Truckers will in coming days seek compensation from Government for losses from Holyhead Port’s closure last month, it has emerged.
Damage from Storm Darragh shut the Stena Line-owned port, a key British entry point for Irish business, as the build-up to Christmas began in earnest on December 7th, and the disruption could continue into 2025.
Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, said on Wednesday that the truckers’ industry group will seek a meeting with Government to discuss compensation for losses suffered as a consequence of Holyhead’s closure.
He said the organisation itself would meet before those discussions to establish hauliers’ likely losses.
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Mr Hyland predicted that these would be significant as the disruption forced them to travel long distances to find alternative routes between the two countries.
The Government has agreed to meet to discuss the issue, but the hauliers’ chief noted that it had not made any promises
“We’re looking for compensation because our industry would not be able to bear the cost of this and a lot of our customers cannot shoulder it either,” he said.
“We will need compensation to support the transport industry until the time that Holyhead is fully functional again,” he added.
Reports on Wednesday indicated that a partial reopening of the port was possible by the middle of this month. Holyhead has said it aims to reopen fully on January 16th, but some predictions suggest that this could be much later.
Mr Hyland explained that as the Welsh port was among the cheapest routes to the State, the lowest-value goods were shipped via there, so the financial returns from the route were already low.
He argued that the financial hit to the industry came at a time when it was facing increased costs, mostly driven by Government.
An extra cost associated with boosting biofuel use would add €760 to the cost of filling the average truck’s tank, he said. “Most of our members use between 1½ and three tanks a month,” Mr Hyland said.
Rising fuel bills, road tolls and roadworthiness testing charges are adding to his industry’s costs, threatening some operators’ viability, he warned.
Mr Hyland pointed out that truckers delivered 98 per cent of the goods used in this country.
Meanwhile, Irish Ferries has announced an extra daily sailing between Dublin and Pembroke in Wales for passengers and freight from Monday, January 7th.
Eamon Ryan, Minister for Transport, and the department’s Minister of State, James Lawless, welcomed the news.
Mr Lawless acknowledged that “hauliers, logistics companies, the freight industry and port workers” all played a part in avoiding a crisis this Christmas”.
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