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Ten Minutes With Brendan Keating, FCILT
Brendan Keating FCILT, CEO of Port of Cork talks to Linkline about his career, the
opportunities facing the business, his pastimes and the best career advice he’s received.
Can you give us summary of your career? think you will see increased degrees of regulation and maybe
I have spent 15 rewarding years so far in the port sector, with border controls, we’ll just have to wait and see. So how will
a background in local government of 25 years - equally a that affect the movement of goods in and out of our ports?
career which was most rewarding from my perspective and Other issues for us all are the increasing costs of energy and
most enjoyable. I was City Manager in Limerick from January labour costs. Finally, from a ports perspective, capacity issues
1999 until December 2002. Before that, I was an Assistant in infrastructure – can we handle the growth in trade while
City Manager in Cork City Council for four and a half years we’re planning for it. Associated with that is the issue of road
and before that I spent 10 years in Meath County Council. All connectivity, the team are anxious to see the advancement
PORT OF CORK
very progressive local authorities and I’m very grateful for the of the M28 and N20 linking Cork with Limerick.
opportunities of development afforded to me by those
organisations. I hope I have been able to make a contribution What do you like to do outside of working hours
over the last 15 years and I can take some consolidation from and what are your pastimes?
the fact the port has progressed and developed quite I like to read and am still fairly active by cycling. And of
successfully in that period. course, I’m also a keen rugby supporter of Munster and
Connacht. While I’d like to go more often to the sports
How did you transition into the transport and grounds I’d follow very, very closely the recent successes of
logistics sector? the Connacht rugby team.
Working in Cork City Council in the 1990’s I was always
interested in the port and read everything I possibly could What did you make of Ireland beating England on
about the Cork Harbour Commissioners – as it was known Saturday 17th March?
then. It was a particular area of interest to me so when the That was an absolutely fantastic victory and I have to
opportunity presented itself I was delighted to go for it. compliment the team and coaching staff as it is evident the
team were expertly coached. I was particularly impressed by
Could you describe your average working day? the Irish defence. They had a game plan and it was well
I am a great believer in working through a management thought through. It was very well executed both in attack
team so my approach to my job is to empower and to and if I can again emphasise, I thought the second half
develop the senior management team and enable them to defence by the Irish team was outstanding, as good as I’ve
do their job. My role as leader of the organisation is one ever seen.
where I see my primary purpose is developing the vision and
the strategies of the future development of the company. What is the best career advice you’ve ever
received?
What opportunities do you see for the business? I’ve a number of people to acknowledge, above all we’re
As we speak, there are significant opportunities for the Port inspired by our parents and in this case, by my own father.
of Cork. We have an ambitious port development proposal His advice would be to work hard, work smart and ensure
which we’re hoping to begin in the next number of weeks. that you always understand what’s going on around you in
That will see the company invest around 80 million in a new terms of the early stages of your career. Then as you get into
dedicated containment facility. Also, the development of the senior management to understand your environment,
cruise business and growing this, in 2018 we have scheduled understand what’s happening in it and have a sense of what
96 cruise calls into the Port of Cork. direction it should go in to achieve the various different goals
and objectives.
Another area is the development of a new LNG facility in
Cork Harbour. This facility will future-proof the port and it will
add to our ability to accommodate ships, an ever-increasing
number of which are moving towards LNG technology.
We have a new Spanish service twice weekly, a rocon service
starting on May 1st, linking the Port of Cork with Northern
Spain and with the city of Santander in the province of
Cantabria. Added to that then we have Irving Oil who host
the country’s only oil refinery, the Whitegate Refinery, who
have very ambitious expansion plans which we’re hoping to
come to pass and benefit from.
What are the challenges?
The biggest challenge for all of us, is Brexit and what will be
the outcome of the current negotiating process. Will or won’t
there be a free trade agreement? If so, in my judgement, I Brendan Keating, CEO of Port of Cork
42 The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport