Page 13 - Linkline Autumn 2015

dublin Port event
dubLIN pOrT
On the evening of Thursday 4th June 2015, A group of over 40 of rst ship to perform this manoeuvre was MSC Splendida
CILT members made a visit to Dublin Port. We were introduced and
welcomed by the ports CEO Mr Eamonn O’Reilly, who briefed us on the ports history, its development over hundreds of years, the Dublin Port Masterplan process and a brie ng on The Ports Future. The event concluded with a Dublin Port Coach Tour, where Eamonn further outlined a number of points covered in the brie ng.
A number of interesting topics were covered in a questions and answer session and those who attended had a number of questions for Dublin Port. They were happy to give answers which were constructive Dublin Port is now in an advanced stage in its future development, very important that this is so, because demands on the port have never been stronger. Over
31 million tonnes of cargo will be handled this year through Dublin Port. Extra sailings have been added, Irish Ferries with Epsilon sailings to/from Holyhead, Wales and Cherbourg, France. Stena Line now have better quality and enhanced passenger capacity upon the replacement of Stena Nordica on the Holyhead route with Stena Superfast X (see page 24).
That is not all, CldN roro S.A better known to some as Cobelfret, have added more direct ConRo capacity and frequency to Rotterdam and Zeebrugge. Dublin City is also bene ting from Dublin’s most successful year ever for cruise ships, where in 2015 massive ships such as Royal Princess, MSC Splendida and Celebrity Silhouette, have made their maiden calls to Dublin Port. As these ships all over 300 meters long, the current design of Dublin Port does not allow turning to takes place within the tight con nes
of the Port, they must turn in Dublin Bay and reverse into Dublin Port. The
in May 2015, its really pushed to boundaries, as the ships bridge crew of this and other vessels required specialist training and some time in an simulator with close cooperation of the Dublin Port Companies Harbour Master and Pilots and the National Maritime College in Cork.
The port is back to peak 2007 levels of demand
and growth is expected to continue with the economic recovery Ireland is currently experiencing. This creates
a problem for the Port and that is how to deal with capacity shortages going forward. In 2010 the Dublin Port Company were rejected permission for the Gateway project, which would have reclaimed 35 hectares of land to expand the port. This was a hard blow for the Port Company, how would it be able to deal with demands placed on it after the recession?
The answer was the 2011 Masterplan process, it had a number of objectives, rstly to engage with the people of Dublin rst and foremost. Dublin is a port city yet
the port seen that its engagement with the community outside the local hinterland could have been better. Then to acknowledge that the port had an capacity issue and that something needed to be done about it, so to engage with the many stakeholders from operators, government
The CharTered InsTITuTe of LogIsTICs & TransporT 11