The Irish Exporters Association (IEA) welcomed the initiative of leading Irish freight Forwarder, International Warehousing and Transport (IWT), who yesterday (19th August) launched a new rail freight service which will give Exporters and Importers located in the North West low cost access to Dublin port and the many shipping operators in the port. The IEA sees this initiative, which is in effect a public private partnership between IWT, Iarnrod Eireann and Dublin Port, as a template for future multi-modal transport development which will both reduce our green house gas emissions and give efficient effective use of Ireland�s existing infrastructure.

The 18 wagon trains chartered from Iarnrod Eireann will run from within Dublin Port to Ballina, initially twice weekly, but IWT hopes to increase this within six months to a five times weekly service. This would take at least 9000 truck journeys a year off the N5 and reduce congestion on the M50. Dublin Port is a key partner in the launch of this project.

One of the IEA�s main objectives is to facilitate the smooth flow of goods and raw materials from manufacturer to final customer with a seamless supply chain that is both economical and environmentally efficient.

Howard Knott, IEA Project Director stated at the launch:

�Rail Freight services such as that already operated for DFDS Container Line between Waterford and Ballina, and the new IWT service meet these objectives perfectly. Use of rail for moving containers is up to five times more environmentally friendly than road freight and modern rail services offer a physically smoother transit than road, thus minimising cargo damage and minimising packaging costs�.

The IWT company in launching the new services stated:

�This development will provide customers with a seamless reliable road and rail service. We are confident that the new services will not only deliver a superior product, but will also save up to 5.5million road kilometres every year and will reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 2,750 tonnes�.

The IEA stated that it had been working with it�s Rail Freight Group over the past 3 years to reverse the decline in rail freight and to offer greener options for exporters particularly where heavy tonnage and high volume goods were involved. The rail freight multimodal option was particularly valuable to companies trading from the western part of the country, with the need to reach continental Europe through the east coast ports.

The IEA noted that the despite the recession the recent Indecon Report on Dublin Port and it�s future, published by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey, shows that Lift-on Lift-off container traffic through Irish Ports will continue to grow by 3.21% a year, doubling the present figure of 610,000 units to over 1.2 million in 20 years. The report recommended that the provision of rail links into Irish Ports should have the highest priority and Government policy should encourage the move of traffic to Rail. In doing this it will comply with EU Transport Policy objectives, reduce carbon emissions and meet its spatial strategy objectives.

For further information contact Howard Knott at:

e-mail: hknott@irishexporters.org or 086 8103025

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