Mr. Ciarán Aylward:

It is worth making the point that in recent decades our way of thinking about transport has changed. It is not just about what port one uses but the overall cost of transporting a product from A to B. An exporter in the south east wishing to send product to the Asian market must take many factors, including geography, on board. For example, it might be worthwhile to bring the product by road to Dublin or it might be worthwhile to transport it from Waterford. One must take account of the infrastructure, road and rail, the proximity to ports in other countries and also the onward connections from the port to Shanghai. One of the problems with Waterford Port in particular, is getting the cargo container onto a ship to Rotterdam for the outward journey to Shanghai. The demand for services in Waterford will not be as high as they are in Dublin.

In response to the Deputy's question about the origin and destination of cargo, some studies have been done and many of the imports are being sourced along the M50 region. It makes natural sense to send imports to Dublin Port. Generally there is more freedom when exporting products. Most of the food export companies are based around Cork, Tipperary and the south east, and many of them would tend to use the Port of Waterford and Rosslare Europort. It is worth mentioning that we formed a view from speaking to those involved in the Port of Waterford that they expected the new road would open up opportunities for Waterford Port, but in some ways it has harmed the port. When the road was poor, Glanbia, for example, might have preferred to use Waterford Port because it was cheaper for it, but with the brand new road, once their product is at Dublin Port, they have a greater choice of destination and a higher level of frequency which is particularly important for manufacturing firms. Waterford Port might have only one sailing on a Thursday but Dublin Port will have a frequent service. The cost to a company of missing an order is extremely high as jobs can be lost if they fail to supply on time, and that cost is much greater than the increase in the haulage charge to drive the product to Dublin.

The Department is looking at the management structure of Rosslare Europort in particular. The structure is different compared with other ports in Ireland. Rosslare Europort has a complicated structure and is partially owned by Irish Rail. It is not a semi-State. The view of hauliers and exporters in the south east is that more could be done to improve Rosslare Europort and there is a feeling that if the management was more proactive, more could be done to improve the quality of service.