The tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports in 2025 was 54 million tonnes, an increase of 6% when compared with 2024.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 17 million tonnes in 2025, up 9% when compared with 2024 (17,014 vs 15,590).
Goods received by Irish ports amounted to 37 million tonnes in 2025, 4% higher than 2024 (36,891 vs 35,473).
During 2025, 11,861 vessels arrived in the main Irish ports a slight decrease compared with 2024 (11,861 vs 11,958).
Dublin Port accounted for 6,683 (56%) of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports in 2025.
The Statistics of Port Traffic 2025 release contains both quarterly and annual tables. Users should note that the quarterly tables and annual tables cover different ports. Quarterly tables reflect activity at the eight main ports (Bantry Bay, Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Rosslare, Shannon Foynes, Greenore, and Waterford) while the annual tables reflect activity at all Irish ports. As a result, the sum of the four quarterly totals will be smaller than the annual total. The reason for this difference is the differing reporting requirements for compliance with European Regulation.
There are two exceptions where the quarterly and annual tables cover the same set of ports; Cork, Dublin and Rosslare in the case of Tables 3 and 3A; and Cork, Dublin and Waterford in the case of Tables 4 and 4A.
As of Q1 2025, the port of Greenore, Co Louth, has been included as a main statistical Irish port. Users should be advised that this will affect comparability between quarters as the data for Q4 2025 is based on all eight ports whereas releases prior to Q1 2025 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 4 and Year 2024-2025 | |||||||
| '000 tonnes | |||||||
| Quarter 4 (main Irish ports) | Annual (all Irish ports) | ||||||
| Category of goods | 2024 | 20251 | % Change | 2024 | 2025 | % Change | |
| Liquid bulk | 2,202 | 2,810 | 28 | 9,912 | 11,346 | 14 | |
| Dry bulk | 3,506 | 3,817 | 9 | 15,018 | 15,459 | 3 | |
| Lift-on/lift-off | 2,226 | 2,459 | 10 | 8,887 | 9,675 | 9 | |
| Roll-on/roll-off | 3,844 | 3,990 | 4 | 15,768 | 15,918 | 1 | |
| Break bulk & other goods | 272 | 268 | -2 | 1,479 | 1,506 | 2 | |
| Total2 | 12,051 | 13,343 | 11 | 51,063 | 53,904 | 6 | |
| 1 Please note Greenore port is included from Q1 2025. See background notes for further details. | |||||||
| 2 Figures may not sum due to rounding | |||||||
Figure 1 shows the tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports in 2025. Total goods handled increased in all categories; Liquid Bulk (+14%), Dry Bulk (+3%), Lift-on/Lift-off (+9%), Roll-on Roll-Off (+1%), and Break Bulk & Other Goods (+2%) compared with 2024.
Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 17 million tonnes (32%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in 2025. EU countries accounted for almost 25 million (46%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports.
Cork had the highest number of cruise ship arrivals in 2025 (91), followed by Dún Laoghaire (65).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (25 March 2026) published Statistics of Port Traffic results for 2025.
Commenting on the release, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “Irish ports handled 54 million tonnes of goods in 2025. This was an increase of 6% compared with 2024. Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 17 million tonnes in 2025, while a total of 37 million tonnes of goods were received (See Table 1A).
When looking at the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in 2025, Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 17 million tonnes of the total goods (32%). European Union countries accounted for almost 25 million tonnes (46%) of goods handled in the main ports (See Table 5A).
Vessel Analysis
In 2025 11,861 vessels arrived in Irish ports compared with 11,958 in 2024 (See Table 2A).
Dublin Port accounted for 6,683 (56%) vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 25,468 (47%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in 2025 (See Tables 2A and 5A respectively).
Cruise Ships
A total of 263 cruise ships arrived in Irish ports in 2025 compared with 292 in 2024. Cork had the highest number of cruise ship arrivals (91), followed by Dún Laoghaire (65) and Dublin (36). All cruise ships arrived between March and October 2025.”