£124.5m relief road is fillip to port

IRISH Sea freight ferry operator Seatruck says the opening of the new £124.5m Bay Gateway relief road in Lancaster, is the biggest commercial opportunity for the Port of Heysham in its history.

Seatruck chief executive Alistair Eagles said the opening on October 31 is the long awaited “big bang” moment for the Port of Heysham.
 
He said it unleashed the port’s potential to win more Irish Sea tonnage from hauliers who no longer have to wrestle with congestion between the M6, Lancaster and the Heysham peninsula.

“This is the moment we have campaigned and worked years for,” said Eagles.
 
“The Bay Gateway thrusts Heysham firmly forward as a growing hub  for Irish Sea freight. Our big message to hauliers, and any company operating cargo across the Irish Sea, is think again, think Heysham, think Seatruck.
 
“At Seatruck we can offer a hugely attractive alternative to remote ports like Holyhead and Cairnryan by using the more central ports we operate from Heysham, Liverpool and Bristol.

“A large percentage of Cairnryan’s tonnage drives past Heysham on the M6 as it originates in the North of England and the Midlands.

“This is a mammoth journey of 176 miles which takes more than three hours. It really is much easier to simply drop into Heysham slashing fuel costs, mileage, truck wear and tear and carbon emissions.  It makes real sense at a time when hauliers and supermarkets are bending over backwards to be eco-friendly on the roads.”

Eagles said in preparation for the Bay Gateway opening Seatruck had added the 105 trailer Clipper Point to its daily Heysham-Dublin route increasing annual capacity by more than 25,000 extra spaces a year.
 
She will join her two sister vessels Clipper Pennant and Seatruck Panaroma which already operate between Heysham and Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland.
In total Seatruck will offer  12 crossings a week between Heysham and Dublin and 22  crossings a week between Heysham and Warrenpoint.

Eagles said the Bay Gateway is also a platform for Seatruck to raise awareness of its unaccompanied truck operation.

“Seatruck has long believed that the future of Irish Sea freight is to free up drivers,” he said. “HGV drivers are becoming harder and harder to find.
 
“Seatruck is challenging the traditional model of short sea crossings from North Wales and Scotland with drivers staying with the trucks to offering a more efficient alternative.”

Seatruck’s  modern fleet of roll on roll off ferries also operates four sailings each way per day between Liverpool and Dublin and weekly service between Dublin and Bristol.

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