5 ms·

French ferry firm opens new post-Brexit routes bypassing UK

Proven 6y ago
If I need to go to the UK, they can't bypass the UK. Talking of bypassing, anyone who used to run their "Europe" biz out of the UK now can still do it, and bypass the EU (apart from the tiny WTO compliant import duties). The UK just needs to dial down nanny state and cut taxes. The EU can't follow them before they spend like drunken sailors and because they can only agree on increasing, not decreasing, waste. The desperation with which the EU bureaucrats struggle for their benefits and pensions is admirable, but the EU has always been a disaster and it's only getting worse (as Poland and Central European members have recently discovered).
peteretep 6y ago
Why on earth is this posted here?
- RedShift1 6y ago
  Because they "hacked" their way around regulations?
- bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  evidently some people on HN were interested in it.
- bayindirh 6y ago
  Yet it's another small yet important effect of Brexit, as it's discussed here in great detail, no?
- Symbiote 6y ago
  Lots of political news is posted. It generally doesn't last very long before being flagged.
- belorn 6y ago
  It might have gone past unnoticed, but the ferry industry (at least in Europe) in general has been shrinking significant the last 20 years. At the same time air travel and car usage has gone up. Train usage seems to sit somewhere between. A revival of the ferry industry, even if it just because of brexit, is interesting. The industry is also in dire need of modernization and electrification, and if done, could be much more ecological than bridges and increased road capacity. Energy efficiency in transport is generally in favor of more transportation over water.
Jonnax 6y ago
There's a term called the UK "landbridge" [0] where about 150,000 lorries a year on its way from mainland EU to Ireland would go through the UK to the shortest ferry distance to Dublin. It looks like with Brexit, the paperwork and associated costs have reached a point where firms are seeing value in just ferrying around the UK. [0] https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/trade-uk-landbridge https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/trade-u...
- draw_down 6y ago
  Yes that’s what the article is saying
- DrBazza 6y ago
  The removal of 150,000 lorries per year from Cross Channel freight in Kent, and off of UK roads in general is a good thing in itself. It reduces carbon emissions - 600 miles from Dover to Fishguard or Holyhead, there and back. That's a lot of diesel. It reduces wear and tear on the road infrastructure. It increases capacity at Dover/Folkestone. It even improves driver safety - less fatigue, and less time driving.
  - jfengel 6y ago
    That's an interesting observation. Why weren't they doing it before?
    - DrBazza 6y ago
      Probably timely delivery of certain goods. It’s an hour across the Channel at Dover by ferry. But probably 10-12 hours if not more to Ireland from further along the channel. If you’re driving from Northern Europe that’s a lot more driving past Calais which adds more time.
DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
this is fantastic news for Ireland. They'll be absorbing a lot of the business that has traditionally gone to the UK (or stayed in the UK): > "And Irish traders too are seeking direct links to Western France." > Port of Cork chief executive Conor Mowlds said it was a "hugely positive" development for Cork. > "Importers and exporters now have further transport options to get their freight direct to the EU and bypass the UK Land-Bridge," he said, adding the new travel corridor will "strengthen the region by offering more flexibility to Irish customers, ensuring supply chains are maintained". NI remains a problem for EU as it's currently like a Trojan horse within the EU[1] and will/is used to bypass the tariffs and import/export taxes. Europe should do everything to support a United island of Ireland by staying tough on the sea-border between IE/UK. (off-topic: as the old joke goes wrt the DUP "What's the difference between an apple and an orange? There is no such thing as an apple bastard!"). [1] Northern Ireland suspends Brexit checks amid safety fears for port staff: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/01/northern-ireland-port-staff-removed-urgently-due-to-safety-concerns https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/01/northern-ire...
- Symbiote 6y ago
  I'm sure it's great for the port, but it's worse for other businesses. Before brexit, it was cheaper and faster to drive across Britain.
  - dfgdghdf 6y ago
    Indeed. It's interesting that the conservatives in the UK have chosen sovereignty over free trade. These aren't Thatcher tories.
    - arethuza 6y ago
      In the immortal words of our current Prime Minister when he was Foreign Secretary: "F*ck Business" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44618154 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44618154
    - me_me_me 6y ago
raesene9 6y ago
There's been quite a few ferry routes starting between Ireland and France. The paperwork/delays on the landbridge mean it's more economical to do it this way. There appears to be quite a significant disruption to trade at the moment to/from the UK with a lot of trucks which brought goods from Europe, returning empty.
breakfastduck 6y ago
I mean, yeah. Why wouldn't they?
arethuza 6y ago
Business sees Brexit as damage and routes around it. Apologies to John Gilmore!
prennert 6y ago
I had a discussion a few days back, wondering if and independent Scotland (with EU membership) could get an economic boost by being a land-bridge between a united Ireland and North Europe. Take Leith (Edinburgh) to Hamburg. This route would take 16 hours at 30 knots. Leith to Rotterdam would be a bit quicker only take 13 hours. That compares to a Cork to St Malo which takes 11 hours. Driving Hamburg to Warsaw takes 8 hours which saves 12 hours compared to driving St Malo to Warsaw (20 hours on google maps). Belfast to Leith is maybe around 6-8 hours (incl loading and unloading at the ports), that leaves 4 hours which is about the distance driving from Cork to Belfast. So from north (united) Ireland to north Europe it will be faster to go via Scotland. But even when shipping from Cork, the rest patterns for the drivers might be better going via Scotland, even if it takes about the same time on paper (8hours driving max at a piece instead of 20hours)
- arethuza 6y ago
  I wonder if that might actually be some kind of justification for the infamous idea of a Ireland-Scotland bridge? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-49661019 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-496610...
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
  You can't do 30 knots on the Elbe river. I mean you could, but only once, because VERBOTEN! (Because of the waves, and such.) Cuxhaven would be more apt, but lacks Autobahn(to Hamburg). Same for Brunsbüttel. Furthermore Hamburgs Autobahn is almost always gridlocked, at least in parts(Especially around the Elbtunnel). Your map is not the territory, laddie :-)
throw0101a 6y ago
So when's the FR-IE tunnel going to be built? Roscoff-Cork is only ~500 km. :)
williamgrant 6y ago
HN has truly been scraping the bottom of the barrel for news sources this week. Please, continue posting news articles unrelated to HN from single-issue, hyper-partisan news publications.
- gambiting 6y ago
  I run a company that does a fair amount of trade in the UK from EU, this stuff is hugely interesting to me. If you have any problems with arguments in this article then please list them.

