Christmas parcels will NOT be delivered on time as dozens of present-filled lorries and trailers are stranded, haulage bosses warn

Christmas parcels will NOT be delivered on time as dozens of present-filled lorries and trailers are stranded, haulage bosses warn

Thousands of Christmas presents will not be delivered in time for the holidays amid the continued closure of a major port connecting the UK and Ireland, haulage bosses have warned.

Holyhead Port in north Wales is set to remain closed until mid-January at the earliest with all ferry sailings cancelled up to that date, impacting up to 13,000 passengers a day.

The Welsh port shut on December 7 after sustaining infrastructure damage during Storm Darragh, and will not reopen until at least January 15.

Post and deliveries – many of them filled with Christmas presents, as well as products from pharmaceuticals to food such as cheese and beef – have been seriously affected as thousands of trailers filled with goods remained stuck in the UK.

One haulage firm boss with 50 trailers at Holyhead said the stuck goods included thousands of Christmas presents, as well as supplies for supermarkets, white goods, cleaning items and building products. 

On the Irish side, ports have been left ‘absolutely jammed’ as passengers and hauliers frantically search for alternative routes.

The ongoing closure has left other ports, including Rosslare, Cairnryan and Fishguard, rammed as passengers and drivers seek alternatives.

Darren Murphy, managing director of BM Transport, a haulage company in Monaghan, told the Mail: ‘Rosslare is always clustered. There wasn’t enough space moving before, let alone now.

Thousands of Christmas presents will not be delivered in time for the holidays amid the continued closure of Holyhead, a major port connecting the UK and Ireland. Pictured: A view of the port prior to the storm

Thousands of trailers are stranded in the UK, while Irish ports are 'absolutely jammed', meaning Christmas parcels are now unlikely to arrive to their destinations by 25 December

Thousands of trailers are stranded in the UK, while Irish ports are ‘absolutely jammed’, meaning Christmas parcels are now unlikely to arrive to their destinations by 25 December

‘The level of traffic over the last three or four months has expanded exponentially. Most direct sailings from Europe have gone there since Brexit. There was traffic already.

‘There are major works to increase capacity but it hasn’t been completed yet so it is not a surprise at all. 

‘Rosslare is clogged. Birkenhead is still a mess. You can’t access it until 12 hours before your sailing. 

‘All ferries are totally chock-a-block. Issues are only going to increase in the next 24 to 48 hours as people try to go on holiday. It’s a mess for everyone.’

In an earlier interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he said: ‘There’s nothing moving, it’s a dustbowl at the moment. 

‘We’ve a depot in Holyhead. So we traditionally use Holyhead as one of our main routes into the UK, we’ll be moving 75 to 100 trailers a day through it.

‘We still have 50 trailers sitting there, that was up at 75 to 80 last week when the news was eventually given to us that they were closing the port.’

Asked what goods were stuck, he said: ‘Everything. We are a dry freight operator so we have supplies for supermarkets, white goods, cleaning products, building products, a variety of goods.

Supplies for supermarkets, white goods, cleaning items and building products have also been delated at the closed port

Supplies for supermarkets, white goods, cleaning items and building products have also been delated at the closed port

‘We’re trying to prioritise parcels and items like that for Christmas. We’re trying to give priority to those sort of loads. 

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary denies £500 Christmas flights are due to port closure 

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has denied the prices of Christmas flights from the UK have risen to £500 one-way because of the ongoing closure of Holyhead Port, blaming the Dublin Airport passenger cap instead.

The Welsh government had urged airlines not to hike prices for people who were no longer able to travel home by ferry.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary

But prices for some flights between London and Dublin this week and next soared beyond £500.

Mr O’Leary told Newstalk’s The Pat Kenny Show: ‘This Christmas at Dublin Airport, the airlines will offer 220,000 fewer seats than last year – that’s a cut of about 10 per cent in seats.

‘Airfares are already 20 to 25 per cent higher than last year. We predicted that some flights would be charging £500 one-way, and that’s already sadly come to pass.’

He claimed it was ‘entirely avoidable’ and blamed Dublin Airport having a 14.4million seat capacity limit for the winter 2024/25 season – from October 26, 2024 to March 29, 2025. 

Ryanair said £500 one-way air fares were now on flights from London Gatwick and Stansted to Dublin this Friday, while prices on flights from London to Dublin across the weekend of this Friday until next Monday were ‘rising rapidly’.

‘We’re speaking to our customers, seeing what can wait, what has to go. But it’s just not simple now – everything we have, we’ll not deliver in time for Christmas.

‘Those 50 loads we still have in Holyhead, we’re hoping there’ll be a falloff at the weekend in regards to the amount of freight moving because the normal businesses will be closing on Friday for Christmas, so we’re hoping to get those 50 trailers moved and away.’

He added that the Christmas break should help the firm catch-up on the freight backlog, but problems could re-emerge from the first week of January.

Meanwhile Dave McRedmond, chief executive of Ireland’s national postal service An Post, revealed that more than half a million parcels had been sent to other ports.

