Holyhead port in Wales, battered by Storm Darragh 10 days ago, is to remain closed until mid-January at the earliest, in a major blow for 150,000 passengers in Britain trying to get to Ireland for Christmas.
The port in the north-west of Wales is the second biggest roll-on roll-off ferry in the UK after Dover, and the continued closure is likely to have a major impact on deliveries of cheese, beef and stout.
Guinness had already limited supplies to Britain because of an increase in demand in the run-up to Christmas. The diversion of traffic and cars to Liverpool, and Pembroke and Fishguard in south Wales will also have a knock-on effect on Christmas traffic to Belfast.
In a statement, Holyhead port said the two ferry terminals would “remain closed until Wednesday 15 January 2025 at the earliest”, adding that the port’s current priority is to get Terminal 5 passenger terminal reopened safely to resume ferry services as soon as possible.
However, it said it had taken the decision to keep the terminals closed and to announce it now to “provide certainty for passengers, freight customers and ferry operators and allow them to make alternative arrangements ahead of one of the busiest times of the year”.
It added that part of the structure of Terminal 3 berth had collapsed “rendering it unusable” after two incidents on 6 and 7 December at the height of the storm.
“Given the scale of the damage, it has been necessary to perform underwater inspections of the structural integrity of the adjacent Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 berths, which could only commence once Storm Darragh had passed, early last Tuesday (10th) morning,” it said.
“We understand the closure of the ferry terminals has had a significant impact on trade, passengers and port customers. We are sorry for the disruption this has caused. The safety of our colleagues and customers is our first priority and we will only permit ferry services to recommence once we are sure it is safe to do so,” it added.
Pointing to the scale of disruption for families on Tuesday evening, Stenaline website was showing all ferries from Fishguard to Rosslare and Liverpool to Belfast full for cars bar one ferry sailing on each route on Christmas Eve.
Irish Ferries confirmed it had cancelled all sailings on the route until the middle of January.
The two main ferry berths were damaged during Storm Darragh 10 days ago, diverting truck trade to other ports including Pembroke and Birkenhead.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Welsh transport minister, Ken Skates, expressed hope the port would be re-opened by the end of the week while his Irish counterpart suggested the worst possible scenario could be spring.
The Welsh government said the closure would cause “anxiety” for passengers at Christmas but also for workers in Holyhead and businesses relying on the port.
Plaid Cymru MP Llinos Medi said the closure was “devastating” and called on the government to spell out its policy on supporting investment in the port given its the strategic importance to trade and tourism.
