Dublin Port Company today announced growth in cargo volumes of 4.7% to 28.4m gross tonnes for the first nine months of 2018. Within this total, imports grew by 6.0% and exports by 3.0%.
82% of the port’s volumes are in Ro-Ro trailers or Lo-Lo containers. Ro-Ro volumes grew by 4.3% to 768,000 units in the first three quarters while Lo-Lo containers grew by 5.5% to 544,000 TEU.
Imports of new vehicles grew by 6.0% to 78,000.
Dublin Port accounts for the major part of Ireland’s importation of liquid fuels (petrol, diesel and aviation fuel) and volumes in the year to September were ahead by 9.3% to 3.4m tonnes.
Trade in Bulk Solid commodities increased by 15.9% to 1.7m tonnes. The large increase is due, in particular, to increased imports of animal feeds due to the combination of a very dry summer following on from a harsh winter.
On the tourism side, passenger numbers were ahead by 3.3% with the growth coming from cruise passengers.