You need three things to make a port successful. Firstly, the port must have deep waters in order to accommodate the largest vessels. The bigger the ships that can dock at your port, the greater the business volume the port will attract.

Secondly, the port must have good jetty infrastructure to load and unload cargo as efficiently as possible. In shipping, the fewer movements you have to make with cargo the better.

And, finally, a successful port needs space, and lots of it.

A strategic location or deep-water estuary is all well and good, but unless the port has a large bank of land adjacent to the water for companies using the port to store goods and cargo, it will not be a success.

For this reason, securing a 38ha (94ac) block of land next to the Port of Foynes last year was crucial for the strategic development of the port, says Pat Keating, CEO of Shannon-Foynes Port Company.

Pat Keating (right), CEO of Shannon-Foynes Port Company, speaking to Patrick O’Donovan, Minister of State at the Department of Finance.

These lands brought the total land bank at the Port of Foynes to almost 200ha (495 acres) and will be a key component in the future development of Shannon-Foynes Port Company.

Interestingly, Keating believes Shannon-Foynes will be a member of a very small club – an Irish winner from Brexit. The increasing shift in economic power and GDP to the east of Ireland has been a challenge for Shannon-Foynes for many years, with higher cargo and trade volumes moving through ports on the Irish Sea such as Dublin and Cork.

Corridors

In 2014, the European Commission published a new, comprehensive framework for the future development of transport networks between EU member states. Known as the Trans-European Transport Network, or Ten-T for short, this new policy framework set out an action plan to develop a network of 10 core transport corridors throughout Europe between 2014 and 2020.

Under the Ten-T plan, key locations were identified along these corridors and would be prioritised for development and investment grants by the EU for upgrading or developing new rail, road and port infrastructure.

The Ten-T corridor that includes Ireland is known as the North Sea-Mediterranean corridor, which would link Ireland to a network of transport infrastructure in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Luxemburg and Germany.

The European Commission estimated the cost of developing the infrastructure required for the Ten-T transport corridors to be €700bn, which will come from a mix of private and public investment.

Tellingly, Shannon-Foynes was not selected as a key location in Ireland as part of the North Sea-Mediterranean corridor. Instead, ports at Dublin, Cork and Belfast on the island of Ireland were given priority status.

However, the UK’s vote to leave the EU has forced the European Commission to look at realigning the North Sea-Mediterranean corridor. Once the UK formally leaves the EU, it will no longer be a part of the corridor, meaning new routes will be needed to avoid the UK landbridge.

Under the proposed realignment, Shannon-Foynes will now be included in the North Sea-Mediterranean corridor linking with ports at Le Havre and Calais in France and Bilbao in Spain (see map).

Expansion

For Pat Keating, this development means Shannon-Foynes can safely target major expansion over the coming years and seek to future-proof the port with new investment. Right now, Shannon-Foynes is Ireland’s largest bulk port for non-container freight, with roughly 11m tonnes transiting through the port last year.

The aim is to grow this volume to 20m tonnes a year by 2040.

To achieve this growth, Keating has produced an ambitious development strategy for the port over the coming decades. This development strategy includes plans for significant capital investment in expanding capacity at a number of jetties at Foynes Port, as well as improving the road and rail connectivity to the port.

An aerial view of Foynes Port.

At the Port of Foynes, Keating is planning a €75m investment to develop a new deepwater berth for larger vessels. The company plans to redevelop a disused oil terminal on Foynes Island that has an existing jetty into a commercial deepwater berth facility, which will be able to accommodate huge capacity Panamax vessels.

Foynes Island is a near 100ha block of land sitting in the middle of the Shannon estuary that is currently not in use but is zoned as a strategic development location by Kerry, Limerick and Clare county councils.

According to Keating, Shannon-Foynes is looking to develop this site in a joint venture arrangement with a private company. If developed, the site would add up to 6m tonnes in capacity to Foynes port and help to attract some of the largest vessels at sea to Ireland.

Construction

Part of this development will require the infill of the berth behind the existing jetty on Foynes Island as well as the construction of a new bridge to connect Foynes Island to the mainland.

Another key part of this plan will be building the backup infrastructure around Foynes port to improve its connectivity to Ireland’s road and rail network. Up to the early 1990s, Foynes was serviced by a rail line that ran into Limerick city and could connect with the rest of the Irish rail network.

