At least one of the early sailings from Ireland to Cherbourg, France, has been cancelled for this week, ferry companies have confirmed to Agriland.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if boats going to France later in the week will be taking livestock or not as it remains unclear if sailing conditions will be suitable.
Ferry companies are expected to make a decision on sailings and if they will be taking livestock this week by this evening, Tuesday, February 22.
Farmers bringing Friesian bull calves – destined for European markets – to the mart this week are advised to contact their mart in advance to ensure customers will be present on the day for their calves.
Last week, ferry companies sailing from Ireland to Cherbourg confirmed they would not be bringing livestock lorries on trips scheduled for the week.
This resulted in little to no demand for export-type Friesian bull calves at some marts as buyers were not present due to weather conditions preventing access to key markets for these calves in EU countries.
Both Irish Ferries and Stena Line last week confirmed to Agriland that they would not carry livestock for health and safety reasons due to Storm Dudley and Storm Eunice.
While storms have cancelled some sailings over the past week, it is not uncommon for weather to impact the sea transport of livestock to mainland Europe at this time of year.
Transport disruption of this kind highlights how vulnerable the calf trade with mainland Europe is; and how dependent the export-type calf trade is on sailing conditions.
Bord Bia confidence
Despite this setback, Bord Bia’s beef sector manager, Mark Zieg, said he is confident of a good year ahead for Irish cattle exports.
Speaking at Bord Bia’s Meat Marketing seminar in January, he said the number of cattle exported in 2021 fell by 7% on 2020 export levels and 17% when compared to 2019 figures.
Despite this, just under 250,000 cattle were exported from Ireland in 2021 with weanling exports back 44%.
Zieg was optimistic about cattle export levels bouncing back in 2022 saying:
“We can expect to see some recovery in exports to the continent in 2022 as a result of “low supplies in Europe.”