Logistics
Into the Northwest
Howard Knott explains how the IEA Trade Facilitation Initiative has lead to a new rail freight service and a vital resource for Irish exporters.
On August 20th, the first container freight train to run from Dublin Port arrived at Ballina. The International Warehousing and Transport (IWT) chartered Iarnród Éireann train, laden with 16ft x 40ft and 3ft x 20ft Deep Sea Line containers had been loaded for IWT by Portroe Stevedores with the cooperation of Dublin Port.
It marked the beginning of a twice-weekly service, linking exporters in the Northwest with Dublin Port, although IWT have already said that initial results indicate that by the end of 2009 the service should be operating on an almost daily basis. They also expect to be carrying all sizes and types of containers and tanks on the service by that time.
This is the second container rail service to link the Northwest to an Irish port, as DFDS Container Lines has serviced customers in the region who use the line's shipping services through Waterford for a number of years. However, this is the first such service in Ireland chartered by a freight forwarder. IWT can thus offer capacity on the service direct to exporters and importers as well as to other freight forwarders and to shipping lines for whom Ballina becomes, in effect, an "inland port".
The inland port concept, which allows containers to be stored ready for use within an hour or two of being ordered, means that the exporter loses the geographical disadvantage of being located far from the port. His supply chain is shorter and, because the train is more environmentally friendly, his carbon footprint is diminished.
It was all of these factors, as well as the susceptibility of truck-based haulage to changes in fuel cost, that led the Trade Facilitation Ireland Group (TFI), which had been created a couple of years ago and managed by the IEA, to focus on developing the potential use of rail freight in Ireland. The TFI Council included representation from Forfas, IMDO, freight forwarders, ports and airports as well as leading exporters. In summer 2008, An Bord Pleanála turned down the projected Cork port development citing the lack of rail freight link possibility as a major defect in the proposal. This was very much in line with EU freight transport policy.
Shortly after that, the IEA called together a meeting of the interested parts of the TFI Group as well other interested parties including Irish Rail and the UK-based Rail Freight Group. The Dublin to Ballina service plan emerged from that meeting. Foynes Port, The Burke Group and Forwarders and Port Operators, as well as others, brought to the table other projects in which a cost effective rail service could be the key to success in developing new business, which would benefit not only those companies and the regions in which they operate but also the national economy.
The work of the group is gathering momentum. Issues being addressed include the provision of competitive and competing freight services on the rail networks of the island of Ireland, sourcing EU funding for integrated supply chain development projects, grant aiding of sidings and similar infrastructure, and the development of suitable train sets for the Irish marketplace.
The recent track subsidence at Malahide, Co Dublin underlines the fact that if a rail-based freight service network is to be successful, it must be a real network with the greatest possible number of routing options for each service. Thus, had the restoration of the link between Clonsilla on the Sligo Line and Navan been completed prior to that accident, then the Boliden Mines traffic from Tara to Dublin Port could have been re-routed onto it and this vital ore export service been maintained. In a similar way, The Western Rail Corridor's completion (even to Claremorris) will give a useful alternative path for both the current DFDS and IWT Container trains and the pulpwood trains feeding logs to the processing mills in Clonmel and Waterford.
Since the IEA Rail Freight Group first met, I have spoken about Irish Rail Freight. What we have seen so far is its potential to the West=on=Track Conference in Claremorris and the UK Rail Freight Group Conference in London. I have been tasked with also addressing the subject at the European Intermodal Conference taking place in Valencia in November. Through these events and our own work, we have begun to build up an invaluable network of expert people and a much better knowledge of what realistically can be done to exploit the Irish Rail networks for the benefit of the exporting community.
The group actively welcomes all ideas, plans and queries on this matter. hknott@irishexporters.org
