I thank the Chairman and members of the joint committee for giving us the opportunity to address them regarding the business plans and future development of the Shannon Foynes Port Company. I will provide a brief overview of the company followed by which I will outline our market strengths, trading and financial performance from 2006 to 2008 and future development plans and requirements. I appreciate that the committee has a busy schedule and I will endeavour to adhere to the time limits set out in the letter of invitation we received from it. I would be happy to present the company's views on the remaining items raised in the letter following my presentation if members so desire.
The Shannon Foynes Port Company was formed in 2000 by way of ministerial order amalgamating the two legacy port companies on the Shannon, namely, Shannon Estuary Ports and Foynes Port Company. The origins of these legacy port companies can be traced back to when the Vikings used the Shannon Estuary for both conquest and trade. Throughout the Middle Ages, Limerick was an important trading centre facilitating seaborne trade with England, France and Spain. Its current origins and configuration date back to legislation passed in 1832 establishing the Limerick Bridge Commissioners, predecessor to Shannon Estuary Ports, with powers to make by-laws for the regulation of the harbour, to license pilots within the port and harbour, to construct a wet dock and to build and regulate the operation of what is now known as Sarsfield Bridge.
Today Shannon Foynes Port Company is responsible for the maritime management of one of Ireland's premier natural assets, the Shannon Estuary. As one of the largest port operators in the country, the company has statutory jurisdiction over all marine activities on this magnificent 500 sq. km watercourse stretching from Loop Head to Limerick city. The strategic location of our terminals on the estuary offers access to the vibrant economy and population of a large part of Ireland.
The company provides a variety of services from controlling navigation and marine safety to warehousing, logistics and cargo handling. We handle the largest vessels entering Irish waters, which are up to 225,000 dead weight tonnes, and have a track record of continuous growth and innovation. We facilitate 35% of the country's non-unitised trade and cater for 58% of the nation's dry bulk market. All our operations are accredited to ISO 9001:2000 by Lloyd's Register quality assurance.
Shannon Foynes Port Company services six facilities on the Shannon Estuary and handles over 10 million tonnes per annum, which demonstrates its importance as a national economic pillar. The facilities at Foynes, Limerick docks and Shannon Airport are owned by the company. As the deepest company owned facility, Foynes accommodates vessels from 3,000 deadweight tonnes to 40,000 deadweight tonnes, caters for all key cargo classifications and has a substantial 100 acre landbank with 400,000 sq. ft. of warehousing. The Limerick docks facility handles all general bulk cargo types together with project cargoes. It is an important revenue centre which handled an average of 578,000 tonnes of cargoes per annum for the period under review. Shannon Airport is one of the few international airports to have its fuel requirement supplied directly by ship. The three other dedicated terminals, which are privately owned, are Moneypoint and its 2 million tonne coal transhipment facility, Tarbert Island for heavy fuel and Aughinish for bauxite imports and alumina exports.
The company has made extensive investment in infrastructure in recent years and currently has a total asset cost base of €63 million. We have the expertise and experience to cater for all ship sizes and types. We handle on a regular basis ships from 225,000 deadweight tonnes down to coasters of 3,000 deadweight tonnes. While we can facilitate all modalities except for ro-ro, we see our niche as serving the dry and liquid bulks, break bulk and project cargo markets.
We were involved in the container or lo-lo business for a three-year period up to 2006 but decided to exit this in light of the inadequacy of its marginal revenue stream. This was due to the characteristics of the Irish container market and its reliance on feeder vessels to and from the mainland European ports. Ireland's deep sea and short sea trade is almost entirely routed via northern European ports. Given these trade flows, ports on the west coast are automatically disadvantaged by vessels having to come around the corner of the south-west coast. The associated extra sailing times and threats to scheduling due to Atlantic weather systems make the service uncompetitive when compared with south and east coast offerings.
The cruise business is facilitated on the estuary but is not a significant revenue stream for us. We do, however, actively engage with Shannon Development in promoting this business as it is readily accepted that the mid-west region has much to offer tourists in terms of its quality destinations and excellent value for money. We therefore see the dry and liquid bulk sectors as the markets where we can offer the best competitive advantage and service to current and future customers. We have the deepest naturally occurring water in the country, at in excess of 22 metres. We have the scale and proven expertise to handle the very largest to the smallest vessels. Importantly, we have invested in people and infrastructure to offer best in class service to the bulk sector. We believe it is by promoting and building on these attributes that we will grow our current customer base. Furthermore, and as mentioned in the briefing document, the estuary already displays the characteristics of an energy cluster that is even more enhanced by Shannon LNG's plans for a new deepwater gas terminal at Ballylongford. We are very optimistic for the future as there are large projects of scale in the pipeline that will utilise our resources as a port authority and exploit the physical advantages of the estuary.
