Bord postpones decision on port’s €226m terminal plan

MANAGEMENT at the Port of Cork will have to wait a little longer to find out if they can proceed with a new €226 million container terminal, after An Bord Pleanála postponed a decision due yesterday.

A spokesman for the appeals body said because of the sheer volume of information obtained during a marathon oral hearing last April, it had been unable to meet the June 3 deadline.

“Additional time is needed to consider it. The decision has been put back to June 24,” the spokesman said.

The oral hearing, which took place at the Cork Airport Hotel, lasted 15 days and was chaired by APB inspector Paul Caprani.

More than 500 submissions were made by local residents, several of whom believe the development earmarked for Ringaskiddy will harm the local environment, clog local roads with heavy traffic and interfere with fishing and yachting.

An objection was also made by the Port of Waterford, which the Port of Cork’s chief executive Brendan Keating had described as “vexatious”.

He said Waterford’s claim that there was adequate container-handling capacity nationally was wrong.

Mr Keating said that if the Ringaskiddy terminal didn’t get the go-ahead, the southern region would be put at an economic disadvantage. The Port of Cork needs to build a new container terminal because the docks at Tivoli are simply too small to handle a new generation of super container ships, which are currently being built.

Tivoli docks can only handle ships with a maximum length of 155 metres, whereas the planned terminal at Ringaskiddy could manage ships twice as long.

Port of Cork management also looked at the possibility of building the new container terminal at the old IFI plant at Marino Point, near Cobh. But they found it would be unsuitable as a deep water terminal.

The proposed Ringaskiddy terminal, which would be built on the Oyster Bank, would have a 480 metre-long quay. It would be capable of handling simultaneous berthing of three container ships.

Jonathan Packer, an international ports consultant and former senior manager with Cunard, said that without the Ringaskiddy terminal the Port of Cork would lose market share rapidly.