2015 a record year for trade at Dublin Port

12 January 2016

Dublin Port Company sees the benefits of economic recovery as cargo volumes grow 6.4% to make 2015 a record year

12th January 2016. Dublin Port Company today 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.

Summary of Throughput Statistics – 2015

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.

Eamonn O’Reilly, Chief Executive, Dublin Port Company, said:

“2015 was an exceptional year for Dublin Port with a 6.4% increase in cargo volumes. We have seen growth over the past three years of 17.3% and are now well ahead of where we were at the height of the boom in 2007.”

“It is timely that we received planning permission for the Alexandra Basin Redevelopment Project during 2015. This is the single largest port development project ever in the country and will help us to continue to cater for the expected high levels of growth in future years.”

“We also finalised debt facilities of €100m with the EIB during 2015 and succeeded in securing €23m in grant funding from the EU for our investment plans.”

“Our growth in recent years has been driven by the investment decisions of our major customers including Irish Ferries, Stena Line, Seatruck, CLdN, Doyle Shipping Group and Ecocem, and it is essential that we match these customers’ commitments by investing in nationally important port infrastructure in Dublin, the country’s premier port.”