Dublin’s Lo-Lo port boom reveals shift in Ireland’s trade after Brexit

Dublin’s Lo-Lo port boom reveals shift in Ireland’s trade after Brexit

From a vantage point above Dublin port, Eamonn O’Reilly can see how Brexit is changing the terms of Ireland’s trade.

Rising rapidly in importance at Dublin is what O’Reilly, the port’s chief executive, says is “Lo-Lo traffic” — unaccompanied containers that are lifted on to ships and then lifted off at their port of destination.

Lo-Lo’s counterpart, “Ro-Ro” — where containers are sent on the back of lorries and roll on to and off ships — is on the decline. Ro-Ro freight was mainly bound for Great Britain, Ireland’s traditional trading partner, and the shift is a sign of how Ireland’s biggest port — and the country’s economy — is pivoting to focus on continental Europe.

“When you’re going longer distances to continental Europe, [Lo-Lo] is more viable because it’s cheaper,” O’Reilly said in an interview overlooking a yard that will soon be expanded to take account of changing trade patterns. A new phase of the port’s overall €1.6bn 30-year expansion master plan, announced in November, includes a plan for Ireland’s largest Lo-Lo container terminal.

Prior to Brexit Dublin’s main importance for trade with continental Europe was its position as the gateway to a “land bridge” via the UK. Trucks carrying freight would cross