A minimum of €50,000 will have been lost to the haulage industry yesterday morning as a result of delays caused by yesterday's traffic accident on the East Link roundabout near Dublin Port, the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has said.
Lorries were hemmed in at Dublin Port and were delayed from making deliveries for several hours following the accident in which a large container became detached from a lorry shortly before 6am.
IRHA spokesman Jimmy Quinn said that although the accident had caused huge difficulties for all road users, the time lost in man hours had cost the haulage industry dearly.
"This couldn't have happened in a worse place or at a worse time. Hauliers are now required to use the Port Tunnel rather than the city streets, but they still rely on the East Link to get across to the south bank quay and it was completely inaccessible for several hours." Mr Quinn said he had not yet received any reports of shipments missed due to the delays which lasted for more than six hours, although it was possible that some were.
"It was absolute bedlam today, even after the truck was removed. Christmas week is bedlam at the best of times, but this incident just compounded that difficulty." The time spent off the roads will have resulted in substantial income losses for the industry, Mr Quinn added: "Apart from the inconvenience caused, in terms of the man hours lost the cost would run to €50,000 - that's at a minimum, because at least 2,000 man hours were lost just from this one incident which took so long to clear."
