Irish Shipping and Ports Requirements for the Ocean Energy Industry

9.0 Port Industry Perspective and the Way Forward9.1 Irish port industry feedbackConsultations with Irish ports have provided constructive feedback on the ports’ views of theopportunities which may be presented by offshore windfarms and ocean energy:The ports’ level of awareness ranges from those actively engaging with developers to thosethat are just starting to consider this sector as an opportunity. The current economicsituation has focused ports’ attention more on alternative sectors.Feedback from ports so far is that, except for a few cases, this will not be seen as a corebusiness and ports are unlikely to invest in infrastructure unless there is a solid business case(commercial viability) for doing so. Ports are unlikely to speculate in this sector given currentuncertainties. However, offshore developments could potentially provide seed capital forgeneral port infrastructure developments.Some ports have been approached by developers investigating facilities, although this isoften by an agent who is not particularly knowledgeable – ports would welcome theopportunity to engage directly with developers as solutions are more likely to be bespokerather than ‘off the shelf’.The requirements being stated by developers are considered excessive and few ports wouldhave the scale of facilities available for immediate use.However, many of the ports are actively considering how they would accommodate offshoreenergy activities when preparing master plans and in identifying infrastructure developmentsfor the future. Almost all ports believe that, with active engagement with developers andinstallation contractors, they could develop solutions that would meet the needs of thedeveloper while maintaining their other core businesses. Bespoke solutions are essential.Some ports have access to land banks but these are not always immediately adjacent toquays.Many ports have experience of handling turbines and towers for onshore wind farms, butonly Rosslare has handled turbines for an offshore development. It is acknowledged that thescale of development anticipated is much larger than the ports have generallyaccommodated in the past.It is vital that port development be considered as an integral part of overall policydevelopment focused on ocean energy. Ports cannot make this happen on their own; acombined ‘Ireland Inc’ approach is needed – a top-down approach, with policy support.The likely scale of lifts and facilities required will in many cases be in excess of what the portshave had to provide in the past – aged infrastructure will need to be upgraded.