on the one factory scenario for its commitment to the establishment of a rail depot in the Carlow area and has stated that both the company and the growers share a mutual responsibility to secure the establishment of a rail depot at the earliest opportunity possible.
“In the event that there is unavoidable delay in the process, beyond Irish Sugar’s control, beet will have to be transported to Mallow by road until such times as the Carlow railhead option can be established. Irish Sugar remains optimistic that outstanding matters in regard to the proposed Carlow area railhead can be resolved in the near term. The company has already had a pre-planning application meeting with Carlow County Council and is hopeful of having a planning application with the local authority in the coming weeks,” it said.
