land bridge

Mr Gove also played down fears about Irish shipping increasing its services direct to continental Europe - saying he believes an "overwhelming majority" of operators would continue to use the UK as a landbridge.

* Importance of projects such as Saudi Landbridge, North-South Rail, Saudi-Bahrain Rail Link and Fasah - Single Window Clearance

The Belt refers to land routes through Eurasia, divided into six corridors: Mongolia-Russia, Eurasian Landbridge (Russia to Europe), Indochina, Bangladesh-India, Pakistan (CPEC), and Central Asia-West Asia.

The Belt refers to land routes through Eurasia, divided into six corridors -- Mongolia-Russia; Eurasian Landbridge (Russia to Europe); Indochina; Bangladesh-India; Pakistan (CPEC); and Central Asia-West Asia.

Another huge project to be developed is the Saudi Landbridge Project, one of the biggest in the region with an estimated investment of $7bn and construction of more than 1,000km of new line between Jeddah and the Eastern region, with another 115km track between Dammam and Jubail.

With the support from Jeddah Islamic Port and Saudi Customs Authority, and working closely with the client and their suppliers, the LogiPoint CBG team pieced together a multimodal solution that helped make this landbridge an operational reality, the company said.

And there could be funding dished out to help Irish cargo bypass the UK landbridge and go direct from Irish ports to ones in Europe.

With the support from Jeddah Islamic Port and Saudi Customs Authority, and working closely with the client and their suppliers, the LogiPoint CBG team was able to piece together a multimodal solution that helped make this landbridge an operational reality.

The Saudi Public Transport Authority (PTA) and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) signed an MoU agreement to implement the Landbridge project that plans to link the Red Sea with Arabian Gulf and pass through Riyadh.

The ship's owners, CLdN are explicit about their ambitions to develop a "trade lane offering a viable and direct alternative to the UK landbridge" - and Dublin Port acknowledges that importers and exporters are "seeking alternatives for the efficient movement of goods, particularly with the reality of Brexit looming".