North West UK
November 2008
ShippiNg RevieW
TRAFFIC
The United Kingdom is the largest market for goods shipped (Grace Church). Of the 4 lo/lo operators calling at Liverpool,
by sea to and from Ireland. In 2007 trade between Ireland and three provide a weekly available capacity of over 3,000 TEU.
the UK was close to 17 million tonnes and worth over €33 bn The market is split between both shortsea and feeder services
to the Irish economy. There are several key trade corridors into Liverpool connecting with the deep sea vessels.
between Ireland and the UK. This current shipping review looks
specifically at links between Ireland and the North West region Coastal Containerline operate a daily shortsea service between
of the UK (NWUK), a region that has long well established Dublin & Liverpool and Warrenpoint & Liverpool. Mac
connections with Ireland, particularly in shipping. Andrews operate a twice weekly service between Dublin and
Liverpool which is part of a service to Iberia. CMA CGM
Shortsea Links operate a feeder service between Dublin, Belfast and Liverpool
There are 4 load-on/load-off (lo/lo) operators providing 14 that provides a connection to its deep sea services. Jenkinson
weekly feeder services between Ireland and Liverpool and 4 Agencies act as agents for the Grace Chruch service connecting
roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) operators providing approx. 200 sailings Ireland and the NW UK region. This service calls at Liverpool
per week to the region including Heysham, Birkenhead, as part of its Mediterranean, Middle East loop service.
Fleetwood and Liverpool. Liverpool is the main hub for freight
traffic between Ireland and the NW UK, handling an estimated
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one third of all cargo crossing the Irish Sea. This is an intensely Inter-continental links
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competitive region in terms of shipping services provided, both Liverpool serves not only as the gateway for Irish traffic into
North and South of Ireland. the NW UK, but also as a growing transhipment hub for Irish
cargo destined for North America, the Middle East and Asia. It
The primary ro/ro routes connecting Ireland to the NW region handles more container trade with the US and Canada than any
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of the UK are from Dublin, Belfast and Warrenpoint to other UK port. There are 8 major mainline operators using
Liverpool, Birkenhead, Heysham and Fleetwood. The market Liverpool as a hub for both ro/ro and lo/lo traffic, (shown in
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is served by Norfolkline, Seatruck Ferries, Stena Line and P&O. the table below).
One third of the ro/ro freight traffic from Ireland to the UK uses
the Northern corridor from Belfast and Larne. As a result of ACL have operated deep sea container and ro/ro services from
the frequency of service and a large number of competitors on the Port of Liverpool for more than 25 years. The service
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the routes, freight rates are low. specialises in oversize and out of gauge ro/ro units and has been
a regular connecting point for this type of Irish cargo destined
Norfolkline is the largest roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) operator in for North America. CMA CGM, in cooperation with China
terms of volume on the Ireland – NW UK route. It operates 2 Shipping, operates a weekly transatlantic service from the Port
services into Birkenhead and 8 into Heysham, providing 22 and of Liverpool. This is CMA CGM’s first deep-sea mainline
19 sailings per week respectively from Dublin and Belfast. In service out of Liverpool.
2007 Norfolkline’s market share on the route was 50 per cent.
P&O is the second largest operator with 21 per cent of the MSC followed CMA CGM with the announcement of a weekly
market share followed by Stena Line at 17 per cent and Sea scheduled service to Canada in cooperation with Maersk. Italia
Truck ferries with 12 per cent. Marittima SpA (ITS) and Zim operate a weekly transatlantic
service designated as the North Europe US East coast service;
In 2006 there were significant structural changes in the Irish it links the North European ports of Antwerp, Hamburg and
Sea ro/ro sector that affected routes to NW UK. Norse Liverpool with New York, Norfolk and Savannah.
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Merchant Ferries were taken over by the AP Moller group-
Norfolkline and rebranded Norfolkline Irish Sea Ferries. They
replaced some of the smaller vessels on the routes with larger
vessels with greater freight carrying capacity (an additional 700
lane meters). In 2006 Celtic Link entered the market offering a
daily service between Dublin and Liverpool. They exited the
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route in 2007 and were replaced by the expanding Seatruck
Ferries Group who switched the route slots to Dublin-
Heysham.
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As with the ro/ro market, lo/lo services between Ireland and the
NW UK are concentrated along the Irish east coast. The
Ireland-NW UK lo/lo market has services between Dublin,
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Belfast and Liverpool – with 4 operators, MacAndrews, Coastal
Containerline, CMA-CGM and Jenkinson Agencies
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