Christmas presents stranded as bosses warn parcels WILL NOT arrive on time as major port remains closed
Thousands of Christmas presents will not be delivered in time for the festive season as parcels remain stranded in lorries at Holyhead Port, haulage bosses have warned.
The major Welsh port, which connects Britain and Ireland, has been closed since December 7 after sustaining infrastructure damage during Storm Darragh.
The closure, which will last until at least January 15, has left thousands of trailers filled with Christmas gifts and essential goods stuck in the UK.
One haulage firm alone has 50 trailers stranded at Holyhead containing presents, supermarket supplies and household items.
Darren Murphy, managing director of BM Transport, told the BBC: “There’s nothing moving, it’s a dustbowl at the moment.”
His company typically moves 75 to 100 trailers daily through Holyhead.
“Everything. We are a dry freight operator so we have supplies for supermarkets, white goods, cleaning products, building products, a variety of goods,” Murphy said.
“We’re trying to prioritise parcels and items like that for Christmas. We’re trying to give priority to those sort of loads,” he added.
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The company hopes to move their 50 stranded trailers this weekend when regular businesses close for Christmas. The port closure has caused severe disruption across alternative routes, with Irish ports “absolutely jammed” as hauliers frantically search for new options.
Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, told the Irish Daily Mail: “Space remains non-existent. The last few days, the volume in every port is absolutely shocking.”
The crisis has left other ports, including Rosslare, Cairnryan and Fishguard, overwhelmed with diverted traffic.
“You can’t get any space on ferries. It’s not just Rosslare; every port is in the same position. Every port is absolutely rammed on both sides,” Hyland added.
Dave McRedmond, chief executive of Ireland’s national postal service An Post, revealed that more than half a million parcels had been diverted to other ports.
“It’s much longer to go via Pembroke or Fishguard, but there’s no doubt this puts pressure on supply chains,” he told The Telegraph.
Irish Ferries has blocked new bookings on the Pembroke to Rosslare route to ensure capacity for passengers affected by Dublin-Holyhead cancellations. Stena Line has added new freight routes from Dublin to Heysham and extra sailings on the Belfast-Cairnryan route to help manage the crisis.
The company is also offering alternative sailings from Dublin to Birkenhead and Fishguard. The closure has severely disrupted Christmas travel plans, with around 150,000 people in Britain trying to reach Ireland for the festive period.
Eight daily sailings between Holyhead and Dublin, which usually transport up to 13,000 passengers, will not restart for at least another 28 days.
Stena Line and Irish Ferries are contacting affected customers to arrange alternative routes.
A joint statement from the Irish and Welsh governments acknowledged: “This was not the news any of us wanted to hear. We know that this will cause some anxiety for people who are planning to travel to and from Ireland to be reunited with their loved ones this Christmas.”