The tonnage of goods handled by the eight main Irish ports in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2026 was 12.7 million tonnes, a decrease of 2% when compared with Q1 2025 (See Editor’s Note below).
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 4 million tonnes in Q1 2026, up slightly when compared with Q1 2025 (3,983,000 vs 3,977,000).
Goods received by Irish ports amounted to 8.7 million tonnes in Q1 2026, 3% lower than Q1 2025 (8,712,000 vs 8,951,000).
During Q1 2026, 2,499 vessels arrived in the main Irish ports compared with 2,557 in Q1 2025.
Dublin Port accounted for 1,523 (61%) of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports in Q1 2026.
As of Q1 2025, the port of Greenore, Co Louth, was included as a main statistical Irish port. Users should be advised that this will affect comparability with data prior to Q1 2025 as subsequent releases are based on all eight ports (Bantry Bay, Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Rosslare, Shannon Foynes, Greenore, and Waterford) whereas previous releases were based on seven ports. Further information on this change can be found in Statistics of Port Traffic Q1 2025 release and the Background Notes.
| Tonnage of goods handled by main Irish ports, Quarter 1 2024-2026 | ||||
| '000 tonnes | ||||
| Category of goods | Q1 2024 | Q1 20251 | Q1 2026 | % Change Q1 2025-2026 |
| Liquid bulk | 2,601 | 2,709 | 2,929 | 8 |
| Dry bulk | 3,321 | 3,892 | 3,253 | -16 |
| Lift-on/lift-off | 2,057 | 2,236 | 2,328 | 4 |
| Roll-on/roll-off | 3,862 | 3,787 | 3,870 | 2 |
| Break bulk & other goods | 259 | 304 | 314 | 3 |
| Total2 | 12,100 | 12,928 | 12,695 | -2 |
| 1Please note Greenore port is included from Q1 2025. See background notes for further details. | ||||
| 2Figures may not sum due to rounding. | ||||
Figure 1 shows the tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports in Q1 2026. Total goods handled increased in four categories; Liquid Bulk (+8%), Lift-on/Lift-off (+4%), Roll-on Roll-Off (+2%), and Break Bulk & Other Goods (+3%) but there was a decrease in Dry Bulk (-16%) compared with Q1 2025.
Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 4,112,000 (32%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q1 2026. EU countries accounted for 6,366,000 (50%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (24 June 2026) published Statistics of Port Traffic results for Quarter 1 (Q1) 2026.
Commenting on the release, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Division, said:
“Irish ports handled 12.7 million tonnes of goods in January, February, and March (Q1) 2026. This was a decrease of 2% compared with Q1 2025.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 4 million tonnes in Q1 2026, while 8.7 million tonnes of goods were received (See Table 1).
Vessel Analysis
In Q1 2026, 2,499 vessels arrived in Irish ports compared with 2,577 in Q1 2025 (See Table 2).
Dublin Port accounted for 1,523 (61%) vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 6,169,000 (49%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in Q1 2026 (See Tables 2 and 5 respectively).
Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 4,112,000 (32%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q1 2026. EU countries accounted for 6,366,000 (50%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports (See Table 5).”