Port to introduce booking system for hauliers

The Port of Cork is to adopt a web booking system for hauliers which has been pioneered by an English port to cut down on traffic gridlock at peak times.

Day three of a Bord Pleanála oral hearing at the Cork International Airport Hotel was told that the VBS (Vehicle Booking System) has proved highly successful since it was introduced a few years ago at Felixstowe port.

The Port of Cork wants to use the system as part of its €100m-plus upgrade of deep water cargo handling facilities at Ringaskiddy.

Adam Ramsey, customer services manager in container division at Felixstowe port, said a plan to build a new deep water container terminal there was the subject of a British public inquiry in 2004. He said planning permission was granted two years later after the port developed a freight traffic management plan to reduce congestion on local roads, which the Port of Cork also plans to do.

Mr Ramsey told the hearing it was mandatory for all hauliers using Felixstowe to log onto the VBS before they were given permission to enter the port to collect or deliver containers.

Staff at the port are able to check that containers are ready to be taken away or loaded onboard ships before they notify the hauliers their visit is officially booked.

Mr Ramsey said 10,000 hauliers have signed up to the system.

He said prior to its introduction, there was regular congestion on roads around the port. Following the introduction of VBS, officials had eradicated congestion and queuing problems.

“VBS is highly adaptable. It allows the port to control traffic arrivals on a day-to-day, hour-by-hour basis.”

Prior to introducing VBS, there was an average three-hour delay in loading and unloading HGVs. “The average turnaround time is now 40 minutes,” he said.

The port has also managed to significantly alter times at which hauliers arrive and leave the facility.

Mr Ramsey said the early mornings and mid-afternoons were now the peak periods for HGV movements around the port. This was a deliberate policy so as to keep them out of the area during the morning and evening rush-hour periods.

The poor state of the local road network, the need to upgrade the N28 Cork-Ringaskiddy road, and overcapacity at the Jack Lynch Tunnel/Dunkettle interchange, were the main reasons why Bord Pleanála refused the Port of Cork a similar planning application in 2008.

It is expected these areas will be addressed by the National Roads Authority, which has drawn up plans for a €100m upgrade of the Jack Lynch Tunnel/Dunkettle interchange.

However, six years ago, the board also said there should be a freight rail connection to Ringaskiddy.

Bord Pleanála inspector Conor McGrath asked Mr Ramsey if Felixstowe had a rail connection.

He replied that it did, but the vast majority of freight was removed from the port via road. Mr Ramsey said about 24% of all freight was transported by rail, primarily for long journeys.

The Port of Cork maintains that most of its freight will be destined for far shorter journeys, primarily in the Munster area.