The tonnage of goods handled by the eight main Irish ports in Quarter 2 (Q2) 2026 was 13.6 million tonnes, a decrease of 1% when compared with Q2 2025 (See Editor’s Note below).
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 4.5 million tonnes in Q2 2026, up 2% when compared with Q2 2025 (4,519,000 vs 4,425,000).
Goods received by Irish ports amounted to 9.1 million tonnes in Q2 2026, which was 3% lower than Q2 2025 (9,116,000 vs 9,371,000).
During Q2 2026, 2,969 vessels arrived in the main Irish ports compared with 3,133 in Q2 2025, which was a reduction of 5%.
Dublin Port accounted for 1,702 (57%) of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports in Q2 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 affects 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 the Statistics of Port Traffic Q1 2025 release and the Background Notes.
| Tonnage of goods handled by main Irish ports, Quarter 2 2024-2026 | ||||
| '000 tonnes | ||||
| Category of goods | Q2 2024 | Q2 20251 | Q2 2026 | % Change Q2 2025-2026 |
| Liquid bulk | 2,320 | 2,844 | 2,604 | -8 |
| Dry bulk | 3,358 | 4,040 | 3,847 | -5 |
| Lift-on/lift-off | 2,270 | 2,503 | 2,593 | 4 |
| Roll-on/roll-off | 3,921 | 4,071 | 4,220 | 4 |
| Break bulk and all other goods | 269 | 338 | 371 | 10 |
| Total2 | 12,137 | 13,796 | 13,635 | -1 |
| 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 Q2 2026. Total goods handled increased in three categories; Lift-on/Lift-off (+4%), Roll-on Roll-Off (+4%), and Break Bulk & All Other Goods (+10%), but there was a decrease in Liquid Bulk, (-8%), and Dry Bulk (-5%) compared with Q2 2025.
EU countries accounted for 6,792,000 (50%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q2 2026. Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 4,388,000 (32%) 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 (30 September 2026) published Statistics of Port Traffic results for Quarter 2 (Q2) 2026.
Commenting on the release, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Division, said:
“Irish ports handled 13.6 million tonnes of goods in April, May, and June (Q2) 2026. This was a decrease of 1% compared with Q2 2025.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 4.5 million tonnes in Q2 2026, while 9.1 million tonnes of goods were received (See Table 1).
Vessel Analysis
In Q2 2026, 2,969 vessels arrived in Irish ports compared with 3,133 in Q2 2025 (See Table 2).
Dublin Port accounted for 1,702 (57%) of vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 6,650,000 (49%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in Q2 2026 (See Tables 2 and 5 respectively).
EU countries accounted for 6,792,000 (50%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports. Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 4,388,000 (32%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q2 2026 (See Table 5).”