Concerns over long-term viability of UK routes
DESPITE assurances from Stena Line that the company remains ‘committed’ to a route between Rosslare and Fishguard, General Manager of Rosslare Europort Glenn Carr says that he would have concerns over the Europort’s UK routes in the long term.
Mr Carr says that freight levels on the UK routes are down 49% on last year and, quite obviously, this is unsustainable for the operators.
Stena Line last week revealed that services to Fishguard would be temporarily suspended while the Stena Europe left Rosslare to provide cover for another vessel which required maintenance. On Friday, it was revealed that these repair works were taking longer than scheduled and the Fishguard service would be suspended for a further ten days, on top of the ten days that were initially scheduled.
A source within the company said that ships simply had to be deployed where they are busiest and that they hoped all of their ships would return to their regular routes ‘by the end of February’.
Europort General Manager Glenn Carr says it makes sense for the operator to carry out works to their fleet while things are quiet.
‘With no demand, it doesn’t make sense to sail every day,’ he said. ‘In particular when there’s no passenger demand as well. Stena Line are adamant that they aren’t going anywhere and of course they own the port of Fishguard. They say that they are carrying out necessary maintenance work in drydock while things are quiet.’
While confident that the Fishguard route will return in the short term, Mr Carr is not quite as optimistic long term.
‘I would have concerns in the long term over routes to the UK,’ he said. ‘I do believe we need to look at the services being offered. To have two sailings out of each Welsh port (Pembroke and Fishguard) just doesn’t seem workable. Ideally I’d like to see both Irish Ferries and Stena Line going into the one port and staggering services maybe every six hours.
I think if the UK routes are going to provide good competition, they’re going to need to look at scheduling and frequency on the Welsh side. It’s not good to have two out of each port, because if a truck driver misses one sailing in Fishguard for example, he won’t make it to Pembroke in time for the next one. He’s snookered. At very least, I think the operators should look at alternating their schedules.’
In a scenario where only one Welsh port emerges, it would seem the Stena-owned Fishguard would be the likely victor. It’s rumoured that Stena Line and Irish Ferries are in discussion over the possibility of both sailing into the same port, a similar operation to what they have in Holyhead. According to Mr Carr, this would require some infrastructure work first as Fishguard couldn’t currently accommodate the size of the Irish Ferries Isle of Inishmore. However, this is an issue which he says can be easily remedied.