Holyhead Port will remain closed until mid-January at the earliest with all ferry sailings cancelled up to that date, impacting up to 13,000 passengers a day.
The Welsh port shut on December 7 after sustaining infrastructure damage during Storm Darragh, and has now confirmed it will not reopen until at least January 15.
Post and deliveries, many of them filled with Christmas presents as well as products from pharmaceuticals to food, have been seriously affected as thousands of trailers filled with goods remained stuck in the UK.
Deliveries of Guinness to Britain could also be hit, weeks after Diageo said supplies to England, Scotland and Wales would be limited amid a surge in demand – fuelled by the stout becoming popular among young people and women in recent years.
And now with just one week until Christmas, passengers face serious disruption as they scramble to return home. Eight daily sailings from Holyhead to Dublin usually transport up to 13,000 passengers and will not restart for another 28 days at least.
Some 150,000 passengers in Britain will be trying to get to Ireland for Christmas, and many booked in from Holyhead have been forced to find costly alternative routes.
All ferry services between Dublin and Holyhead are currently cancelled, affecting thousands of Irish people travelling home from the UK for Christmas.
Kim Ward, a paediatric nurse from Co Monaghan, has had to make costly alternative arrangements to travel home with her dog Ziggy. The 28-year-old, who lives in London, had initially planned to travel by train and ferry from Holyhead to Dublin.
Kim Ward, a paediatric nurse from Co Monaghan, pictured with her partner Shannon Foley, has had to make costly alternative arrangements to travel home with her dog Ziggy
An aerial view shows lorry freight trailers parked on the quayside at Holyhead Port in 2020
After learning that she could not travel from Liverpool as a foot passenger, Ms Ward and her partner Shannon Foley decided to drive to Liverpool to catch a ferry with Ziggy.
Ms Foley, also a nurse, has borrowed her cousin’s car and will drop them in Dublin before crossing back to Liverpool and driving back to London to work.
‘I was supposed to go on December 21. It’s normally a 12-hour journey, door to door, so I get the train from London and travel as a foot passenger,’ Ms Ward said.
‘I have a pet cabin to bring the dog into, because over the years I put him into the kennels and he’s just been traumatised.
‘I called Stena Line multiple times over the last few days to see if there was any way that I could get an earlier ferry on one of the other routes from either Fishguard or Liverpool.
‘They wouldn’t let me because it wasn’t confirmed for Saturday that the sailings weren’t going.’
‘Myself and my partner are both nurses and we were lucky to get this Christmas off,’ she said. ‘We are planning on borrowing my partner’s cousin’s car and driving to Liverpool. She’s added her name to his insurance.
‘She’s going to cross to Dublin to drop me and the dog off, then go from Dublin to Liverpool again and she’s got to travel back to London again as she has to finish her shifts before Christmas. She will then fly to Ireland on Christmas Eve.’
She added: ‘I’ve worked so many Christmases so when you actually have the opportunity to have a Christmas off, you don’t know how many years it’s going to come before you have another one off, you have to spend it with your family. It’s very costly but it will be worth it.’
Ms Ward said the weather could not be helped but she criticised the communication from Stena Line which she said could have been better.
Irish travel expert Eoghan Corry told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘Most people have sat on their bookings thinking they were delayed.
‘Only now are people getting notices saying they will be cancelled. Now we will see a rush for alternatives. It is going to be a stressful night for everyone trying to find other bookings.’
He continued: ‘People may get the ferry as they don’t like to fly. They like to drive and the extra luggage allowance. So it won’t be a seamless transition.
‘There aren’t other great options. No ports can load as quickly as Holyhead can. All the others have problems. There’s no immigration facilities at Birkenhead. Scotland and Belfast have the most sailings but people coming from the south of England will have to go far.’
Holyhead Port is pictured in March during a visit by Sir Keir Starmer (right)
A ferry operated by Stena Line arrives from Dublin into the Holyhead Port in February 2023
Holyhead’s closure follows damage to the Terminal 3 berth on December 6 during Storm Darragh.
A joint statement from the Irish and Welsh governments said: ‘This was not the news any of us wanted to hear. However, it provides clarity so that contingencies can be put in place.
‘We know that this will cause some anxiety for people who are planning to travel to and from Ireland to be reunited with their loved ones this Christmas. It is also a very anxious time for businesses in north Wales and Ireland and for the community of Holyhead.’
They said they are ‘pressing ahead’ with contingency plans at ‘pace’.
In a statement, Stena Line, which owns the port, said it had been ‘working hard to provide alternative travel arrangements for customers during the busy festive period’.
‘Stena Line is offering sailings for passengers and freight from Dublin to ports in Birkenhead and Fishguard.
‘In addition, a new freight route from Dublin to Heysham has been added to assist continuity of trade flows.
‘The company has also added additional sailings on the Belfast-Cairnryan route this weekend. Currently there is limited availability on the Belfast-Liverpool and Rosslare-Fishguard routes.
‘Stena Line would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused and assure customers that the company is doing everything in its power to mitigate the effects of the closure on passenger and freight traffic.
‘Customers are currently being contacted and affected passengers are advised to amend their booking online free of charge or through the Contact Centre on 0344 770 7070 (UK)/ + 353 1 907 5555 (ROI).’
Irish Ferries said it is currently contacting customers affected and also ‘working with UK ports with a view to adding further sailings to/from Ireland’.
Holyhead port previously said it would remain closed until Friday, although there were strong doubts it would reopen as planned. Fears are now mounting that it will remain closed until spring.
Darren Murphy, managing director of BM Transport, a haulage company based in Co Monaghan, still has 60 trailers stuck at Holyhead.
Backlogs at other ports mean they won’t be moved until after Christmas.
He told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘The certainty is welcome but it is disastrous. There is no sign of any real help in increased shipping space to make up the shortfall.
‘While the Christmas break might enable catch-up on freight backlog, we are looking at more of the same from January 2.’
MailOnline has contacted Diageo for comment.