Northern Ireland protocol deal may send more lorry traffic back to ports in Republic, says Rosslare port chief

New green and red lane checks in Northern Ireland’s ports may lead to lorry freight operators redirecting some traffic back to ports in the Republic, the manager of Rosslare Europort has said.

Glenn Carr told the Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs on Wednesday that while it awaited the “good news” of the Windsor Framework that removes some checks at the North’s ports, red-lane checks on EU-bound goods from Britain could see freight diverted back to southern ports.

“More of an alignment with what happens with green line and red line in Dublin and Rosslare will now emerge with the protocol so that might bring some traffic back down,” said Mr Carr, director of commercial business units at Iarnród Éireann, the operator of the Co Wexford port.

Barry O’Connell, chief executive of Dublin Port Company, said he did not expect changes in traffic volumes at the port from the new post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. He told the committee it was “very early days” to assess the impact of the deal but he had spoken to management at Belfast Port and port terminal operators in Ireland and the UK.

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“The consensus seems to be that trade has found a natural settling place over the last two years and I don’t believe it is going to have a material impact in terms of further influencing shifts in volume relative to where we are at the moment,” he said.

[ Windsor Framework: How the new deal on the Northern Ireland protocol will work ]

[ Windsor Framework: Dublin and EU expect Sunak to proceed with protocol deal even if DUP rejects it ]

The committee heard from the managers at the State’s two main ports about the dramatic increases they have seen in lorry freight volumes with EU ports and a shift away from UK ferry routes in favour of direct EU routes as traders avoid Brexit border checks with Britain.

Mr O’Connell said that, in the year after Brexit came into effect, Dublin Port lost lorry freight to Northern Ireland’s ports which increase their share of roll-on, roll-off (ro-ro) freight volumes from 41 per cent in 2020 to 45 per cent in 2021. This fell back to 42 per cent last year.

He said this indicated a “more settled position” with Brexit border controls, while the initial changes were due to a “settling-in period” as operators adjusted to border restrictions.

Dublin Port’s share recovered from 46 per cent in 2021 to 48 per cent last year, while Rosslare’s share of ro-ro traffic volumes over the same period increased from 6 per cent to 9 per cent.

Mr Carr said there was a “disproportionate” increase in traffic immediately after Brexit came into effect in 2021 using Belfast Port to transport goods to and from Britain.

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Rosslare Europort, the country’s closest port to continental Europe, recorded the biggest increase in lorry freight with ports on continental Europe as EU freight grew by almost 400 per cent over the past two years with the number of weekly ferry services rising from six to 36.

There has been a 36 per cent fall in freight traffic with the UK since 2021, representing a “substantial shift in the supply chain between Ireland and the UK,” Mr Carr said.

He said businesses in certain sectors have moved their supply chain out of the UK to mainland Europe to avoid the costs and risks associated with post-Brexit border controls.

Growing services to Europe was “essential” to export-import supply lines and provided an alternative to the UK landbridge, “the preferred route pre-Brexit,” he said.

Mr O’Connell said that volumes on ro-ro freight with mainland EU ports rose by 64 per cent compared with 2019 while ro-ro volumes with UK ports have declined by almost 18 per cent.