Dublin Port volumes down 2.1% in H1 2021
Dublin Port Company has today reported trading figures for the second quarter of 2021 and for the first half of the year, according to the company's release.
Following a weak first quarter, (when volumes declined by -15.2% in the first three months after Brexit), there was a +13.1% increase to 9.0 million gross tonnes in Dublin Port’s volumes for the second quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. After six months, volumes are now only -2.1% behind last year.
Imports from April to June increased strongly by +20.3% to 5.4 million gross tonnes while exports grew by 3.7% to 3.5 million gross tonnes.
Unitised trade (Ro-Ro and Lo-Lo) accounted for 84% of all cargo volumes in the quarter and the number of trailers and containers combined increased by +16.5% to 374,000 units. Within this, Ro-Ro increased by +12.4% to 253,000 units while Lo-Lo grew by 26.2% to 121,000 units (equivalent to 220,000 TEU).
The strong growth in the second quarter brings Dublin Port’s unitised volumes (Ro-Ro and Lo-Lo) to 692,000 units for the first half of the year, +1.6% ahead of 2020.
As a sign of increased economic activity, new vehicle imports in the second quarter more than doubled to 22,000 units and Bulk Liquid imports (mostly petroleum products) increased by +34.4% to 969,000 tonnes.
Imports and exports of Bulk Solid commodities grew by +22.3% to 474,000 tonnes in the three months from April to June.
Passenger and tourist volumes on ferries also showed signs of growth with passenger numbers (including HGV drivers) ahead by +41.0% to 125,000 and tourist vehicles up by +26.0% to 30,000 in the quarter.
Although volumes recovered strongly during the second quarter of 2021, cargo throughput in the first half of the year is still behind where it was before Brexit and pre-pandemic.
While volumes after six months are down by just -2.1% compared to 2020, they are -12.7% lower compared to the record levels of 2019. Within the overall volume figures, unitised trade is still -7.4% lower than it was two years ago.
