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Maritime

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  • In 2014, a total of 12,204 trading vessels (of 100 gross tonnes or more) arrived in Irish ports.

  • In total, 47.5 million tonnes of goods were handled by Irish ports, of which, 29.1 million tonnes of goods were unloaded and 18.4 million tonnes were loaded.

  • Dublin port was the busiest port, handling more than two-fifths (44.4%) of all goods in 2014.

  • In 2014, the busiest ferry route was the Dublin - Holyhead route, which accounted for 59.8% of all passengers on scheduled ferry services.

Goods receivedGoods forwardedTotal goods
2008361551.1
20092912.841.8
201030.714.445.1
201129.815.245.1
201231.216.547.6
201331.415.246.7
201429.118.447.5
Table 9.1 Total tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports, 2008 - 2014
  '000
 2008200920102011201220132014
  
Total goods handled 51,08141,83645,07145,07847,64946,72247,483
      
Goods received36,04928,99830,71229,83831,19131,40329,083
      
Goods forwarded15,03112,83914,35915,24016,45815,31918,400
        
Source: CSO
Table 9.2 Tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports classified by region of trade, 2008-2014
       '000
Region of trade2008200920102011201220132014
       
Goods handled      
Foreign trade      
Great Britain & Northern Ireland19,94916,95718,00219,27916,95417,02817,418
Other E.U.17,33414,26714,94814,11115,90315,94415,495
Non-E.U.2,9672,7493,3552,0491,5792,7692,363
Other ports8,9085,9137,0287,5558,9958,1679,283
Coastal trade1,9231,9501,7382,0854,2182,8142,924
Total goods handled51,08141,83645,07145,07847,64946,72247,483
       
Goods received      
Foreign trade      
Great Britain & Northern Ireland13,34011,22511,56412,3029,7579,9639,717
Other E.U.11,0859,4179,5768,2569,73610,1959,160
Non-E.U.2,1682,0532,5871,5391,2392,4142,044
Other ports8,4915,3586,1316,8178,4597,4796,866
Coastal trade9669458529242,0001,3521,296
Total goods received36,04928,99830,71229,83831,19131,40329,083
       
Goods forwarded      
Foreign trade      
Great Britain & Northern Ireland6,6105,7326,4386,9777,1977,0647,701
Other E.U.6,2494,8505,3715,8556,1675,7506,334
Non E.U.799696767510340354319
Other ports4175558977385366882,418
Coastal trade9571,0058861,1602,2181,4631,628
Total goods forwarded15,03112,83914,35915,24016,45815,31918,400
        
Source: CSO

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Table 9.3 Number of arrivals to Irish ports and gross tonnage of vessels classified by type of vessel and port, 2014
                      
PortVessel type Total
Liquid bulk Dry bulk Container Specialised General Passenger 
NumberGrossNumberGrossNumberGrossNumberGrossNumberGrossNumberGrossNumber Gross
tonnagetonnagetonnagetonnagetonnagetonnage tonnage
 '000  '000  '000  '000  '000  '000   '000
 
Arklow Port-- -- -- -- -- -- - -
Bantry Bay8455----------8 455
Castletownbere--1329--------13 29
Cork3334,399361,0133063,126552,4793681,196864,7291,184 16,942
Drogheda246177160----275746--376 966
Dublin4073,405701,0987975,632351,3065,654142,389772,8877,040 156,718
Dundalk-- -- -- -- 3272 -- 32 72
Dun Laoghaire-- -- -- -- 1573,083 -- 157 3,083
Galway10836753136--------161 504
Greenore--59366----57160--116 526
Killybegs------728552771025072 555
Kilrush------------- -
Kinsale------------- -
New Ross--114281--------114 281
Rosslare------151971,67733,295--1,692 33,492
Shannon Foynes Port1049201543,972--3264001,970115662 6,904
Sligo--916----36--12 22
Tralee Fenit--------19187--19 187
Waterford111--1028016433021,0339201420 2,090
Wicklow--------56129--56 129
Youghal--------7058--70 58
                      
Total9859,6195857,0711,2059,5601214,0809,125184,6021838,08212,204 223,014
                      
Source: CSO

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Table 9.4 Number of arrivals to Irish ports and gross tonnage of vessels by type of vessel, 2005 - 2014
                     
Year Vessel type Total
Liquid bulk Dry bulk Container Specialised General Passenger 
NumberGross tonnage '000 NumberGross tonnage '000 NumberGross tonnage '000 NumberGross tonnage '000 NumberGross tonnage '000 NumberGross tonnage '000 NumberGross tonnage '000
                     
                     
20051,97810,466 1,3339,262 2,61812,768 3817,997 9,919175,180 2024,254 16,431219,926
                     
20061,94911,756 1,2659,269 2,65813,816 3067,524 9,722175,385 1424,508 16,042222,257
                     
20071,71312,448 1,2129,156 2,79514,876 3088,623 9,934176,863 1234,361 16,085226,326
                     
20081,58912,754 1,46513,756 2,24313,642 2436,250 8,992175,496 1977,133 14,729229,031
                     
20091,34410,361 1,0687,033 1,98613,378 1213,961 8,512178,981 1927,469 13,223221,183
                     
20101,34911,062 1,1438,255 1,67812,253 853,449 8,813187,863 2437,395 13,311230,276
                     
20111,13810,456 1,0889,519 1,41810,190 1053,691 8,012180,121 2989,819 12,059223,795
                     
