Footage from RTE report in 1985 on the Dock Strike in Waterford 

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​End of a Port in Waterford City 

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Prior to the 1980’s Waterford had a port in the heart of the City – after the 13 year long strike this all ended and the Port relocated to further downriver to Bellview County Kilkenny

“There was team´s of dockers known as gang´s to unload each ship about 10 members in each gang. When a gang member died it was common practice not to replace him and divide up his wage´s between the remaining members of his gang, this was allowed to go on for years until the recession of the 80´s when the Harbour board decided to put a stop to it as part of their cost cutting plan.

The dockers refused and would not even enter into talks, they went on strike, which lasted 13 years, during this time not one ship was allowed to use Waterford port.

The Effect

Bear in mind Waterford port has two massive advantage´s over its rivals, Dublin and Cork.
1) It has a bigger draught i.e.  it can accommodate bigger ships.
2) It is the closest Irish port to mainland Europe.
Waterford Industrial estate was in it´s infancy at this time and seeking international companies, to set up there, but because it was not possible for them to import raw materials via Waterford port, shipping material to Dublin or Cork and then by road or rail to Waterford was never going to happen, Waterford industrial estate lost out big time to Dublin and Cork and only got a few crumbs from the table i.e the IDA. Waterford was one of the worst hit regions of the eighties recession, with massive unemployment.
Waterford also got the dubious tag as being very militant, our chipboard factory had also closed due to a strike, ironically one of the first ships to use Waterford port after the strike came to collect bales of Irish timber for export, that was used to make chipboard which was then re-imported.
In the early 90´s the leader of SIPTU (recently formed) brokered a deal and to much fanfair (RTE even showed up) the first ship sailed up the mighty Suir, only to be stormed by the dockers who staged a sit in for a few days, as if enough damage had not been done, eventually she was allowed to leave empty,but not before the captain gave an interview to RTE, broadcast all over Europe saying he will never use Waterford port again and will be advising all captains to do the same as a quick turnaround is the name of the game in shipping. During this time Cork grew into the region you see today, great roads and the countries second airport, this was ours for the taking.”