The tonnage of goods handled by the eight main Irish ports in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2025 was 12.8 million tonnes, an increase of 4% when compared to Q3 2024 (See Editor’s Note below).
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 4.2 million tonnes in Q3 2025, up 10% when compared with Q3 2024 (4,161 vs 3,797).
Goods received by Irish ports amounted to 8.6 million tonnes in Q3 2025, 2% higher than Q3 2024 (8,629 vs 8,495).
During Q3 2025, 3,064 vessels arrived in the main Irish ports compared with 3,177 in Q3 2024.
Dublin Port accounted for 1,811 (59%) of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports in Q3 2025.
As of Q1 2025, the port of Greenore, Co Louth, is included as a main statistical Irish port. Users should be advised that this will affect comparability as the data in this Q3 2025 release is based on all eight ports whereas previous releases were based on seven ports. Further information on this change can be found in Statistics of Port Traffic Q1 2025 2025 release and the Background Notes.
| Tonnage of goods handled by main Irish ports, Quarter 3 2023-2025 | ||||
| '000 tonnes | ||||
| Category of goods | Q3 2023 | Q3 2024 | Q3 20251 | % Change Q3 2024-2025 |
| Liquid bulk | 2,613 | 2,519 | 2,736 | 9 |
| Dry bulk | 3,162 | 3,244 | 3,282 | 1 |
| Lift-on/lift-off | 1,761 | 2,333 | 2,477 | 6 |
| Roll-on/roll-off | 3,976 | 3,960 | 4,007 | 1 |
| Break bulk & other goods | 279 | 236 | 289 | 22 |
| Total2 | 11,790 | 12,292 | 12,791 | 4 |
| 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 Q3 2025. Total goods handled increased in all five categories; Liquid Bulk (+9%), Dry Bulk (+1%), Lift-on/Lift-off (+6%), Roll-on Roll-Off (+1%), and Break Bulk & Other Goods (+22%) compared with Q3 2024.
Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 4,339 (34%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q3 2025. EU countries accounted for 5,809 (45%) 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 (17 December 2025) published Statistics of Port Traffic results for Quarter 3 (Q3) 2025.
Commenting on the release, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Division, said:
"Irish ports handled 12.8 million tonnes of goods in July, August, and September (Q3) 2025. This was an increase of 4% compared with Q3 2024.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 4.2 million tonnes in Q3 2025, while 8.6 million tonnes of goods were received (See Table 1).
Vessel Analysis
In Q3 2025, 3,064 vessels arrived in Irish ports compared with 3,177 in Q3 2024 (See Table 2).
Dublin Port accounted for 1,811 (59%) vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 6,418 (50%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in Q3 2025 (See Tables 2 and 5 respectively).
Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 4,339 (34%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q3 2025. EU countries accounted for 5,809 (45%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports (See Table 5).”