Dublin Port's MP2 Linkspan Shows How Ro-Ro Capacity Can Be Built for Cleaner Trade
A nearly 890-tonne linkspan now making its way to Dublin is more than a heavy-lift delivery. It is a visible marker of how one of Europe's important island trading gateways is trying to expand Ro-Ro capacity while embedding environmental discipline and future shore-side electricity into the same investment programme.
Dublin Port's update on the new Berth 53 linkspan deserves attention beyond Ireland. The structure, completed by MacGregor in Poland, is being delivered for the port's MP2 Project and will form part of the new Berth 53 Ro-Ro facility. Dublin Port said the linkspan will help vehicles and freight roll on and off vessels safely and efficiently. It also acknowledged MacGregor, Wills Bros Group, Vogen and TRENDProjekt for their roles in bringing nearly 890 tonnes of infrastructure toward the port.
The immediate story is engineering. The wider story is about port policy. MP2 is one of the three core projects in Dublin Port's Masterplan 2040 and is being delivered in a constrained urban and environmental setting. Dublin Port's official project update describes a new quay wall at Berth 52 East and a major Ro-Ro facility at Berth 53, designed to support growing freight and ferry traffic and to introduce safer berthing technology for larger vessels.
The project combines conventional capacity with a modern port brief. The works include a combi-wall quay structure, a double-tier linkspan and modern bridge system, a 290-metre open jetty with nine dolphins, a 400-metre access road, electrical services, CCTV and an asphalt operational yard. For ferry operators and logistics users, the double-tier linkspan matters because two decks can be loaded at the same time. For policy-makers, the same project matters because EU funding documentation says the two-berth programme includes infrastructure for shore-side electricity supply.
That distinction is important. Decarbonisation in ports is often discussed as if it begins after civil works have finished. Dublin's MP2 suggests a better order of thought: berth capacity, electrical interfaces, environmental protection, traffic flow and operating safety must be treated as one infrastructure question. A linkspan may look like steel and hydraulics, but it sits inside a system of power, planning and vessel turnaround.
The EU's Connecting Europe Facility has helped put that system into motion. Dublin Port's MP2 Project was awarded EUR73.8 million from CEF Transport in July 2024. According to the European Commission Representation in Ireland, the grant supports construction of Berths 52 and 53, double-tier linkspans and the installation of shore-side electricity supply, with the main benefit identified as increased Ro-Ro operational efficiency. Dublin Port has said the wider CEF-backed package will help address projected Ro-Ro freight demand, larger vessels and direct services to Europe.
There is also a local environmental bargain. Dublin Port's May 2025 update says construction is being carried out under strict licensing and seasonal conditions to protect the River Liffey ecosystem: river piling pauses during the peak salmon smolt migration period from March to May, and dredging is confined to October through March. The Berth 53 design includes a 9-metre environmental screen to protect the nearby Special Protection Area from vessel wash and a 1.2-metre visual barrier.
Engineers Ireland's overview of MP2 adds another useful detail: spoil from other dredging in the port is being reused to form the marshalling yard, with material encapsulated to protect the marine ecosystem. Wills Bros, the main contractor on Berths 52 and 53, lists the works as including jetties, a linkspan bridge, an automated mooring system, landside and waterside piling, scour protection and marine furniture. Its project figures underline the scale: 232 steel tubular piles, 57 combi-wall piles, 145 CFA piles, 6,284 square metres of sheet piles, 31,186 cubic metres of reinforced concrete and 7,396 tonnes of precast.
European ports are being asked to handle larger vessels, preserve trade resilience, reduce emissions at berth and work within tighter environmental expectations. Those goals can compete if projects are planned in silos. Dublin Port's MP2 is useful because it places them in the same delivery frame: Ro-Ro growth, shore-side electricity, automated mooring, environmental windows and EU funding discipline.
That is why this linkspan matters. It is a practical reminder that cleaner maritime infrastructure will not be delivered by one technology alone. It will be built through the less glamorous choices that make ports work: berth geometry, access roads, mooring systems, power provision, dredging windows, stakeholder coordination and the capacity to finance works before congestion becomes a constraint.
Dublin is not simply adding a ramp. It is adding an operating capability. For other European ports, particularly those serving islands and Ro-Ro corridors, MP2 offers a relevant example of how future trade capacity can be tied to cleaner berth infrastructure from the start.
