Holyhead Port - Closed Until Mid-January 2025

Holyhead Port – one of the main gateways for trade between Great Britain and the island of Ireland – will remain closed until 15 January at the earliest, the BBC reports.

The Anglesey-based port suffered significant damage during Storm Darragh earlier this month, and it was announced last week that it would be temporarily closed.

Specifically, there were two incidents that affected the Terminal 3 berth on 6 and 7 December, leading to structural damage that has made the berth unusable.

Contingency routes

Despite the disruption, the government’s Joint Customs Consultative Committee (JCCC) has said that CDS and the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) “continue to operate without issue”.

The government has established “contingency routes” with carriers affected by the Holyhead closure, and businesses will need to review which routes they select on GVMS.

“We can also reassure you that you will not be penalised for selecting the routes set out below while Holyhead remains closed,” the committee has said. “Please ensure to check the sailing schedule of the carrier you wish to travel with for further details during this period.”

For declarants importing goods from Ireland to Britain, they should continue to submit import declarations into Britain as normal. Hauliers should select the following routes on GVMS:

• For journeys from Dublin – Fishguard, select the ‘Rosslare – Fishguard’ route on GVMS
• For journeys from Dublin – Birkenhead/Liverpool, select the ‘Dublin – Liverpool’ route on GVMS
• For journeys from Dublin – Heysham, select the ‘Dublin – Heysham’ route on GVMS

If exporting from Britain to Ireland, declarants should ensure the ‘Arrived Export’ location on the declaration matches the location that the goods will leave from, and that a route is selected in GVMS. Not doing this could result in the ‘Goods Movement Reference (GMR)’ not being allowed to check-in when the goods arrive, as the declaration cannot be confirmed as departed.

“If the location the goods will leave from changes after an export declaration has been submitted, the declarant must cancel their CDS Arrived Export declaration and submit a new CDS Arrived Export declaration with the revised routing Arrived Export location code in Data Element 5/23,” the JCCC also advises.

Hauliers should select the following routes on GVMS:

• For journeys from Fishguard – Dublin, select the ‘Fishguard – Rosslare’ route on GVMS
• For journeys from Birkenhead/Liverpool – Dublin, select the ‘Liverpool – Dublin’ route on GVMS
• For journeys from Heysham – Dublin, select the ‘Heysham – Dublin’ route on GVMS

The government has said that it will continue to communicate with industry in January once it knows more details about when the port will re-open.

 

Stena Line

Ferry company Stena Lines has also apologised for disruption after announcing all journeys between Holyhead and Dublin have been cancelled.

Stena Line has said all ferries between Holyhead and Dublin have been cancelled until at least January 15.

Passengers who were booked to travel from December 20 onwards can transfer their booking for free to alternative routes, including:

Birkenhead (Liverpool) to Dublin: motorist bookings only

Fishguard to Dublin

Fishguard to Rosslare

Cairnryan to Belfast

Liverpool to Belfast

Customers can also cancel bookings online for free at stenaline.co.uk or stenaline.ie, or call 0344 770 7070 (UK) or + 353 1 907 5555 (Ireland).

 

Irish Ferries

Irish Ferries has also cancelled all sailings to and from Holyhead and said they will contact customers to outline available options.

A statement from the ferry operator said: "We regret to advise that due to the ongoing closure of Holyhead Port, Irish Ferries has cancelled all sailings on the Holyhead/Dublin route, up to and including 15 January 2025.

"We are currently contacting customers booked to travel on the route in date order to outline options available to them, including sailing on the Rosslare-Pembroke route, where we have added more space. We are also working with UK ports with a view to adding further sailings to/from Ireland.

"Customers will receive an SMS/email outlining options and can then contact us using the following contact details: Ireland - 0818 300 400 UK - 03717 300 400 email: disruption@irishferries.com."

Irish Ferries advised that if customers have booked with a third party, they should contact them directly regarding their booking.

They added that they "sincerely apologise" for any inconvenience and "thank customers for their patience".