Gateway to the world

Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC) contributes €1.9bn to the Irish economy and imports 11 million tonnes of cargo each year, yet, CEO Pat Keating contends that many people are unaware of its importance to the economy.

“We have a lot of different products from a lot of different areas, but we are business to business, so people wouldn’t necessarily be aware of the importance of the port to the regional and national economy,” Pat says.

SFPC is a semi-State company and the largest bulk port in Ireland and second-largest port in terms of tonnage. He estimates that 3,648 people are directly supported by the port and all of these people are holding full-time positions, which has a huge impact on the region.

Home heating oil, windmills, concrete, steel, animal food and fertiliser are among the 11 million tonnes of product coming through this port every day. Pat also says that the port will be used for livestock exports in the coming months.

In fact, Pat notes just how important agriculture is for the port, saying “the agri sector is a huge part of our tonnage and the performance of that sector is key to our performance, so there is a huge linkage between the two”.

Some of the main players that import feed, such as R & H Hall, Comex and Torc, are importing via Foynes and have facilities there. Their feed is then bought by the likes of Roches Feed, Arrabawn, Dan O’Connor’s, Kerry and Liffey Mills.

On the fertiliser side, Gouldings and Grass Land Agro are two big importers that have facilities in the port also.

“It is a very substantial port in terms of inputs for the agricultural sector nationally and I suppose our big advantage and the advantage of the sector is that we can offer considerable efficiencies in terms of deepwater, larger vessels and lower cost,” Keating explains.

The fact that Foynes is a naturally deepwater port is certainly a huge advantage, meaning the largest ships from the US and Europe use it to trade.

Low cost

“Low cost in the agribusiness sector is huge, margins are tight and costs are very important for all of our agri customers,” he continues.

Good transport links is one way in which the port tries to lower its cost and attract business and, at the moment, the Government has committed to carrying out the Foynes to Limerick Road Improvement Scheme, which is set to come before An Bord Pleanála later this year. Pat sees no reason why the project can’t start construction in the next two years.

“The Limerick to Foynes upgrade scheme would substantially reduce travel time for trucks to the port of Foynes because it is a key piece of infrastructure, not just for the port but for the sector also,” he says.

Last year, the port also completed a €12m extension to its jetties and later this year they plan to further upgrade to the jetties. “What that means for the customer is faster ship turn-around, which means cheaper shipping costs, basically,” he explains.

The company has also bought 90 acres of land around the port and intends to facilitate new investment by the private sector into storage facilities here.

“For example, Premier Molasses would have invested, in the last 18 months, in new tankage for molasses here at Foynes,” he notes.

“A 40,000 square feet warehouse development was completed in summer 2016. It is a state-of-the-art warehouse for animal feed, so there is investment happening with the agri-sector,” he says.

Regarding Brexit, Pat says it is too early to know how it will affect the port.

“We haven’t seen any negative signs of Brexit on our business.

“Now we may see opportunities because the other area we are not involved with at all is the finished goods side – the unitised or container goods side.”

He notes that a hard Brexit will add time and money, as the port is used to cross Ireland and access the UK via Rosslare.

“It’s definitely changing the dynamic of the logistics system that has been tried and tested and used by all up to this [point], but it is too early to say yet,” he notes.

With €25m to invest over the next two to three years upgrading the port, a new road system on the way and a possibility of investing into deeper water facilities off the island of Foynes, it looks like SFPC is truly booming.