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Statistics Of Port Traffic Quarter 3 2023

Irish ports handled 11.8 million tonnes of goods in Q3 2023

Online ISSN: 2009-6380
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Key Findings

  • Total tonnes of goods handled by Irish ports in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023 decreased by 4% when compared with Q3 2022.

  • Compared with Q2 2023, the total tonnes of goods handled by Irish ports fell by 3%.

  • During Q3 2023, 3,130 vessels arrived in the seven main Irish ports compared with 3,202 in Q3 2022.

  • Dublin Port accounted for 61% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports.

  • Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 3.8 million tonnes in Q3 2023.

  • Goods received amounted to nearly 8 million tonnes in Q3 2023.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (25 January 2024 published Statistics of Port Traffic results for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2023.

Commenting on the annual figures, Dr Nele van der Wielen, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “Irish ports handled 11.8 million tonnes of goods in July, August, September (Q3) 2023. This is a decrease of 4% compared with Q3 2022.

Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 3.8 million tonnes in Q3 2023, while nearly 8 million tonnes of goods were received (See Table 2).

Vessel Analysis

The total number of vessels that arrived in the seven main Irish ports during Q3 2023 ports fell by 2% when compared with Q3 2022 (See Table 1).

Dublin Port accounted for 61% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 51% of the total tonnage of goods handled in Q3 2023.

Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 38% of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q3 2023. EU countries made up 40% of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports (See Table 5).”

Tonnage of goods handled by main Irish ports, Quarter 3 2021-2023
    '000 tonnes
Category of goodsQ3 2021Q3 2022Q3 2023% Change Q3 2022-2023
Liquid bulk2,7412,7252,613-4%
Dry bulk3,5543,1543,1620%
Lift-on/lift-off2,2552,1621,761-19%
Roll-on/roll-off3,9614,0163,976-1%
Break bulk & other goods2982622796%
Total12,80812,31911,790-4%
 

Tables and figures

Figure 1 shows the tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports. There were quarterly percentage decreases in Lift On/Lift Off traffic (-19%), Liquid Bulk (-4%), and Roll-On/Roll-Off (-1%).

Figure 1: Tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports, Q3 2021-2023
Table 1: Number of arrivals and gross tonnage of vessels, Q3 2023
Table 2: Tonnage of goods handled classified by category of traffic, Q3 2023
Table 3: Details of roll-on/roll-off traffic handled by port, Q3 2023
Table 4: Details of lift-on/lift-off traffic handled by port, Q3 2023

Table 5: Total tonnage of goods handled classified by port and region of trade, Q3 2023

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