For now ICL, like Maersk, uses the 'bulk' dock with its slower mobile crane and relatively cramped space.
The Port of Cork originally planned to have the Cork Container Terminal running by the spring of 2020, but faced immediate difficulties with the winning €46.3m bidder for the main works contract, BAM Civil. Soon after its 2017 award, BAM told the port it had identified an "arithmetical error" in its tender that omitted €12m in costs. The port took BAM to the Commercial Court to enforce the contract. Work began months late in 2018.
Disputes have continued to delay completion, including most recently for construction of a new jetty at Ringaskiddy.
"We've had delays, absolutely," Keating says. "We had an initial legal dispute with the contractor. And yes, there is an issue at the moment with regard to the construction of a jetty. But we're in discussions with BAM about that as we speak. I'm very confident that the facility will be completed and operational within six months."
When asked to describe the current difficulties, he says: "There's an issue of design and an issue of finance. But we're in discussions. I'm confident it will be resolved."
The headline cost for the new terminal has grown by €6m in the past two years to €86m, though Keating says that higher figure includes the cost of two Liebherr ship-to-shore gantry cranes erected in February. The project is being jointly financed by AIB, ISIF, the European Investment Bank and the port itself.
Keating cites the development of Ringaskiddy as his proudest achievement from a career that started, like his father, in local government.
Brendan Keating is the eldest of nine children. His family lived all along Ireland's Atlantic coast as their father, Seamus, worked his way up the local government ladder from Tralee, Co Kerry to Lifford, Co Donegal, finishing up as county manager of Galway.
Brendan spent six years boarding at Rockwell College, his father's alma mater in Cashel, Co Tipperary, where he was a sprinter and on a national champion relay team. He played as a winger, too, on Rockwell's senior cup rugby squad which lost the Munster schools final in 1973 to Christian Brothers Cork.
"Christians were the bane of our lives," he recalls with a laugh. "I'm very often reminded of that defeat as I spent my last 18 years in Cork!"
After graduating from NUI Galway with a degree in business and commerce, he went to work for Sligo Corporation - and met his wife, Aileen, at the local AIB branch on Stephen Street.
"I'd go in to lodge my cheque. I always waited for her window to come open," he says, noting they were wed in 1981 after he relocated to Portlaoise to work in the roads and planning divisions of the Laois council.
The couple both worked for a decade in Co Meath - he for the county council in Navan, she at the AIB branch in Ashbourne - before he gained a big 1994 promotion to be assistant city manager for Cork. He helped develop the council's plans for the Jack Lynch Tunnel, during which he worked closely with port officials.
He won promotion again to become city manager of Limerick in 1999. The family, now grown to include daughters Claire and Niamh and sons Eoin and Niall, resettled in Ballyclough south of the city.
In 2002, the top post at the Port of Cork came open. In the 18 years since, Keating has overseen doubling of cargo to 240,000 TEUs last year, the purchase of the former Irish Fertiliser Industries site at Marino Point in 2017 to be developed as a new deep-water bulk terminal, and the modernisation of Cobh berths that hosted nearly 100 cruise liners carrying 243,000 visitors in 2019.
Cruise traffic was scheduled to grow even more this year - until Covid-19 arrived ahead of St Patrick's Day.
"That's decimated. All gone. We've lost over 100 calls," he says. "As long as the 14-day quarantine remains, it's going to be impossible and most of the cruise liners are in US waters, not Europe. So we're looking at 2021 before we can hope for any recovery there."
That lost tourism means the Port of Cork expects to see its revenues fall by at least 25pc this year, including a potential 5pc drop in cargo. The company reported turnover of €35.4m in 2018.
Keating sees the port's fortunes tied to growth in cargo traffic at Ringaskiddy. That will mean building warehouse and logistics capacity on the 120-acre site and neighbouring lands. He wants its logistics centre at least doubled in size to 200,000 square feet.
It won't all happen on his watch - because Keating retires on August 31. "While I still have this job," he says, "I'm loving it and enjoying it."