A NEW ferry service from Cork port to northern Spain and France will be formally announced this week and should be operational before the summer holiday season begins.
The Ro-Ro freight and car ferry service will also be welcomed by Irish exporters who will now be able to avail of the three sailings a week, two to Spain and one to one of the French Biscay ports.
The rotation of the sailings will involve two trips per week to Spain and once a week to western France.
The Port of Cork company has been working on the proposal for some time through its involvement in the EU projects “Motorways of the Sea” which is aimed at reducing traffic on European roads by using sea crossings.
It said a direct service will offer considerable savings to Irish holiday makers who wish to take their own cars without worrying about the current airport and airline restrictions.
It will also benefit haulage contractors and logistic suppliers offering savings from tolls, EU Environmental Taxes and CO2 emissions costs.
The company estimates it will save an average car or truck traveller approximately 1,300 km each way on a journey from Limerick to Madrid currently driving through the UK and France by road.
In a recent report, the Port of Cork company said in 2007 1.7 million ro-ro units left the east coast ports of Ireland for the UK and an estimated 40 per cent or 708,800 trailers, were landbridge units for Europe.
Irish businesses and exporters have complained their freight costs are greater than the rest of Europe and this is making Irish goods less competitive in the euro zone where exporters are attempting to build up markets.