MINISTER OF STATE at the Department of Transport James Lawless has said that “confidence is low” that the port of Holyhead can reopen next Thursday, with contingency planning currently underway amid fears Holyhead Port may not reopen before Christmas.

Damage caused to infrastructure during Storm Darragh last weekend led to the closure of the Welsh port and cancellation of all ferries, during one of the busiest commercial shipping periods of the year.

An Post and online retailers have rerouted hundreds of thousands of parcels to ports across the UK in a bid to get deliveries to Ireland, with An Post confirming yesterday that it received about 350,000 parcels from the UK as of Friday morning. 

While Holyhead Port has said it expects to re-open on December 19, Junior Transport Minister James Lawless has said “confidence in that estimate is low” and there is a need to plan for contingencies and alternative routes as Christmas Day approaches.

“What I’m saying to people, and industries are also saying it to people themselves, is that we cannot rely on that date (19th December), we need to plan for the worst and we need to get ready for that,” Lawless said.

“We would typically have 10,000 or more 40ft shipping containers a week moving between Ireland and the UK. Dublin to Holyhead is the primary route for that, and we can only do so much as a state on this side of the Irish sea”.

The Minister said he had been in regular contact with stakeholders in his department and in the haulage sector and ports, and that he would be meeting the ferry companies over the course of the weekend.

Rosslare Europort is currently experiencing an increase of over 120% in freight volumes from the UK when compared to previous weeks.

A spokesperson said Rosslare Europort will do all in its “power to provide additional capacity and support at the port that will help address the challenges and concerns being experienced”.

The Irish Exporters Association said that shipping companies are trying to divert ships to other ports but uncertainty about when Holyhead would reopen created challenges for making decisions, as well as managing the locations of trucks, trailers and drivers.

Stena Line Ferries has also introduced an additional sailing to Liverpool and while the Port of Cork currently has no direct UK sailings, it has indicated that it has the capacity to operate one sailing a day, and possibly two, based on scheduling.

Lawless said that additional capacity is being provided from Rosslare, and Irish Ferries have assigned the WB Yeats to replace the Isle of Innisfree this week.

“What I’m saying to ferry companies is that we need to ramp up alternative routes, we need to provide capacity,” Lawless said.

He said that more than 100,000 ­people make the journey from Britain to ­Ireland by ferry each December, with operators working to boost capacity for passengers planning to travel home for Christmas.

Lawless said that 4,000 places on ­airlines are currently available over the next fortnight which provides a “bit of breathing space” for passengers seeking alternatives.

The National Transport Authority has also been consulted on public transport capacity from Rosslare and other ports should the need arise.