Dublin Port Company (DPC) has launched a €400m project that will deliver 20% of the port capacity required by 2040.
The 3FM project is the third and final Masterplan project needed to complete the development of Dublin Port. It will be built on the port-owned Poolbeg Peninsula. Construction will commence in 2026 and be completed between 2030 and 2035.
“We are developing Dublin Port based on Masterplan 2040 at an overall estimated cost of €1.6 billion over the 30 years from 2010 to 2040,” said DPC chief executive, Eamonn O’Reilly. “Port infrastructure is very expensive and, by the end of this year, we will have invested €500m in the 11 years since 2010. Over the next five years, we will invest a further €450m. We aim to begin to build the €400m 3FM Project in 2026 and to complete it between 2030 and 2035.”
The 3FM project has six elements, including the construction of the largest container terminal in the country in front of ESB’s Poolbeg Power Station with an annual throughput capacity of 360,000 containers (612,000 TEU); and the redevelopment of the existing blue container terminal to create a new ro-ro freight terminal in its place with an annual throughput capacity of 288,000 freight trailers
The project is at the pre-planning stage and DPC will lodge a planning application with An Bord Pleanála in early 2023.
The 3FM project is being launched now to ensure that essential port capacity is available on time. Capacity pinch points are already evident in the north port area post-Brexit and pending completion of consented Masterplan projects there – the ABR Project and the MP2 Project – which are already underway.
