Irish Examiner view: Ports continue to battle the Brexit storm

Goods shipped directly from Ireland to EU up by 50% in six months

Freight trucks disembark a Stena Ferry at Dublin Port.

The news that volumes of goods shipped directly from Ireland to other EU members have grown by 50% in the past six months is no great surprise. 

It wasn’t rocket science that exporters would find routes around the red tape barriers that Britain has erected through Brexit.

“It is clear that the new trading arrangements between Ireland and the UK have had a significant and negative effect upon ro-ro [roll-on roll-off lorry haulage] freight traffic between the two countries,” says the Irish Maritime Development Office.

One third of all ro-ro traffic from the Republic goes directly to ports such as Le Havre, Cherbourg, and Dunkirk in France, and to Zeebrugge in Belgium. Some 98% of EU traffic goes through Rosslare Europort and Dublin, with only 2% through Cork.

Whether this means a long-term disengagement between the Republic and the markets of Britain, time will tell — but, if so, there will be an opportunity cost, as well as increased transport costs for our companies.