Stena Line is introducing a second vessel on its Rosslare/Cherbourg route ahead of schedule due to confusion and disruption in the southeast of England after France closed its border to freight from the UK yesterday.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said around 250 Irish hauliers who would ordinarily be using the landbridge to the continent are affected by the border closures.
Under the ban freight transport across the Irish Sea is allowed, but the only passengers allowed are essential supply chain workers.
Stena Line has said the Stena Foreteller is being "moved into position" to start serving the Wexford to France route from tomorrow.
The freight-only vessel had been due to run between Rosslare and Cherbourg from 4 January, doubling the number of weekly sailings on that route from three to six as well as the freight capacity.
The Foreteller will offer an additional 3,000 lane metres of freight capacity per trip.
Minister Coveney said exporters, importers and hauliers have been encouraged for some time to examine direct route options to the continent and, he said, that there will be multiple options available tomorrow for them to utilise.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said he expects to see haulage companies using those options over the coming days
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Update for Irish Sea freight customers: the Stena Foreteller is being moved into position to commence on the Rosslare to Cherbourg route. We will now have two ships departing tomorrow direct to France. Please contact our freight team for bookings. https://t.co/UJKkQHQTzs pic.twitter.com/UG9LIOpMRd
— Stena Line Group (@StenaLine) December 21, 2020
Mr Coveney also said efforts will be made to bring home those people who are stuck in traffic.
He added that he thinks this is a temporary disruption and it is not sustainable for the UK to be cut off from the European Union in terms of commercial haulage.
He said he did not expect to see any food shortages in Ireland as a result of the current situation, but supply chains may change somewhat in the weeks ahead
He said he was hopeful that the landbridge option could be resolved in the coming days.
Mr Coveney said freight or trucks are not being stopped coming in and out of the UK to Ireland and he does not envisage that changing because supply chains are important.
Speaking in Cork later, Mr Coveney said he expects to see a "significant increased demand" for direct ferry routes and says these routes are in place whether it is Dublin/Cherbourg, Rosslare/Cherbourg, Cork/Roscoff or Cork/Zeebruger.
Ferry companies, he said, are increasing their capacity. For example, "we may see" the new Rosslare to Dunkirk route, which was due to start on 2 January, starting before then.
"So in some ways what we are seeing now is a triggering of disruption that many were expecting at the start of January linked to Brexit but happening far earlier due to Covid."
Meanwhile the President of the Irish Road Haulage Association has appealed that no haulier, truck or factory should load trucks today without a direct booking to go to the continent.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Eugene Drennan said Irish trucks in the UK that were coming back to Ireland would be allowed to travel home this evening and tomorrow as Ireland-UK has not closed.
He said that ferry companies "need to do the utmost to get them home".
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Mr Drennan said that up to 250 Irish trucks are stuck in Britain trying to access mainland Europe as he called for greater capacity on direct services from Ireland to Europe.
He said that the disruption to freight arising in Britain due to Covid-19 shows that there is not enough capacity on direct routes from Ireland to France, despite recent additions to services in Rosslare.
The Chief Executive of Irish Exporters Association said roll-on, roll-off freight is not moving between Britain and mainland Europe and warned that the impact could be particularly detrimental in a few weeks time.
Also speaking on Morning Ireland, Simon McKeever said around around 3,000 trucks a week usually go through the landbridge between the UK and Ireland but that a lot of members have begun to move away from this route and use direct shipping routes to France.
He said this scenario is a real test of Brexit and will test the UK's preparedness, adding that the UK is not ready.
Meanwhile Shannon Airport has advised intending UK-bound passengers to contact their airline and not to travel to the airport during the 48-hour travel ban period.
In a statement, airport management said the Ryanair service to Wroclaw in Poland will continue to operate as normal.
The airport will continue to facilitate transit flights, business jets, its aviation MRO industry services, and emergency and technical diversions, Shannon Group said.
Shannon Airport will facilitate repatriation flights from the UK if and when required, management said.
The last schedule flight from Shannon Airport to the UK was the Ryanair 477 service to Manchester, which departed at 10.35pm on Sunday 20 December.
