Total tonnes of goods handled by Irish ports in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2024 increased by 4% when compared to Q3 2023.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 3.8 million tonnes in Q3 2024, a slight decrease when compared with Q3 2023 (3,797 vs 3,803).
Goods received amounted to nearly 8.5 million tonnes in Q3 2024, up 6% on Q3 2023.
During Q3 2024, 3,177 vessels arrived in the seven main Irish ports compared with 3,130 in Q3 2023.
Dublin Port accounted for 60% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports in Q3 2024.
| Tonnage of goods handled by main Irish ports, Quarter 3 2022-2024 | ||||
| '000 tonnes | ||||
| Category of goods | Q3 2022 | Q3 2023 | Q3 2024 | % Change Q3 2023-2024 |
| Liquid bulk | 2,725 | 2,613 | 2,519 | -4 |
| Dry bulk | 3,154 | 3,162 | 3,244 | 3 |
| Lift-on/lift-off | 2,162 | 1,761 | 2,333 | 32 |
| Roll-on/roll-off | 4,016 | 3,976 | 3,960 | 0 |
| Break bulk & other goods | 262 | 279 | 236 | -15 |
| Total1 | 12,319 | 11,790 | 12,292 | 4 |
| 1 Figures may not sum due to rounding | ||||
Figure 1 shows the tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports. Total goods handled increased in the categories of Lift-on/lift-off (+32%) and Dry bulk (+3%) compared with Q3 2023, while Liquid bulk fell by 4%.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (10 December 2024) published Statistics of Port Traffic results for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2024.
Commenting on the release, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “Irish ports handled 12.3 million tonnes of goods in July, August, and September (Q3) 2024. This was an increase of 4% compared with Q3 2023.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 3.8 million tonnes in Q3 2024, while nearly 8.5 million tonnes of goods were received (See Table 1).
Vessel Analysis
The total number of vessels that arrived in the seven main Irish ports during Q3 2024 rose by 2% when compared with Q3 2023 (See Table 2).
Dublin Port accounted for 60% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 52% of the total tonnage of goods handled in Q3 2024 (See Tables 2 and 5 respectively).
Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for one-third (33%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q3 2024. EU countries made up almost half (48%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports (See Table 5).”