He told The Telegraph: ‘As we stand we don’t have anything waiting in Holyhead, but of course it means the supply chains are very delayed,’ he said.

‘It’s much longer to go via Pembroke or Fishguard, but there’s no doubt this puts pressure on supply chains. 

‘And it just shows the reliance we have on what is now a single point of failure.’

Deliveries of Guinness to Britain could also be hit, weeks after Diageo said supplies to England, Scotland and Wales would be limited amid a surge in demand – fuelled by the stout becoming popular among young people and women in recent years.

With just one week until Christmas, passengers face serious disruption as they scramble to return home. 

Eight daily sailings from Holyhead to Dublin usually transport up to 13,000 passengers and will not restart for another 28 days at least.

Some 150,000 passengers in Britain will be trying to get to Ireland for Christmas, and many booked in from Holyhead have been forced to find costly alternative routes.

All ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead are currently cancelled, affecting thousands of Irish people travelling home from the UK for Christmas.

Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘Rosslare is absolutely jammed. Space remains non-existent. The last few days, the volume in every port is absolutely shocking. 

‘You just can’t get any space on ferries. It’s not just Rosslare; every port is in the same position. Every port is absolutely rammed on both sides.’

Mr Hyland added: ‘It’s likely to remain so until additional ferries are put on, which won’t likely happen until the new year. It can’t be cured overnight. 

Holyhead Port in north Wales is set to remain closed until 15 January at the earliest

Holyhead Port in north Wales is set to remain closed until 15 January at the earliest

‘There should have been a plan B for Holyhead’s closure, but no one was expecting it to go down for so long.

What can affected ferry passengers do?

Stena Lines said all ferries between Holyhead and Dublin have been cancelled until at least January 15.

For passengers who were booked to travel from December 20 onwards, they can transfer their booking for free to alternative routes including:

  • Birkenhead (Liverpool) to Dublin: motorist bookings only
  • Fishguard to Dublin
  • Fishguard to Rosslare
  • Cairnryan to Belfast
  • Liverpool to Belfast

Customers can also cancel bookings online for free at stenaline.co.uk or stenaline.ie, or call 0344 770 7070 (UK) or + 353 1 907 5555 (Ireland).

‘We have drivers in ports waiting 24 hours to get on ferries. The wait at Cairnryan is especially bad. They are waiting there in a disused airfield. 

‘There are no facilities for people, no proper toilets, nowhere to make tea or coffee.

‘If you want to book a ferry today for a truck you can’t get one until Monday or Tuesday.’

Yesterday, Irish Ferries blocked new bookings on the Pembroke to Rosslare route to make sure there is ‘enough capacity for our passengers already booked or on our cancelled Dublin-Holyhead services’.

Holyhead originally said the port would reopen today but announced on Tuesday it would stay closed until mid-January. There are fears it might not reopen until spring.

A joint statement from the Irish and Welsh governments said: ‘This was not the news any of us wanted to hear. 

‘We know that this will cause some anxiety for people who are planning to travel to and from Ireland to be reunited with their loved ones this Christmas.’ They said they are ‘pressing ahead’ with contingency plans at ‘pace’.

But Mr Hyland said: ‘We would be five or six days ahead if we were told before Tuesday. 

‘At this time of year there is very limited space on ferries but they will make it home. They might have to go around the country a bit but they will be fine.’

While retailers including Amazon and Tesco faced delays, medicine supplies were not affected. 

Irish Ferries blocked new bookings on the Pembroke to Rosslare route to make sure there is 'enough capacity' for travellers who have booked the Dublin-Holyhead services

Irish Ferries blocked new bookings on the Pembroke to Rosslare route to make sure there is ‘enough capacity’ for travellers who have booked the Dublin-Holyhead services

The Health Products Regulatory Authority told the Irish Daily Mail it is ‘aware of the situation regarding hauliers and goods haulage being experienced’ but ‘to date no shortages of any medicine have been notified with a reason of distribution delays related to the situation at Holyhead’.

In a statement, Stena Line, which owns the port, said it had been ‘working hard to provide alternative travel arrangements for customers during the busy festive period’.

‘Stena Line is offering sailings for passengers and freight from Dublin to ports in Birkenhead and Fishguard.

‘In addition, a new freight route from Dublin to Heysham has been added to assist continuity of trade flows.

‘The company has also added additional sailings on the Belfast-Cairnryan route this weekend. Currently there is limited availability on the Belfast-Liverpool and Rosslare-Fishguard routes.

‘Stena Line would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused and assure customers that the company is doing everything in its power to mitigate the effects of the closure on passenger and freight traffic.

‘Customers are currently being contacted and affected passengers are advised to amend their booking online free of charge or through the Contact Centre on 0344 770 7070 (UK)/ + 353 1 907 5555 (ROI).’

Irish Ferries said it is currently contacting customers affected and also ‘working with UK ports with a view to adding further sailings to/from Ireland’.

Source link

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top