If I need to go to the UK, they can't bypass the UK. Talking of bypassing, anyone who used to run their "Europe" biz out of the UK now can still do it, and bypass the EU (apart from the tiny WTO compliant import duties). The UK just needs to dial down nanny state and cut taxes. The EU can't follow them before they spend like drunken sailors and because they can only agree on increasing, not decreasing, waste. The desperation with which the EU bureaucrats struggle for their benefits and pensions is admirable, but the EU has always been a disaster and it's only getting worse (as Poland and Central European members have recently discovered).

peteretep 6y ago

Why on earth is this posted here?

RedShift1 6y ago
Because they "hacked" their way around regulations?
bryanrasmussen 6y ago
evidently some people on HN were interested in it.
bayindirh 6y ago
Yet it's another small yet important effect of Brexit, as it's discussed here in great detail, no?
Symbiote 6y ago
Lots of political news is posted. It generally doesn't last very long before being flagged.
belorn 6y ago
It might have gone past unnoticed, but the ferry industry (at least in Europe) in general has been shrinking significant the last 20 years. At the same time air travel and car usage has gone up. Train usage seems to sit somewhere between. A revival of the ferry industry, even if it just because of brexit, is interesting. The industry is also in dire need of modernization and electrification, and if done, could be much more ecological than bridges and increased road capacity. Energy efficiency in transport is generally in favor of more transportation over water.

Jonnax 6y ago

There's a term called the UK "landbridge" [0] where about 150,000 lorries a year on its way from mainland EU to Ireland would go through the UK to the shortest ferry distance to Dublin. It looks like with Brexit, the paperwork and associated costs have reached a point where firms are seeing value in just ferrying around the UK. [0] https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/trade-uk-landbridge https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/trade-u...

draw_down 6y ago
Yes that’s what the article is saying
DrBazza 6y ago
The removal of 150,000 lorries per year from Cross Channel freight in Kent, and off of UK roads in general is a good thing in itself. It reduces carbon emissions - 600 miles from Dover to Fishguard or Holyhead, there and back. That's a lot of diesel. It reduces wear and tear on the road infrastructure. It increases capacity at Dover/Folkestone. It even improves driver safety - less fatigue, and less time driving.
- jfengel 6y ago
  That's an interesting observation. Why weren't they doing it before?
  - DrBazza 6y ago
    Probably timely delivery of certain goods. It’s an hour across the Channel at Dover by ferry. But probably 10-12 hours if not more to Ireland from further along the channel. If you’re driving from Northern Europe that’s a lot more driving past Calais which adds more time.

