Holyhead out of action until 15th January (earliest)

I cannot believe a) how flimsy looking this is in the first place and b) why the dolphin cannot be just lifted out of the way

also c) why can’t the use the other berth on opposite side?

I am a regular traveler through Holyhead. I expect the reason they have shut down the Stena Birth adjacent to the damaged Irish Ferries birth is that there is damage we can't see, and the difficulties of trying to repair the other side with a huge ferry docking twice a day, or four times if they could accommodate Irish Ferries too. The births are not generic and have infrastructure that is dedicated to the roll on roll off nature of the ships. If they could be accommodated elsewhere in the port i am sure they would have done it. No infrastructure redundancy these days by the looks of it.

The port is still operational, but the two berths where all of the Irish Ferries and Stena depart from has been fully taken out of action. One side is completely damaged which brings in question the integrity of the whole structure.

The issue is the size of the vessels using this route. They are much bigger today than the traditional ferries of days past. This means the need a deep and sizeable berth to dock at. In Holyhead there are only two such berths (side by side) which can accommodate these ships. That's why it is fecked.

For sure, it is very bad planning by Holyhead to not have a backup berth for an event like this. Investment seems to be totally lacking there. The facilities are rubbish too.

This is the point at which the Irish government needs to step in and guarantee Stena financing for whatever is needed to refit and future proof Holyhead. Its importance is truly an Irish thing, it’s really a part of our infrastructure on a U.K. island and it’s ironic that it is owned by a Danish family. The disruption will be felt keenly in Ireland now where else - I don’t suggest Irish state ownership (that would no doubt be a disaster) but I suspect that the capital cost of dealing with the current problem and the creation of two or more deep water berths there would pale into insignificance compared to a 6 month or 12 month disruption .

Yes, not wise to rely as heavily on one port

Came through Fishguard and Rosslare the other evening and by Christ they are busy now. Foot passengers alone I’d say easily 60 plus passengers, bus had to make two runs.
Wait for hours in Rosslare for a berth to come available also, wasn’t easy for families travelling with young children. I guess Fishguard is probably the next best option after Holyhead for most

Also Stena plus lounge was completely booked out - I never saw that before

not able to come up with a coherent argument yourself, obviously command of english language not your strong point

Daughter lives on Anglesea (it’s like hill billy land). Everyone knows each other. Talking to one of the Stenna staff on Saturday she was told mid march next year is expected opening date.

I am only dropping into this debate now, but it doesn't sound optimal for a 500bn GDP export-oriented economy, on an island, to have the quality of the infrastructure on one of a few possible trade routes depending on the whims of a foreign private sector firm.

You need to think a bit more broadly; Ireland is severely impacted by the restrictions at a U.K. port while the U.K. is barely impacted at all. It’s naive not to recognise that the Irish state is the largest stakeholder in Holyhead - the hauliers are already looking for €60m per month in disruption money. Leaving it to Stena is leaving Ireland at the mercy of much broader investments for the family which own Stena. They could simply transfer their ships and investment elsewhere.

sorry but no i don't need to think anything.
this is a port in a foreign country, a country that is quite wealthy.
a country that chooses not to properly invest in infrastructure and farms what it can out to private companies and foreign families because it can't be arsed, or for tax cuts for the rich or whatever reason.
and you think we should be spending money providing funding to sort the issues out when we have issues in our own country and there are countries with genuine issues who need some sort of foreign aid, and the owners of the port can well afford to pay for the repairs and or lobby the government of the country the port is based in for the money?
the hauliers should get nothing either, let them tap the british or stennah for the money.
stennah can pull out of any route at any time, that is a commercial decision which we can't do anything about, the only way around not relying on operators like stenna ETC is if we set up a state owned ferry operator which isn't going to happen.

so nope holyhead's not our issue to pay to sort out, nothing we can do, if supply chains are stupid enough to rely on one port from the UK then that is their own fault.