UK Government accused of treating stricken Port of Holyhead as an ‘afterthought’
The UK Government has been criticised for its lack of response, following the closure of Holyhead Port until at least the middle of next month.
Earlier this week, it was confirmed that the port would be closed until 15 January at the earliest, after it sustained damage during Storm Darragh on 6 and 7 December.
The ferry company Stena Line, which owns the port, said that on 6 December, during the storm, there were two incidents at the berth at Terminal 3 which resulted in part of the structure collapsing and rendering it unusable.
‘Huge effort’
In a speech delivered in the House of Commons today (19 December), the Plaid Cymru MP for Ynys Môn, Llinos Medi, said that she was “certain” that if the Port of Dover or a London airport were closed for over a month, “there would be a huge effort to get these sites open again and to support the thousands of supply chain jobs affected”.
She said that so far, Holyhead had been treated as an “afterthought”.
The storm, which brought gusts of up to 94mph, has wreak havoc on operations at the port, which is the UK’s second busiest roll-on-roll-off port and a vital trade link with Ireland.
It plays a critical role in the UK economy, with total UK exports to Ireland amounting to £54 billion.
Responsibility over ports is devolved to the Welsh Government, however, international trade is a reserved matter.
Ms Medi has urged the UK Government to introduce a hardship fund for the companies impacted by the port’s closure.
The Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee joined Ms Medi’s calls for action on Wednesday, writing to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to demand updates on assistance for reopening the port and supporting affected workers and businesses.
‘Strategic location’
“I believe that the government should be holding a debate on the UK wide impact of the closure of the port of Holyhead,” Ms Medi said.
“Although ports in Wales are a matter for the Welsh Government, international trade is a matter reserved to the UK Government. Holyhead’s strategic location is key for the UK economy. Westminster cannot ignore this issue.”
She added: “Holyhead’s closure just before Christmas has had a direct impact on livelihoods and businesses on the island: the sudden ending of freight traffic means businesses have seen their work vanish overnight. This is pushing local businesses to breaking point.”
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Da iawn Llinos am godi’r mater hwn yn San Steffan. It should be added that the Welsh and UK media have been very reticent and mealy-mouthed in revealing the actual cause of the damage at Holyhead. The Irish media have been much more forthcoming and specific.
What about the Swedish owners?
What about Stena ? Surely you must realise that this is costing them serious money and bringing the berth into use again would be their priority. The repairs would also have to be approved by the British Authorities.
Not really. One of the metal structures connected to one of the dolphins failed during the storm and fell into the sea. Obviously there is underwater and above water damage but it is the underwater damage which took time to investigate and assess repairs. The ships berth against the dolphins so I assume a ship berthed and moving in high winds caused the failure.
Or the reality, the berth concerned was severly weekend in Feb 2013 by a 29000 tonne vessel the Finnarrow powering into Berth 3 Holyhead Port with its fin stabiliser deployed. The vessels pump room and engine rooms flooded and the vessel devolped a severe list against the berth. It took a day to stabilize the ship and plug the hole. The accident was totally avoidable had local management concerns been addressed.
Stena made deliberate financial and anti competitve decisions not to maintain two other berths in Holyhead. They have also failed to invest and maintain the berths.
I have just read the MIAB report (thanks for the info) into the collision of the Finnarrow into Berth 3 in 2013. The MIAB does a great job accessing the damage to the ship and actions to be taken, but fails to even mention what damage was caused to the jetty. I find this very strange, I presumed the MIAB would now have an investigation into the recent incidents at Holyhead, which has closed the UK’s second biggest port but they have no investigations ongoing. Here is the report of the Finnarrow collision, look at the damage to the port… Read more »
All they will say is; two separate incidents occurred involving the Irish Ferries Berth on the 6th and the 7th of December. They won’t release any more information. Even though CCTV footage exists (for insurance and security purposes) Which I and many others can only conclude that something is being covered up here.
Image if an incident had happened at Heathrow to put the entire Airport out of action, and the only statement released was it was storm damage and media accepted it and didn’t ask anymore questions!
Like for like is not being compared here. You cannot compare the private ownership of Holyhead port to the statutory nature of Dover. Blame Westminster whatever the cause.
Maybe Irish Ferries and the Irish Government could contribute?
After all the two incidents on the 6th and 7th December involved two Irish ferries ships.
But nobody wants to talk about what really happened.
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Or the Finnarrow in Feb 2013 powering into the berth with its stabilizer deployed. The vessel suffered flooding to its pump and engine rooms and devoloped a severe list against the berth. The vessel was chartered by Stena Line. The MAIB report of this incident is selective with its findings and no mention is made of the berth but it desent take a rocket scientist to understand how the berth was subjected to forces beyond its design and the probality of the berth being weakened. Corrosion is obviously an issue and why both berths 3 and 5 are out of… Read more »
As a storm maybe god should contribute as well 🙂
The biggest problem with Holyhead is the loading and unloading Jetty design. Berth 3 and Berth 5 both use the same structure, meaning the damage to one side, i.e. Berth 3 has put the whole thing out of action. The repairs are going to be extremely difficult to achieve on the damaged section, Berth 3, with large vessels using bow thrusters on Berth 5. Can you imagine working underwater when vessels are docking and undocking every hour or so, feet from where you are working. Sadly this entire Jetty is going to be out of action for some considerable time.… Read more »