Lorry drivers have been given special permission to drive for longer without a break in a bid to save Christmas amid a scramble to get goods into the country as Holyhead Port in Wales remains closed, writes Adam Pogrund.
The Government introduced the temporary emergency measures as hauliers warned that hundreds of thousands of people could be left without Christmas presents.
Holyhead Port’s closure has caused our “worst shipping crisis in two decades” as the fallout from Storm Darragh continues.
The Holyhead to Dublin route usually transports around 2,000 lorry trailers with eight daily sailings, but hundreds of trucks are stuck in north Wales after the port sustained infrastructure damage from Storm Darragh.
A derogation was signed into law by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister of State for Transport James Lawless on Saturday night to allow hauliers to drive longer with shorter breaks.
Drivers are restricted on how long they can drive without a break for important road-safety reasons under EU laws.
The weekly driving time will be raised to 60 hours, up from 56 hours, and a fortnightly limit of 102 hours will apply, up from 90 hours.
The emergency measures stays in place until the day after St Stephen’s Day in an effort to clear the freight backlog.
A Department of Transport spokesman said: “This is to help address the impediments to freight and passenger travel to and from Holyhead Port following the recent damage caused by Storm Darragh.”
The new measures only apply in Ireland, while hundreds of drivers and trailers remain stuck in the UK.
Darren Murphy, Managing Director of BM Transport, a haulage company based in Co. Monaghan, explained: “The bigger problem is getting the freight into Ireland not getting it moved inside the country.
“Help on the UK side is needed more.”
Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) President Ger Hyland said: “We want our department to go out to their UK counter parts and get the same derogation as we have here.”
Mr Hyland is meeting with Mr Ryan and Mr Lawless tomorrow.
Meanwhile, emergency talks between the Department of Transport and UK counterparts continue.
Mr Lawless held three emergency meetings last week, before meeting with the Welsh Transport Secretary Ken Skates last night to “explore all possible solutions to this problem through the use of alternative Welsh port”.
At the peak of the shipping crisis, An Post reported that 500,000 parcels were stuck in Holyhead, as fears mounted that hundreds of thousands of Christmas presents would not be delivered.
But An Post CEO David McRedmond said yesterday just 16,000 have still yet to be delivered, which are now en route.
He said An Post expects orders placed before Storm Darragh will be delivered, adding the postal service will be delivering 350,000 parcels tomorrow.
He added An Post can manage this capacity and will not need to ask hauliers to drive for longer periods over the Christmas period.
Despite the delivery of An Post parcels, other companies, including Amazon, Tesco and parcel delivery firm Evri have reported delays.
Stena Line, which operates the Dublin-Holyhead route alongside Irish Ferries, is bringing an extra ship from Sweden to ease the backlog.
However, hundreds of trailers remain stationary at British ports.
Mr Murphy said there still remained a 15-hour delay for drivers at Cainryan, the port for Belfast, in Scotland last night.
Meanwhile Dublin Port said it remains operational.
