Proposed deep water port could be ‘bigger than Moneypoint’

RESEARCH work is at an advanced stage in relation to the possible development of an intercontinental container trans-shipment hub port next to the ESB Moneypoint Powerstation.

 

At Monday’s meeting of Kilrush Town Council, Councillor Liam Williams said the development, if it goes ahead, would dwarf that of Moneypoint and would create 220 jobs after phase one.

“I know from talking to Gordon Daly (Clare County Council) that the planners are in favour of this. The footprint of this is even bigger than Moneypoint. It’s a massive project. What’s envisaged is there will be roughly two kilometres of jetty and there will be an area for 55,000 containers. This would bring life back into West Clare,” Councillor Williams predicted.

Councillor Ian Lynch asked if the developers should be invited to a meeting of Kilrush Town Council, where they could present their plans.

“As I understand, there will be a presentation made by the consultants to Clare’s Oireachtas members. The plans are very significant,” Councillor Williams replied.

The Fine Gael town councillor told the meeting the council should request the Mid-West Regional Authority and Clare County Council to designate the area from Moneypoint to Moyne Point, including Ballymacrinan Bay, as a strategic site in the Strategic Integrated Framework Plan (SIFP) for the Shannon Estuary 2013-2020.

The deadline for making submissions to the SIFP is this Friday.

“It’s something we have to act on immediately and make as many submissions as possible,” he urged.

“West Clare and Kilrush need to be in a position to capitalise on its natural deepwater advantage. That is why I ask this council to support the motion to include this site. This area is one of the deep water locations on the northern bank of the River Shannon and has great potential for job creation into the future if the area is appropriately designated. We in the council would welcome the development of an Intercontinental Container Trans-shipment Hub Port on the northern banks of the Shannon, if it were to proceed,” Councillor Williams said.

Aside from creating substantial employment during construction and possibly up to 220 permanent jobs, it is envisaged that customs facilities would be established at the port, which would also require the provision of additional pilot boat facilities on the river.

“It is my understanding that serious research and preparatory work has been done by a company with the intention of developing an Intercontinental Container Trans-Shipment Hub Port in the Shannon Estuary adjacent to Moneypoint powerstation. This would be a state-of-the-art automated hub close to the sea trade routes, which link the UK and North Western Europe with the rest of the world,” Councillor Williams explained.

“Currently these major sea trade routes terminate in three large hub ports, namely Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg. However, as larger container ships are built into the future, only Rotterdam will be able to accommodate because of the 20 metre depth requirement, whereas here in the Shannon river there will be a minimum 20 metre depth of water at the berths. This depth is a very important threshold in modern shipping. We need to be positioned to take advantage of these developments,” Councillor Williams urged.

The trans-shipment hub concept is being facilitated by the development of intercontinental container ships, known as mother ships which have capacities of up to 15,000 TEUs (20 feet equivalent units).

At the hub port the containers are offloaded from the mother ships and transferred onto smaller ships such as coasters, which serve satellite ports. Other containers are transferred to the container yard to await trans-shipment. The mother ships are reloaded with containers that have been received at the trans-shipment hub from satellite ports for onward transportation to the next intercontinental hub port.

“The development of a trans-shipment hub would generate real activity on the river, breathe new life into the area, provide employment for our young people and generate more economic activity in Kilrush and West Clare,” Councillor Williams maintained.