Holyhead Port is to remain closed until 15 January at the earliest, it has been announced.
All ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead are cancelled until this time.
In a statement, the port said the closure follows damage to the Terminal 3 berth on 6 December, during Storm Darragh.
It acknowledged that the closure of the ferry terminals has had a “significant” impact on trade, passengers and port customers.
It said the damage is still being assessed and it took the decision to keep the ferry berths closed until 15 January “to provide certainty for passengers, freight customers and ferry operators and allow them make alternative arrangements ahead of the busiest time of the year”.
It added: “We are sorry for the disruption this has caused. The safety of our colleagues and customers is our first priority and we will only permit ferry services to recommence once we are sure it is safe to do so. “
Stena Line said it is contacting all affected passengers.
People who are booked to travel on the Dublin-Holyhead route from 20 December onwards can transfer the booking free of charge to alternative routes, including Dublin-Liverpool, Dublin-Fishguard as well as Belfast-Cairnryan.
The company has apologised for the inconvenience caused and has said it is “doing everything in its power to mitigate the effects of the closure on passenger and freight traffic.”
Earlier, Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales Ken Skates said contingency plans are being rolled out and said “we’re identifying, collectively, the operators of the ferries and the ports across the UK.
“We’re identifying as much spare capacity as possible to be able to utilise other ports to get ferries to and from Ireland.”
Mr Skates said that an estimated 100,000 people return to Ireland at Christmas and a taskforce has been established to look at way of ensuring that they can all get home.
“Within the next 24 hours, we will have certainty, and we’ll be able to then implement very, very significant plans to be able to get as many people and goods back to Ireland as possible.”
He urged airlines to show empathy and not increase prices.
“It is not helpful when fares rise astronomically. So I’d appeal to those airlines not to increase fares given the severity of the situation.”
Irish hauliers face ’emergency’
The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) said in a statement that the closure will have a “massive” impact on its industry in the days before Christmas.
It said that 10,000 freight vehicles were moving in and out of Holyhead per week before its closure and that 60% of the goods coming into Ireland normally move through the damaged port.
“Shipping companies are re-deploying which means that hauliers have to move goods in Holyhead to alternative ports in the UK meaning longer distances to be travelled and therefore longer timelines for deliveries and logistics,” said the IRHA.
“One IRHA member who has a fleet of 80 trucks in and out of the UK each week is losing €300,000 per week and there’s another four weeks of this to go.
“We have drivers and vehicles lying idle because they are stuck in Holyhead at the moment.”
The IHRA said that large hauliers will be down “hundreds of thousands” per day in turnover.
IRHA President Ger Hyland said “The statement that the port will not re-open until the mid of January has a huge impact on the industry and they are calling for financial support from the Government as a matter of urgency, not February or March but now.
“There are only three island nations in the EU that are Ireland, Cyprus and Malta and Government needs to treat this as an emergency and assist us in this huge challenge we are facing to keep Ireland supplied and hence our fleets on the road.”
£500 London-Dublin fares not because of Holyhead Port closure – Ryanair
Ryanair Group Chief Executive Michael O’Leary has said that a big increase in fares between Ireland and Britain has nothing to do with the closure of Holyhead Port in Wales.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Mr O’Leary said that airline fares have “increased astronomically ahead of Christmas” because of the passenger cap at Dublin Airport and not due to the Holyhead closure.
“It’s nothing to do with Holyhead. It’s entirely to do with a gross shortage of seats in and out of Dublin this Christmas because of the Dublin Airport cap.”
Mr O’Leary said there has been no increased for demand for flights as a result of the closure of Holyhead.
Ryanair still has around 5,000 seats available between now and Christmas Day, he added, and these would be available at much lower prices if it were not for the Dublin Airport passenger cap.
He welcomed the commitment by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to scrapping the cap.
Article Source – Holyhead Port to stay closed until 15 January ‘at the earliest’ – RTE
