Press Release

On Monday 11 October, Dunkerque-Port's "Ireland" Terminal was officially inaugurated in the presence of Thomas BYRNE, Irish Minister for European Affairs; Georges-François LECLERC, Prefect of the Nord, Prefect of the Hauts-de-France region; Patrice VERGRIETE, President of the Dunkerque Urban Community; Torben CARLSEN, Chief Executive Officer of DFDS; Maurice GEORGES, President of the Management Board of Dunkerque-Port.

The Brexit, which came into force last January, has required a strengthening of the maritime service of the Republic of Ireland in its relations with the continental Member States. In this context, a terminal dedicated to the various traffics to and from Ireland has been created, at the request of the Danish company DFDS, on a quay located on the domain of the industrial port zone of Dunkerque, in the municipality of Loon-Plage, Quai de Lorraine.

• The terminal covers 6.8 hectares and is connected to the RORO 4 bridge.
• The median strip has been developed to accommodate up to 300 unaccompanied travelling trailers and 3,100 linear metres of parking lines for trucks and vehicles with drivers.
• The floating gangway can accommodate very large ro-ro ships (35,000 T displacement and up to 30 m width) and road convoys up to 220 T.

The DFDS company has set up reception, control and customer registration structures. As at other terminals serving Ireland - which is not part of the European agreements on the free movement of persons (Shengen) - users are subject to checks by the border police.

On 2 January, at 2 pm, the ferry "Optima Seaways" left the port of Rosslare (Ireland) for Dunkirk with more than 120 trucks, unaccompanied trailers and drivers on board. This departure officially launched the new DFDS route between Rosslare and the new "Ireland" terminal of Dunkerque-Port.

Since then, the vessels REGINA SEAWAYS and VISBY have been operating the 5 weekly rotations between Ireland and France. The REGINA SEAWAYS is the latest vessel to be assigned to the route and is 27 m wide and 199 m long with 114 cabins. It can load 170 pieces of cargo and 600 cars and accommodate up to 1000 passengers.

Today, with 40,000 freight units (trucks and unaccompanied trailers) already totalled at the end of September, the Dunkirk-Rosslare line is a great success.

Torben Carlsen, Chief Executive Officer of DFDS: "The new Irish terminal at the Port of Dunkirk is a testament to our joint commitment to the continued success of the Rosslare - Dunkirk route, which was launched in record time to support the supply chain between the continent and Ireland. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those of our customers who are working with us to make this service a success and the Port of Dunkirk for committing to this new freight route, which we, DFDS, continue to develop with the recent addition of the 'Regina Seaways' vessel to the route."

Maurice Georges, Chairman of the Management Board of Dunkerque-Port: "I am delighted with the excellent results of this Dunkirk-Rosslare line and the inauguration of this new 'Ireland' Terminal. This project meets the expectations of all those involved in transport between the Republic of Ireland and the countries of the European Union. This particularly innovative line offers efficient timing and daily frequency. I would like to thank our partner DFDS for the confidence they have shown in Dunkerque-Port over the years.