Total tonnes of goods handled by Irish ports in Q1 2023 decreased by 6% compared with Q1 2022.
During Q1 2023, 2,612 vessels arrived in the seven main Irish ports compared with 2,746 in Q1 2021.
Dublin port accounted for 63% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 3,998 thousand tonnes in Q1 2023.
Goods received amounted to 7,914 thousand tonnes in Q1 2023.
| Tonnage of goods handled by main Irish ports, Quarter 1 2021-2023 | ||||
| '000 tonnes | ||||
| Category of goods | Q1 2021 | Q1 2022 | Q1 2023 | % Change Q1 2022-2023 |
| Liquid bulk | 2,420 | 2,638 | 2,729 | 3% |
| Dry bulk | 3,895 | 3,782 | 3,066 | -19% |
| Lift-on/lift-off | 2,123 | 2,012 | 1,945 | -3% |
| Roll-on/roll-off | 3,354 | 3,956 | 3,899 | -1% |
| Break bulk & other goods | 344 | 265 | 272 | 3% |
| Total | 12,136 | 12,653 | 11,912 | -6% |
The tonnage of goods handled increased in two of five traffic categories in Q1 2023, but there were quarterly percentage decreases in Lift on/lift off traffic (-3%), Dry bulk (-19%), and Break bulk & Roll-on/Roll-off (-1%).
Table 2 was updated on 25 September 2023 with the correct PxStat table TBQ02, due to an error.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (26 July 2023) published Statistics of Port Traffic results for Q1 2023.
Commenting on the annual figures, Dr Nele van der Wielen, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “Irish ports handled 11.9 million tonnes of goods in Q1 2023. This is a decrease of 6% compared with Q1 2022.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to nearly 4 million tonnes in Q1 2023, while a total of 7.9 million tonnes of goods were received (See Table 2).”
Further commenting on the published Statistics of Port Traffic, Dr Nele van der Wielen said: “The total number of vessels arriving during Q1 2023 in the seven main Irish ports decreased by 5% compared with Q1 2022 (See Table 1).
Dublin port accounted for 63% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 51% of the total tonnage of goods handled in Q1 2023.
Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 37% of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q1 2023. EU countries accounted for 42% of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports (See Table 5).”