Mr. Pat Keating:

I thank the committee for inviting me to present to discuss the challenges facing ports in the context of Brexit. Shannon Foynes Port Company is Ireland's largest bulk port company and has statutory jurisdiction on the lower Shannon Estuary, covering 500 sq. km. With channel depths of up to 32 m, the port handles the largest vessels entering Irish waters and has capacity to handle over 11 million tonnes per annum.

Its activities have a trade value of €8.5 billion per annum, supporting 3,900 full-time jobs.

Shannon Foynes has 1,200 ha zoned for maritime development, making it ideally suited for future national port infrastructure of scale for this country. In order to fully realise these comparative advantages, expansion and development of the port is led by its 30-year master plan, Vision 2041.

As SFPC is currently a bulk port, its operations are less likely to be materially affected by Brexit. Brexit operational implications consist of increased customs and increased agricultural checks on primarily roll on-roll off, RoRo, and lift on-lift off, LoLo, traffic to and from UK or using the UK as a land bridge to and from Europe. However, a no-deal Brexit will affect underlying sectors and accordingly, SFPC faces significant risk from a revenue perspective if these sectors are negatively impacted. In relation to our customer base, the agricultural sector appears most exposed. This could then have consequential knock on effects on feed and fertiliser imports. Other cargoes may also be impacted.

While unitised transport has rightly being receiving much of the attention regarding Brexit and ports, SFPC is also a substantial energy port. Brexit is likely to have implications for the energy sector as the UK will be deemed a third country under new trade rules applicable from 1 January. Accordingly, Brexit planning at SFPC is focused on business development as well as ensuring we have sufficient port capacity and hinterland connectivity in place.

Some of the key targeted growth areas include organic growth, that is, increasing trade form existing customer base across all underlying sectors; establishing the Shannon Estuary as an offshore renewable energy, ORE, hub for floating offshore wind energy; establishing a Foynes logistics hub and global transhipment facility for intermodal-unitised cargoes; facilitating alternative fuel transhipment and-or production, such as hydrogen, ammonia, LNG, on the Shannon Estuary; and implementing the Limerick docklands strategy. For example, the establishment of an offshore renewable energy hub on the Shannon Estuary could generate thousands of jobs in the regional and national economy. A recent Danish study concluded that for every 1 GW of offshore energy generated supported 14,600 full-time jobs in Denmark's wind sector. Shannon Foynes is the closest deep water port to this resource and is ideally suited to locate the associated energy supply chain.

Land availability has arisen as a critical issue around Brexit planning. In this regard, Shannon Foynes Port Company is well resourced, with more than 1,200 ha zoned and 160 ha available at Foynes. Accordingly, and together with the completion of the Limerick to Foynes road, Foynes Port can offer choice and contingency to the market in the short to medium term.

Consistent with our master plan Vision 2041 and the national planning framework, the next phases of our investment programme, costing around €26 million, are planned to commence in the first quarter of 2021. In addition, preliminaries have also commenced for a new 700 m deep water jetty at Foynes. Lead times for port infrastructure of this nature is seven to ten years. Other matters such as the national marine planning framework and the new foreshore Bill are outstanding.

While Brexit will undoubtedly bring its challenges, it is not our greatest impediment from an ongoing operational or growth perspective. Insufficient hinterland connectivity remains a primary obstacle. Without it the port cannot fully integrate into the supply chain and its potential to establish an offshore renewable energy hub will be undermined. Both the completion of the Limerick to Foynes road and the reinstatement of the Limerick to Foynes rail line are critically important if the substantial port assets of the Shannon Estuary are to be fully optimised.