Holyhead port damaged before Storm Darragh peaked

Holyhead port expects to have both its two berths operating again in July

The damage that led to the closure of Holyhead port for over a month between December and January was caused before Storm Darragh peaked, the port's owners have said.

Giving evidence to a Senedd committee on Thursday, Ian Davies from Stena Line ports said the damage was caused by two ferries making "contact" with one of the berthing terminals.

The incidents happened on the 6 and 7 of December, before a red weather warning came into force.

The port partially reopened on 16 January and is due to reopen fully in July.

The incidents led to the closure of both berths at the port because of the "interconnecting nature" of the support structures - the terminals run parallel to each other.

In a written submission to the committee, ahead of Thursday's hearing, Stena Line repeated that it was limited in the amount of information it could provide because it did not want to prejudice an ongoing insurance claim.

Stena explained the damage had happened to part of terminal three, which is "predominantly" used by Irish Ferries.

However, the firm has not said which company operated the vessels involved in the December incidents.

During Thursday's hearing, committee chair Andrew RT Davies asked Stena Line boss Ian Davies if it would be "fair to say that it's not necessarily the storm that's caused this problem, because the storm wasn't in full flow at the time - it's more a case of the seamanship when the ships were docking and leaving the port that caused the damage?"

Ian Davies responded: "Correct. Correct, in the sense that this happened before that storm."

Ian Davies also told the committee that "contacts" between ferries and the berthing terminals happen "all the time" and that the terminals are "designed" to take "low-speed contact".

Asked what was different in December, Ian Davies said that was part of the "onward-going investigation" as well as an ongoing insurance claim.

The first of two berths at Holyhead port reopened on 15 January

Martin Reid, the Road Haulage Association's Wales policy director, told the committee the Holyhead closure caused "an enormous amount of problems", particularly because of the additional driving time required to new ports.

Drivers were not able to be back at base when their mandated weekly rest needed to be taken, he explained.

In practice it meant that the truck, trailer and driver were 24 or 45 hours away from where they needed to be, depending on where drivers were in the rest cycle, meaning tomorrow's load had to stay in the depot and, in some cases, the day after's load too.

He said one business faced extra costs of around £50,000.

He expressed disappointment that the first time the Welsh civil service contacted the association was on the 24 December, long after the worst had passed.

Responding, later in the committee session, Welsh Transport Secretary Ken Skates said "direct communication with hauliers, I think, was excellent" but regarding "actually engaging with the body itself, then, we can learn lessons for sure".

Eugene Drennan, manager of the Irish Road Haulage Association, put the cost to his members of the port closure at around €60m (£50m).

He said there should have been "more momentum to the repair work", called for lessons to be learnt from the closure and for all these affected to be involved in developing resilience plans.

Liam Lacey, director of the Irish Maritime Development Office, called the situation at Holyhead in December a "perfect storm", with businesses "ramping up before Christmas", other ports such as Liverpool fully booked, and the "unusual" occurrence of both berths at Holyhead being damaged at the same time.

Ian Davies stressed that exactly what happened in December is still being investigated

The committee also heard from business leaders about the impact the port's closure had on businesses.

Sarah Bailey from the West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce said the impact was felt "all the way" along the north Wales coast.

However, she added that from a transport and logistics point of view the situation was now "pretty much back to normal".

Howard Browes from Cybi Business Forum said the latest data showed footfall in Holyhead was still down 22% compared to the same time in 2024 but that forward bookings for the hospitality industry heading towards the tourist season were in a "similar position" to last year.

Fewer hair cuts

Christian Branch from Anglesey council said a survey had revealed the range of businesses impacted by the closure, with hairdressers amongst those to have felt the effect.

"I think that reflects the number of lorry drivers cutting their hair before returning home to their wives and partners," he said.

In previous evidence to the Commons' Welsh Affairs Committee Ian Davies confirmed that there were "berthing incidents" on 6 and 7 December which rendered both ferry terminals inoperable.

He went on to say: "Those incidents are now subject to an insurance claim and I can give no further details without prejudicing that insurance claims at this time I'm afraid."

The port was closed between 7 December and 16 January, with poor sea conditions delaying diving operations to inspect the damage caused to the terminal, according to the port's owners.

Subsequent inspections were also delayed by sea conditions or visibility.

Speaking after the hearing, Andrew RT Davies said "an invitation was extended to Irish Ferries" to join Thursday's session.

"It was followed up because we didn't hear anything from them," he told BBC Wales.

"We will continue to try and have a dialogue as a committee with Irish Ferries because, from the evidence we took this morning, it clearly indicated that they are an integral part to this issue, and I hope that they will take up the opportunity to engage with us."

Irish Ferries has been asked to comment.

Holyhead's second berth T5 was reopened on 16 January, with both Stena Line and Irish Ferries now able to run a full schedule with the same number of sailings and capacity as previously.

In January the Welsh government pledged to set up a taskforce to "consider the resilience of sea connectivity between Wales and Ireland".

However, witnesses told Thursday's committee they were still waiting for details of who would be on the taskforce and what it would explore.

Transport Secretary Ken Skates said he hoped to be able to share those details following a meeting with Irish ministers this weekend.

He said the delay was partly down to the "significant change" at an Irish government level following November's Irish general election.

Additional reporting by Gareth Lewis and Adrian Browne