Dublin Port cargo volumes grow 6.4% in 2015
Dublin Port Company has published trade statistics for 2015 which show a record year for trade at Dublin Port, with growth year-on-year of 6.4%.
Total throughput for 2015 was 32.8 million gross tonnes with 7,166 ship arrivals in the year, exceeding the port’s previous record levels of 2007.
There was balanced growth between imports and exports in 2015. Imports were up 6.5% at 19.5 million gross tonnes, while exports were ahead by 6.4% at 13.3 million gross tonnes.
In previous years, growth in Dublin Port was driven by increasing exports. However, in 2015, the strengthening of domestic demand saw imports rise slightly faster than exports. Volumes in 2015 were 1.9m gross tonnes or 6.1% higher than in the Port’s previous record year of 2007 at the height of the boom.
There was particularly strong growth in imported trade vehicles with 102,149 vehicles imported, an increase of 25.8% in the year.
The unitised modes also grew very strongly with Ro-Ro units growing by 6.8% to 877,826 units. This is 145,000 more than came through Dublin Port in 2007. The volume in Lo-Lo containers increased by 8.6% to 614,226 TEU.
On the tourism side, 1.8 million ferry passengers travelled through the port in 2015, representing a 5.1% increase on last year and placing Dublin Port on a par with major national airports including Cork and Shannon.
In addition, 2015 was a strong year for the port’s cruise business with 149,000 visitors on 93 cruise ships, up 8.1% and 5.9% respectively on 2014. The strong growth was driven, in particular, by the port handling cruise ships greater than 300m in length for the first time.
