The Irish International Freight Association has a new President: Gerard Kiernan, National Sales Manager at a. hartrodt (Ireland) in Dublin, was elected in mid-June to lead the IIFA for a two-year term. Founded in 1962, the association has 169 member companies with more than 3,000 employees, which handle over 90 percent of Ireland’s foreign trade. Gerard Kiernan notes that Dublin's port and airport cargo infrastructure is struggling to keep pace with the “significant increase in volume” driven by Ireland's strong economic growth. This is a challenge he sees alongside real opportunities, he plans to raise with policymakers.
“Since 2019, throughput at Dublin Port has increased by 25 percent to approximately 1 million TEU in the current year,” says Gerard Kiernan. Capacity expansion works are under way but take time, and at Dublin Airport, despite similar volume growth, meaningful works to improve freight facilities have yet to begin. Gerard Kiernan sees the time-consuming planning permission process as a key hurdle, and wants to standardize the differing operating hours and IT systems across Dublin Port's seven terminals, which create extra work for customers such as a. hartrodt.
For Gerard, the industry's real strength has always been its people. "Freight forwarding remains, above all, a people's industry. Our team's daily contact with customers — connecting first with people, then with trucks, planes, ships and trains — underpins our growth, and it's what makes me most proud as I take on this role."
