Agriculture Minister meets with Stena Line

The Minister, who met with Paul Grant, Trade Director of the Irish Sea for Stena Line (both pictured) said: “Over the last few days there has been a shock in the shipping industry when the news broke about P&O. I have met with representatives from Stena Line this morning to hear for myself how they are helping to ensure that food continues to come into Northern Ireland.

“Since the announcement by P&O, Stena Line has been very reactive to the situation, increasing their sailings from 12 to 18 per day and drafted in an extra ship to help increase sailings and capacity. This ensures that food, in particular fresh food, continues to make it onto our shelves in a timely fashion.

“I would like to extend my thanks to Stena Line for their help over the last week. There is no doubt that their intervention as prevented a total crisis on our supermarket shelves.”

Paul Grant, Trade Director of the Irish Sea for Stena Line said: “With the introduction of the new ship, we should now have capacity to ensure that everyone who wants to travel and in particular to take goods back and forth, albeit with slight time delays. But we are doing everything we can to help the market in this situation.”