In summary, we do not view the fast moving goods sector, and hence the traditional unitised markets, as core to our future business model. We intend to play to our strengths, which are most definitely utilised by concentrating on the business-to-business needs of the agricultural, industrial and energy sectors, traditional and renewable, where we can offer real competitive advantage. In short, we do not intend investing millions of euro on aspirational business cases but we will maximise our existing deepwater and infrastructural facilities by partnering private capital.
Regarding trading and financial performances for 2006 to 2008, the 2008 results show a substantial improvement in all operating financial performance indicators with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, EBITDA, operating profit and profit attributable to shareholders all positive to those posted in 2006 and 2007. These improvements were made despite a 34% reduction in turnovers from 2006. This reduction in turnover arises primarily from the cessation of the Foynes-Rotterdam container line service in September 2007 and the severe tightening of the economy during 2008, particularly the construction sector with cement products, timber and steel being notably affected by the latter. Overall tonnage throughput for 2008 of 10.8 million tonnes is 400,000 tonnes adverse to 2007 and 600,000 tonnes adverse to 2006, which reflects the external economic turmoil and is not an erosion of our market share. Furthermore, it should be noted that during 2006 and 2007 we facilitated record tonnages against the backdrop of a robust economy and therefore these years are considered a lofty benchmark but one that we will strive to surpass in the coming years.
Despite the economic conditions experienced in 2008, the company has continued to increase its EBITDA and operating profit, and has posted a bottom line profit for the first year since 2005. EBITDA, at €3.8 million, is 8% greater than the previous year and 61% greater than that posted in 2006. Operating profit of €2.1 million is the highest ever recorded by the company and shows a 233% increase over 2006 levels.
In terms of future development, we believe the Shannon Estuary is currently underutilised from a commercial maritime shipping perspective. In order to maximise its potential we believe it necessary to promote its capabilities internationally. It is most suited to projects of scale requiring maritime expertise such as ESB's Moneypoint or Rusal's alumina plant. SFPC has shown it has both the physical infrastructure and marine expertise to assist any potential investor or promoter. However, given the scale of the projects envisaged — by their nature in excess of €300 million per project — we believe a team or a joined-up thinking approach is necessary. We believe it is vital that all relevant local and regional authorities, together with the regional and national development agencies, are on board from the outset. In that regard, we have identified all suitable deepwater sites on the Shannon Estuary and teamed up with the relevant local and regional authorities to include in their development plans appropriate zoning of the lands adjoining these deepwater sites. We should be able to hit the ground running whenever a potential promoter displays interest and general zoning requirements should be in place beforehand.
With regard to marketing, we recently launched an international promotional drive, in conjunction with the Irish Maritime Development Office, IMDO, and the IDA, whereby the IDA has undertaken to promote the Shannon Estuary across all its international offices and to its current and potential foreign direct investment, FDI, clients.
With regard to SFPC direct investment in infrastructure, the Foynes terminal has been earmarked for substantial upgrade in future years. We have completed a roadmap for future infrastructure development that has the flexibility of being implemented over a phased timeframe. Any investment is subject to cost-benefit analysis in line with the appraisal guidelines for capital investment. In short, the plan provides for an additional 300 metres of quays and 14 acres of infill to give much needed additional open quay storage. We are currently drafting an engineering feasibility study to determine the most cost-effective approach and should be ready to commence planning in the foreseeable future. Our aim is to have the statutory consents process complete to allow us commence construction as soon as it is economically justified by business demands. Other more short-term projects include a new fire fighting system to facilitate the new 80,000 cu. m deepwater oil terminal at Foynes, a new headquarters and the upgrading of our VTMS system to facilitate the LNG project and other large-scale future projects.
One area of major concern to us is the Shannon Estuary's connectivity to the motorway and rail networks. This issue is expanded on in the briefing document. Given the estuary's national strategic importance and the economic potential it has to offer, we view it as short-sighted not to include in the national plan first rate road and rail connections to it. We estimate that for €23 million the lower estuary could be connected to the proposed M20 Limerick to Cork motorway. This would be a very small price to pay for unlocking the economic potential that is the Shannon Estuary. We are currently engaged with the relevant authorities to have these issues addressed on the mid-west area strategic plan, MWASP.
With regard to the general framework all the commercial ports operate within, we believe the approval process for foreshore leases and dredging licences could be streamlined to better serve all stakeholders.
We note the Harbours (Amendment) Act 2008 provides for the amalgamation of SFPC and Tralee and Fenit. We are not convinced this amalgamation would be in the best interests of all the parties concerned. Our board has made a submission to the Department of Transport in this regard.