DUBLIN: The new terminal located at East Wall Road will cater for 2,500 vehicles at a time, monitored by a state-of-the-art security system manned on a 24/7 basis. The opening follows a 13 month development and construction phase and €3.4 million investment by Dublin Port Company in the new facility.
The works include the construction of a new 80m flyover bridge across East Wall Road. The bridge allows cars to move between the port estate and the new terminal without any interruption to traffic in the surrounding areas. The perimeter of the terminal also incorporates a ‘living wall’, or vertical façade of green plants, which will be visible from East Wall Road by mid-next year as a permanent feature of the facility.
Measuring 4.3 hectares, the terminal will accommodate the growing number of trade vehicles entering Dublin Port as Ireland returns to economic growth. Figures for 2014 already show a strong increase in numbers.
There were 58,399 trade vehicles recorded in the first nine months of 2014, up 29.8% on the 44,987 that arrived in the same period last year. New figures for the third quarter this year show the arrival of 14,802 trade vehicles, mostly new cars destined for car dealerships, up 48.8% on the corresponding quarter in 2013.
