Last weekend’s fire at the R&H Hall storage premises in Ringaskiddy in Cork was unwelcome news for both the company and the feed industry.

The loss of potentially up to 30,000t of a range of imported feed ingredients in a year of relatively tight feed supplies is unfortunate.

However, an R&H spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal that the company has already acted to secure replacement supplies of the products lost.

The company’s four other port facilities at Foynes, Lisahally, Dublin and Belfast also remain operational

While the loss of storage capacity at Ringaskiddy is of significance for the unloading of ships at that location, the spokesperson stated that the site reopened yesterday and the company is in the process of acquiring adequate additional storage in the Cork region to replace the lost port capacity.

The company’s four other port facilities at Foynes, Lisahally, Dublin and Belfast also remain operational.

The spokesperson emphasised that R&H Hall is working closely with its customers to ensure continuity of supply of all feedstuffs.

Supply

He expects that this loss will not cause any supply issues to the feed sector, over and above the current supply tightness caused by difficulties getting soya products from Argentina.

And some boats from there are already on their way to Ireland and are expected to bring supplies here in the coming weeks.

There were reports that this was the third fire at the R&H facility in Ringaskiddy since September.

However, the company spokesperson clarified that one of these callouts was a minor incident and the other callout was simply a precaution , with neither of these incidents disrupting operations at the site.