An Irish port has had a good Brexit by avoiding UK ports and increasing its European freight, The Irish Times has reported.
According to the newspaper, Rosslare Europort benefitted from its geography, making it the closest Irish port to mainland Europe and a “beachhead for traders” wanting to avoid British ports because of Brexit chaos.
The port, which is run by the state-owned Irish Rail, saw a 371 per cent yearly increase in European freight volumes since Brexit came into force.
“Rosslare has had its busiest year ever,” The Irish Times has concluded, adding: “The changes have taken place at a remarkable pace.”
“Twenty-four direct routes were created between Rosslare and mainland Europe since 2020 and they have already become well-established and preferred by hauliers who previously ventured across the UK “land bridge”.
Irish ports import less from the UK after Brexit
The conclusion comes after, in November last year, Rosslare had the busiest day in its history thanks to Brexit.
The record day was registered on 13 November, according to Rosslare Europort’s managing director Glenn Carr, who said this became normal in Wexford in 2021 – showing a shift in Irish trade towards Europe.
Pre-Brexit, two Welsh ports represented most of Rosslare’s business, with only around three weekly services going to Europe – but last year, Irish ports were importing less from the UK than they were before Brexit.
“Typically, prior to Brexit, you were probably looking at about 120,000 freight units a year going into the port every year and in or around close to a million passengers pre-pandemic,” Carr told The Journal.
He said Brexit made him reconsider what the Rosslare port had that could make it grow post-Brexit – and he came to the conclusion that it was the geographical proximity to Europe.
Direct sailings ‘preferred’
“Obviously, we also saw that with the likely outcome that was emerging from Brexit, the chances were that supply chains were going to change fundamentally because the fundamental point was that Britain was exiting Europe and becoming a third [region],” he added.
Carr said that the UK landbridge, connecting Dublin, Holyhead and Cherbourg or Le Havre in France were once the quickest and cheapest way to trade between Ireland and Europe, but Brexit red tape shifted the interest towards trading more with the EU.
He added: ‘There’s definitely been more engagement from both importers and exporters about direct sailings.
“In particular industries, we’re definitely seeing where traditionally a lot of goods were sourced in the UK or exported to the UK, there’s been a switch to Europe.”
However, recent positivity regarding Rosslare may be crushed by the “full effect of Brexit”, according to The Irish Times.
The newspaper warned the UK still has to start its own border checks on goods coming from Ireland, and firmly declared it as a negative for Irish exporters.
“London has put these controls with Ireland on hold pending EU-UK talks on the operation of the Northern Ireland protocol, the post-Brexit rules that set the level of checks on goods passing from Britain into Northern Ireland.
“Resolving the protocol issue will probably bring further Brexit-related changes to both Dublin and Rosslare.”
Related: Brexit and pandemic each cost UK £250bn – but Brexit tally keeps rising