Around 250 Irish hauliers who would ordinarily be using the landbridge to the continent are now caught up in confusion and disruption in the southeast of England after France closed its border to freight from the UK yesterday.
The Irish Government also introduced a 48-hour ban on flights from Britain yesterday, which came into effect from midnight.
Under the ban freight transport across the Irish Sea is allowed, but the only passengers allowed are essential supply chain workers.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs has said exporters, importers and hauliers have been encouraged for some time to examine direct route options to the continent and said that there will be multiple options available tomorrow for them to utilise.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, Simon Coveney said he expects to see haulage companies using those options over the coming days
He said Stena Line has announced an extra ferry route tomorrow between Rosslare, Co Wexford and Cherbough in France and that they will move from three to six sailings a week.
In addition there is a significant ramping up of direct ferry routes.Â
Mr Coveney 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.
The Fine Gael TD said he did not expect to see any food shortages in Ireland as a result of the current situation, but said that 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 that Ireland that freight or trucks are not being stopped coming in and out of the UK and he does not envisage that changing because supply chains are important.
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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”.
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.
