2009
The I.E.A. today (16TH July) welcomed the release of the 75-page 'Irish Freight RoRo and LoLo Capacity Report 2009' produced by Peter Baker.
The chief executive of the IEA John Whelan stated:
"Knowledge is critical to survival in these turbulent trading times. Hence, the strong welcome by the IEA to this publication by PBR Associates, which gives the market up to date data on Ro-Ro and Lo-Lo shipping line operators and the route, service and capacity capability that they provide.
I strongly recommend the publication to the Department of Transport, for planning purposes, to all port and shipping operators and the exporters they serve and to all other parties with an involvement in the sector. State Support mechanism for the sector should be re- looked at, to enable the sector to continue to deliver the vital supply chain service to export industry.
Peter Baker, speaking at the release of the publication stated:
here are a number of major trends emerging from the survey publication;
- Capacity on the Ireland UK mainland traditional Lo-Lo shipping sector, including deep sea feeder service capacity, has fallen by 18% or 43,000 units in the past 12 months and Lo-Lo service capacity serving Continental Europe has fallen even further.
- However, the Ireland UK Ro-Ro service sector (door to door service) has still increased capacity by 9,000 units (0.3%) over the past 12 months.
- But a major increase in capacity on the direct shipping service to the Continent Europe (Ro-Ro ferry services) of 36% has emerged over the past 12 months with the port of Rosslare now handling 92% of this capacity."
John Whelan, the Irish Exporters Association chief executive commenting on the major trends stated;"Remarkably in the current climate capacity on the Dublin-Holyhead route has in fact been increased; with the Stena Nordica increasing it's capacity by 85% over the Seatrader vessel it replaced. Also we strongly welcome the additional direct Ro-Ro ferry services between Ireland and Continental Europe which will help the many exporters damaged by the depreciation of sterling to focus their efforts into the Eurozone, as a more profitable target market."
The IEA went on to comment that whereas capacity has been maintained by the shipping lines , they have been hit by heavily reduced volumes of trade , particularly on imports .This year to date there has been a 30% approx reduction in imports form China alone. Not unexpectedly, operators have had to tighten their purse strings, reducing staff, reducing overtime, and cutting back on terminal staffing.
John Whelan stated; "From an export point of view , the good news is that we are still seeing a strong base of shipping line operators offering a wide range of excellent services to export industry . Most of these have been on the market for a while and we are glad to see they are not exiting the market when the first signs of economic slow down arrived."
John Whelan accepted that it had been a very difficult year so far for all operators, but indicated that there has been something of a stabilisation of volumes in recent months. "It appears we may have reached the bottom," he said "but shipping lines are likely to have to tough it out for another 6 to 12 months before we see any real growth in export volumes."
Note 1: To order copies of the publication -Irish Freight RoRo and LoLo Capacity Report 2009- Please contact peter.baker@prbassociates.co.uk
Note 2: For commercial enquiries about the Colbelfret service to Zeebrugge / Rotterdam from Rosslare contact http://www.cobelfret.com/sailing_schedules.html For other information about services to and from Rosslare Europort see http://www.Rosslare.ie
END
For further information contact:
John Whelan, Chief Executive, Irish Exporters Association
Mobile: 087 9271243 Email: jfwhelan@irishexporters.ie
 |
 |
