Ferries from Holyhead port in Wales, battered by Storm Darragh 10 days ago, are to remain closed until mid January at the earliest, in a major blow for 150,000 passengers in Britain trying to get to Ireland for Christmas and for deliveries of Guinness.
The port in the north-west of Wales is the second biggest roll-on roll-off ferry in the UK after Dover and the continued closure will have a major impact on deliveries of cheese, beef and stout.
Guinness had already limited supplies to Britain because of an increase in demand in the run-up to Christmas. The diversion of traffic and cars to Liverpool, and Pembroke and Fishguard in south Wales will also have a knock-on effect on Christmas traffic to Belfast.
In a statement, Holyhead port said the two ferry terminals would “remain closed until Wednesday 15 January 2025 at the earliest”, adding that the port’s current priority is to get Terminal 5 passenger terminal reopened safely to resume ferry services as soon as possible.
However, it said it had taken the decision to keep the terminals closed and to announce it now to “provide…
