Mr. Eamonn O'Reilly:

Starting in December 2017, the Dublin Port Company took "Brexit means Brexit" literally and began to prepare for the introduction of border controls in Dublin Port. The company has spent €30 million on Brexit infrastructure. On foot of joint efforts with the Office of Public Works, OPW, huge inspection capacity is now available in Dublin Port for the challenge of Brexit. The Brexit facilities are on eight sites, covering a land area of 14.5 ha. They include 16,000 sq. m, that is, 170,000 sq. ft., of warehousing and 25 inspection bays.

Dublin Port accounts for 84% of all containers and trailers that carry goods in and out of Irish ports. In total, 1.5 million units pass through Dublin Port in a year. Today, 200,000 of these carry goods coming from or going to non-EU destinations such as the Far East and are already subject to border controls. On 1 January, 200,000 will become 1.1 million. The extra 900,000 units that will require control are evenly split. Half will be on the longer ferry route to or from Liverpool and half will be on the shorter ferry route to or from Holyhead.

Liverpool trade is mostly unaccompanied but Holyhead trade is mostly driver-accompanied. As a result it will be particularly urgent to get the 800 to 1,000 driver-accompanied loads that come off the Holyhead ferries every day through the new border checks. Border checks will cause delays and the current Holyhead ferry arrival times will increase these delays. Some eight ferries arrive in pairs from Holyhead in four waves, six hours apart. There is typically ten minutes between the arrival of one large ferry and that of another. We would like these eight ferries to arrive at three-hour intervals. The ferry companies say their schedules are determined by customer requirements. The timing of ferry arrivals in the morning is the same today as it was in the 1980s, when the British and Irish Steam Packet Company operated from Dublin Port and Sealink operated from Dún Laoghaire Harbour.

The huge Brexit infrastructure is necessary but not, in itself, sufficient. It needs to be manned and operated by State agencies on a truly 24-7 basis and we have been assured that it will be. However, more transparency on the capacity of State agencies throughout all 168 hours of the week would be beneficial for all stakeholders. Supply chain behaviour will have to change after Brexit. It would be helpful if the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine could be persuaded to publish key performance indicators showing inspection activity levels each week.

Dublin Port is already very busy and there is a risk that container terminal traffic, combined with the movement of heavy goods vehicles, HGVs, between ferries and border control facilities, could exacerbate delays and lead to congestion. By mid-December we will have completed major works to increase the capacity of the port's road network. We will then launch an information campaign targeted at hauliers and cargo owners to explain new traffic management measures that will be in place before year end. We will take the opportunity to suggest to hauliers and cargo owners that they tell the ferry companies whether or not the current Holyhead arrival times actually meet their requirements. We will also suggest that the hauliers insist on being given booking times by the port's container terminals so that excessive on-road queuing and wasted HGV driver time can be avoided.

In the worst case there could be congestion in Dublin Port and contingency plans have been prepared. Most notably, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, has developed a procedure to allow HGVs exiting the southbound bore of the Dublin Port Tunnel to be U-turned to the northern bore if the port congests. In this way, traffic can be kept flowing in the tunnel and on the motorway network until congestion abates in the port. In addition, sites where HGVs can be directed to park up if required have been identified. The Department of Transport will make a public announcement on these arrangements shortly.