Keating has already spent €1.8m on a consultation report to assess the potential of restarting the rail line from Foynes. This report put the cost of reinstating the rail line at €34m, which would include the construction of a rail hub on the port and a brand new rail line to connect to Foynes Island.

On top of this, Keating wants to see the road infrastructure connecting Foynes to the rest of the country significantly upgraded. Right now, the port is served via the N69 road, which connects to the M7 motorway over 30km away at Limerick city.

While the port is not a huge distance from the motorway by any stretch, Keating says the lack of a direct connection to the motorway has put off freight forwarders from doing business through Foynes up to now.

However, as part of the Government’s Project Ireland 2040 development plan, a €300m upgrade of the road network to Foynes is likely in the coming years. The M20/M21 road is likely to get the green light, which will bypass towns like Adare and Rathkeale, while also connecting up to Foynes.

These investments are only likely to come in the medium to longer term. In the short term, Shannon-Foynes is currently going through the procurement process for a €26m investment to expand the capacity and space at the existing jetties at Foynes Port and develop a new port business park on the recently acquired 38ha site.

The company plans to infill some of the water behind its existing east jetty, which will create a lot more set-down space on the jetty. This will improve freedom of movement for trucks at the port and result in faster turnaround times.

The investment will also connect both the east and west jetties at Foynes into one large jetty that will be 860 metres long. This will allow the port to have up to three 60,000t vessels docked and unloading at any one time.

Future connectivity

Having almost been discounted by the European Commission in 2014 when it first published its Ten-T corridors, Shannon-Foynes Port Company now finds itself as a key strategic hub for Ireland after Brexit.

Under Pat Keating, the port has ambitious plans to grow and expand its infrastructure and capacity to meet the needs of Irish businesses and logistics companies. Dublin Port is heaving with the volumes flowing through it every year. As such, developing and upgrading Shannon-Foynes makes strategic sense for Ireland, not only because of Brexit but also to rebalance the connectivity network of the country.

With 90% of Ireland’s trade (import and export) done by sea, efficient and modern port infrastructure will always be critical for Irish businesses and it plays a key role in maintaining the competitiveness of our exporters.

At the same time, the uncertainty from Brexit means the future reliability of using the UK landbridge to get to continental Europe is unclear. Ports such as Foynes need continued investment and development to offer more direct access to increasingly important EU markets.

What is Shannon-Foynes Port?

Shannon-Foynes Port Company is a commercial semi-state body that generated €15m in turnover last year and generates profits in the region of €5m per annum. Headed by CEO Pat Keating, it operates six separate terminals along the Shannon estuary, which stretches from Limerick city all the way out to the mouth of the river at the Atlantic Ocean.

The six terminals operated along the estuary by Shannon-Foynes Port Company include:

  • The port at Limerick city dock.
  • The fuel import terminal at Shannon airport.
  • A jetty at Tarbert, Co Kerry.
  • A jetty at Moneypoint power station, Co Clare.
  • Port of Foynes, Co Limerick.
  • A jetty at Aughinish Island, Co Limerick.
  • Last year, 11m tonnes of cargo passed through Shannon-Foynes between the various terminals. The bulk of that volume passes through the Port of Foynes and the Aughinish site. At Limerick city port, although a smaller facility, cargo volumes are around 750,000t per annum. A lot of this volume is down to exports by indigenous Irish companies such as Irish Cement as well as animal feed importers such as Roche’s Feeds in Limerick city.

    Aluminium

    At the Aughinish site, the Russian company Rusal imports Bauxite (a sedimentary rock) from west Africa, which it processes into alumina. It’s not well known, but the Rusal facility at Aughinish supplies Europe with between 15% and 20% of its total aluminium needs.

    At the Port of Foynes, the majority of cargo traded through the port is bulk product such as animal feed, fertiliser and oil. Foynes is also used to import much of the large-scale components used to build wind turbines in Ireland.

    Shannon-Foynes Port Company also operates the jetty at Moneypoint, where coal is imported to power the ESB powerstation located there. The company also operates the jetty at Shannon airport, where jet fuel is imported by sea to fuel planes at the airport.

    In the 10 years since 2009, the combined capital expenditure along the estuary by Shannon-Foynes Port Company and the private companies that use its six terminals is close to €0.5bn. The economic impact of all port related activity is estimated at €1.9bn per annum to the region.