SHANNON ESTUARY’s move towards becoming a national and international supply chain hub of scale received a major boost with the unveiling of a new jetty expansion and logistics park by Shannon Foynes Port.
A record €32m investment, which is co-funded by Shannon Foynes Port and the EU’s ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF), is a key enabler of the company’s Vison 2041 masterplan that targets the Estuary’s establishment as a global floating offshore wind hub and a freight logistics cluster that will, in particular, decongest the Irish supply chain network.
Under the two year programme of work, an additional 117m jetty and 12,000m2 of jetty set/down storage has been delivered by linking the existing east and west jetties at Foynes Port. It has also delivered one of Ireland’s largest serviced, advanced port logistics parks nearby, a 38ha site with planning permission for 127,000ft already granted and with immediate potential for a further 400,000 sq ft of modern logistics warehousing to be developed.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport, James Lawless TD (FF) with special responsibility for International and Road Transport and Logistics and by Patrick O’Donovan TD (FG), Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science officially launched the expansion of the new port facilities.
Speaking at the event, Minister Lawless said, “As an island nation our ports are crucial for economy, with 90% of Ireland’s traded goods passing through our ports. Shannon Foynes is one of our three Tier 1 ports in Ireland and has served this part of the island particularly well, but this expansion reflects both the ambition and opportunity of the port to deepen its impact significantly at a national level but also internationally in the area of offshore energy and logistics supply chain”.
He added, “The works we are unveiling here are essentially enablers of this strategy and a key moment on a journey that is focused on a new and unprecedented era of economic growth for this region and, indeed, the entire island. This project is a crucial development in the regional development of our national economy. This is something I believe in passionately. I am a Minister for all of Ireland and I am proud to lead this opening as part of my ongoing agenda and itinerary where I am delighted to visit and open projects like this”.
Minister O’Donovan said, “This investment we are unveiling today is all about the future, about ensuring that we have the infrastructure in place not just in this region but in Ireland to create a future where economic growth and sustainability go hand in glove. Shannon Foynes Port has been planning for that future as far back as a decade ago with the launch of its masterplan Vision 2041 and a great thing about what we are unveiling today also is that it is a port authority that clearly delivers on its ambition”.
Shannon Foynes Port CEO Pat Keating said, “We’re building for the future here and we are effectively enabling the future here. It’s a future that we all want for generations following us as we’re investing heavily in infrastructure that will do two things. One is to accelerate our journey as a nation to become a world leader in offshore renewable energy by harnessing our limitless wind energy capacity off the Atlantic seaboard. The second thing is that this same infrastructure will enhance our freight capacity massively by giving us extra quayside capacity and providing for one of the largest port logistics parks in the country.
“When you couple that with the investment by Irish Rail in reestablishing the rail link to Foynes and by government in the development of the new Limerick to Foynes road, which will give us motorway and dual-carriage way access direct to the port, we will have a Tier 1 port here that is amongst the most accessible in Europe. The net effect of that also is that we will now be within two and half hours of 75% of Ireland’s GDP. So, we not alone help power the economy, but we decongest it at the same time. That means business growth for this region, that means unprecedented access to freight goods for other regions and it also means decongestion of our capital city,” Keating added.
Shannon Foynes Port Chairperson Michael Walsh said, “The opportunity ahead is unparalleled for Ireland thanks to the confluence of assets here on the Estuary. Its unrivalled deep waters, proximity to some of the most powerful winds in the world and soon to be radically enhanced multi-modal connectivity, means that we are on the cusp of something very significant here. You need a plan, and you need the people to make that happen and today confirms we at Shannon Foynes Port have both. This is one step on a journey that has some distance to go but one that I’ve every confidence will be travelled. Shannon Foynes Port has a key role in delivering this opportunity for Ireland”.
