I'm not so sure that most freight in the UK other than coal and other minerals/aggregates has both it's origin and destination within the EWS zone; a lot of it appears to be coming through the Channel Tunnell or from ports such as Felixstowe or Southampton and then proceeds onwards to major landlocked centres of population such as M4 Corridor/ West London and to a greater extent Birmingham, Manchester or Leeds.
With the importance of container freight as being almost dominent in rail freight one must wonder if the proposed move of Cork port to Ringaskiddy is such a wise one. I certainly agree that it should move out of the City Centre given the value of its existing sites and the opportunity that disposal of same would give to invest in new facilities. There is also a big but in this and that I feel is that all major inter-modal transport hubs should offer the rail alternative.
Quote:
Section Three: The Port of Cork
The Port of Cork, along with appointed consultants RPS Group, are progressing with their relocation and expansion plans to their lands at Ringaskiddy. As an important economic driver to the Southern Region, the relocation strategy will be of the utmost importance for the Port if it is the continue its development and provide the best available facilities to its market. Masterplans are still under review on the phased development which is expected to cost upwards of €200m to realise. This significant investment will help secure the Port's standing and edge in maritime commercial and leisure activities. The development will begin with work, including extensive drudging, along the Oyster Bank portion of the Ringaskiddy lands - provision will be made here for an extensive new Container Terminal. South of this plan, new provision will be made for a multi-purpose Roll-On/Roll-Off Berth and Storage - both these areas are highlighted in the aerial image below.
Additional expansion efforts will be concentrated on lands to the east of these zones. The scheduling of this move will depend on a number of variables - not least the provision of the new 13km Cork/Ringaskiddy Dual-Carriageway (which is progressing through the planning process), pace of Docklands development and financial flows. It is expected for significant progress to be made in the near future.
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The above is courtesy of Lexington on archiseek