DyslexicAtheist 6y ago

this is fantastic news for Ireland. They'll be absorbing a lot of the business that has traditionally gone to the UK (or stayed in the UK): > "And Irish traders too are seeking direct links to Western France." > Port of Cork chief executive Conor Mowlds said it was a "hugely positive" development for Cork. > "Importers and exporters now have further transport options to get their freight direct to the EU and bypass the UK Land-Bridge," he said, adding the new travel corridor will "strengthen the region by offering more flexibility to Irish customers, ensuring supply chains are maintained". NI remains a problem for EU as it's currently like a Trojan horse within the EU[1] and will/is used to bypass the tariffs and import/export taxes. Europe should do everything to support a United island of Ireland by staying tough on the sea-border between IE/UK. (off-topic: as the old joke goes wrt the DUP "What's the difference between an apple and an orange? There is no such thing as an apple bastard!"). [1] Northern Ireland suspends Brexit checks amid safety fears for port staff: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/01/northern-ireland-port-staff-removed-urgently-due-to-safety-concerns https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/01/northern-ire...

Symbiote 6y ago
I'm sure it's great for the port, but it's worse for other businesses. Before brexit, it was cheaper and faster to drive across Britain.
- dfgdghdf 6y ago
  Indeed. It's interesting that the conservatives in the UK have chosen sovereignty over free trade. These aren't Thatcher tories.
  - arethuza 6y ago
    In the immortal words of our current Prime Minister when he was Foreign Secretary: "F*ck Business" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44618154 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44618154
  - me_me_me 6y ago

raesene9 6y ago

There's been quite a few ferry routes starting between Ireland and France. The paperwork/delays on the landbridge mean it's more economical to do it this way. There appears to be quite a significant disruption to trade at the moment to/from the UK with a lot of trucks which brought goods from Europe, returning empty.

breakfastduck 6y ago

I mean, yeah. Why wouldn't they?

arethuza 6y ago

Business sees Brexit as damage and routes around it. Apologies to John Gilmore!

prennert 6y ago

I had a discussion a few days back, wondering if and independent Scotland (with EU membership) could get an economic boost by being a land-bridge between a united Ireland and North Europe. Take Leith (Edinburgh) to Hamburg. This route would take 16 hours at 30 knots. Leith to Rotterdam would be a bit quicker only take 13 hours. That compares to a Cork to St Malo which takes 11 hours. Driving Hamburg to Warsaw takes 8 hours which saves 12 hours compared to driving St Malo to Warsaw (20 hours on google maps). Belfast to Leith is maybe around 6-8 hours (incl loading and unloading at the ports), that leaves 4 hours which is about the distance driving from Cork to Belfast. So from north (united) Ireland to north Europe it will be faster to go via Scotland. But even when shipping from Cork, the rest patterns for the drivers might be better going via Scotland, even if it takes about the same time on paper (8hours driving max at a piece instead of 20hours)

arethuza 6y ago
I wonder if that might actually be some kind of justification for the infamous idea of a Ireland-Scotland bridge? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-49661019 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-496610...
LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
You can't do 30 knots on the Elbe river. I mean you could, but only once, because VERBOTEN! (Because of the waves, and such.) Cuxhaven would be more apt, but lacks Autobahn(to Hamburg). Same for Brunsbüttel. Furthermore Hamburgs Autobahn is almost always gridlocked, at least in parts(Especially around the Elbtunnel). Your map is not the territory, laddie :-)

throw0101a 6y ago

So when's the FR-IE tunnel going to be built? Roscoff-Cork is only ~500 km. :)

williamgrant 6y ago

HN has truly been scraping the bottom of the barrel for news sources this week. Please, continue posting news articles unrelated to HN from single-issue, hyper-partisan news publications.

gambiting 6y ago
I run a company that does a fair amount of trade in the UK from EU, this stuff is hugely interesting to me. If you have any problems with arguments in this article then please list them.