MWRA Pushes For US Cargo Pre-Clearance Facility At Shannon

Dec. 18, 2012 - PRLog -- The Authority was commenting following the publication of the All-Island Airfreight Study, the first review of the airfreight sector in Ireland for over a decade.

Part-sponsored by the Irish Exporters Association (IEA) and the MWRA through the EU funded Weastflows project, report indicates that airfreight capacity has decreased by 50% over the period 2007–2011. In 2007, the total airfreight capacity (non-stop and multi-stop routings) leaving Irish airports amounted to 207,730 tonnes but by 2011 this had fallen to 105,077 tonnes.

However, the MWRA suggests that the success of the existing passenger pre-clearance installations at both Shannon and Dublin should help make the case for the facility to be extended to cargo services. The Authority also says that greater efforts must be made to maintain or develop Shannon Airport cargo handling facilities, such as including external access, parking facilities and internal cargo handling systems, to competitive international standards.

“It is clear that with the impending separation of Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority that Shannon Airport will be better positioned to maintain existing and develop new cargo business. The Mid West Regional Authority fully supports such efforts. However, it is concerning to see the current rate of decline in Irish airfreight services activity and as evidenced through interviews of the major exporters from Ireland in the All-Island Airfreight Study,” explained MWRA Chairperson Cllr. Gerard Darcy.

The North Tipperary Cllr. Continued: “The Study highlights that the Government must do more to encourage the relevant logistics companies and the airport authorities to invest in upgrading their facilities to competitive international standards. Some progress is already being made in this regard at Shannon Airport but it is clear that the level of cargo freight business at Shannon would grow significantly if a US cargo pre-clearance facility was developed there. This will complement Shannon’s existing unrestricted runway, round the clock operation, efficient handling and the presence of many of the major global logistics firms provide air cargo options at the airport.”

According to Liam Conneally, Director of the MWRA: “The MWRA recommends that Shannon Airport, in conjunction with the Government, should seek to secure the agreement of the US authorities to provide, initially on a pilot basis, US Customs and FDA pre-clearance facilities for both Irish and European originating freight. The benefits for the wider region would be significant. For example, the Study shows that exporters believe that FDA pre-clearance would  underpin the pharmaceutical and medical devices export sector and would be a ‘game changer’ to spark greater expansion  of the BioPharma sector which are prominent in  the Irish air-exporting community and ship  large proportion of their  output to the US.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Conneally noted the study also recommends that the Government should encourage the relevant logistics companies and the airport authorities to invest in upgrading their facilities to competitive international standards. He said the pharmaceutical exporters participating in the study stated that at present cold chain facilities in Ireland are very limited and that substantial future business opportunities will be lost as a result.

Mr. Conneally continued: “Shannon Airport should explore all possible funding sources to enable it to develop a state-of-the-art cargo terminal facility. The provision of a cold chain facility such as that envisaged under the LYNXS™ Cargo Port™ project proposal for Shannon should be pursued.  As outlined in the new report, Shannon should also endeavour to position itself as a European hub for US-bound Life Sciences cargo. This could be achieved by leveraging existing tax provisions to attract European Life Science companies to base manufacturing and logistics centres in the region, or through the deployment of new incentives to persuade express integrators to develop a specialist sectorial hub at the airport.”

Meanwhile, John Whelan, chief executive of the IEA outlined that world class air transport infrastructure is an essential component of Ireland’s export capability in the hi-tech and life sciences sector and will be essential if the country is to continue to be an attractive location for high-value FDI.

He continued: “The fall in air freight capacity will only be addressed if the Irish Government devises innovative initiatives to incentivise new carriers to enter the Irish market, in addition to using all existing levers including new route incentives and air freight growth incentives. Given the importance of belly-hold cargo, opportunities for further reduction in travel taxes should be constantly monitored.”

The Irish Exporters Association (IEA), in association with the Mid-West Regional Authority (MWRA), Dublin Airport Authority, Shannon Development and Bombardier, published the All-Island Airfreight Study this week. For more visit www.irishexporters.ie.

Weastflows is an Interreg IVB North West Europe (NWE) project funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) that aims to encourage a shift towards greener freight transport in the NWE region. Through the project, the MWRA and IEA aim to improve the connectivity from Ireland Region to the major North West Europe transport corridors. For more information visit www.weastflows.eu