20121,06011,386 1,1449,380 1,40311,976 1133,105 7,897182,102 1937,035 11,810224,983
                     
20131,0279,318 7738,519 1,26210,176 993,279 8,554169,090 2259,438 11,940209,821
                     
20149859,619 5857,071 1,2059,560 1214,080 9,125184,602 1838,082 12,204223,014
                     
Source: CSO                

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Table 9.5 Total tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports classified by port and region of trade, 2014
      ‘000
PortRegion of tradeTotal
Great Britain &Other EUNon-EU1Other ports2Coastal trade
Northern Ireland
 
Total goods handled 
Arklow Port------
Bantry Bay110503-3093881,311
Castletownbere--38--38
Cork1,1832,8941,2702,2641,1048,714
Drogheda272899729131,220
Dublin12,6846,1282991,37958821,078
Dundalk2829--2783
Dun Laoghaire10----10
Galway33152--379563
Greenore329744161-505
Killybegs2161714352
Kilrush------
Kinsale------
New Ross192425676331
Rosslare1,578400---1,977
Shannon Foynes Port1,3042,9164805,0272619,989
Sligo172---19
Tralee Fenit-6-24-30
Waterford130891127701551,373
Wicklow40505--94
Youghal66820--93
 
Total17,41815,4952,3639,2832,92447,483
       
1 Trade with ports in European countries that are not members of the E.U.
2 Trade with ports in Non-European countries
Source: CSO

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Table 9.6 Total tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports classified by port and category of traffic, 2014
      ‘000
PortCategory of trafficTotal
Liquid bulkDry bulkLift-on/lift-offRoll-on/roll-offBreak bulk &
other goods
 
Total goods handled      
Arklow Port------
Bantry Bay1,311----1,311
Castletownbere----3838
Cork4,9411,6161,912551898,714
Drogheda28887--3051,220
Dublin3,6351,8794,46611,0623721,078
Dundalk-80--383
Dun Laoghaire---10-10
Galway40593--65563
Greenore-337--168505
Killybegs----5252
Kilrush------
Kinsale------
New Ross12318--2331
Rosslare---1,977-1,977
Shannon Foynes Port1,0018,862--1269,989
Sligo-6--1319
Tralee Fenit----3030
Waterford12997267-981,373
Wicklow-53--4194
Youghal----9393
 
Total11,34515,1286,64613,1041,26147,483
       
Source: CSO

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Table 9.7 Details of roll-on/roll-off traffic handled by Irish ports, 2003-2014
            
YearPassenger cars, motorcycles and accompanying trailers/caravans  Passenger buses Trade vehicles1 Freight vehicles/trailers2
Number Number NumberTonnes '000 Loaded Empty
   NumberTonnes '000 Number
            
2003948,342 26,223 188,136254 617,6659,543 104,408
2004903,476 26,954 220,687328 683,69210,213 117,085
2005839,160 28,773 237,595348 684,36911,424 122,783
2006792,365 57,165 235,783329 720,28311,525 144,238
2007820,208 68,347 248,020347 768,86312,149 151,022
2008759,139 59,763 166,209257 742,91211,823 133,166
2009779,237 57,555 52,17877 781,03710,854 96,375
2010796,127 60,532 108,810158 742,37712,099 111,319
2011776,443 59,761 101,586148 747,52811,914 100,220
2012740,835 12,971 94,484120 833,79111,485 94,741
2013752,240 13,685 100,104109 882,78112,036 103,896
2014774,438 13,946 131,779140 942,37612,965 104,169
            
1 Vehicles imported or exported          
2 Includes data on (a) road goods vehicles and accompanying trailers (b) unaccompanied road goods trailers and semi-trailers and
  (c) unaccompanied caravans and other road, agricultural and industrial trailers   
Source: CSO

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Table 9.8 Number of cruise ships and passengers by port, 2014
  
PortsNumber of cruise ships Number of passengers
    
Bantry6 3,882
Castletownbere0 0
Cork52 83,201
Dublin86 97,316
Galway6 2,860
Killybegs10 4,976
Shannon Foynes1 387
Waterford16 10,197
    
Total177 202,819
    
Source: CSO  

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Table 9.9 Number of cruise ships by month of arrival and passengers, 2014
  
MonthNumber of cruise ships Number of passengers
    
January0 0
February0 0
March0 0
April8 9,018
May35 36,944
June26 35,592
July27 35,843
August49 56,699
September23 20,823
October4 4,215
November0 0
December5 3,685
    
Total177 202,819
    
Source: CSO

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Table 9.10 Passengers on scheduled international ferry services disembarking/embarking classified by port and route, 2014
Thousands
PortCountryTotal
Great Britain France Other1
FishguardHolyheadLiverpoolMilford Haven (inc. Pembroke) CherbourgRoscoff 
 
Disembarking     
Cork---- -39 -39
Dublin-82425- -- 2851
Dun Laoghaire-49-- -- -49
Rosslare309--4 9129 -433
Total disembarking309873254 9169 21,372
           
Embarking          
Cork---- -39 -39
Dublin-82024- -- 2846
Dun Laoghaire-59-- -- -59
Rosslare302--4 9634 -436
Total embarking302880244 9673 21,381
           
All Passengers          
Cork---- -79 -79
Dublin-1,64549- -- 31,697
Dun Laoghaire-108-- -- -108
Rosslare611--8 18763 -869
           
Total passengers6111,753498 187142 32,753
           
1 Not precluding British and French ports  
Source: CSO         

                                         

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