There was a slight decrease in the total tonnes of goods handled by Irish ports in Quarter 2 (Q2) 2024 when compared with Q2 2023 (12,137 vs 12,188).
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 3.9 million tonnes in Q2 2024, down 6% on Q2 2023.
Goods received amounted to nearly 8.2 million tonnes in Q2 2024, up 3% on Q2 2023.
During Q2 2024, 2,958 vessels arrived in the seven main Irish ports compared with 3,036 in Q2 2023.
Dublin Port accounted for 61% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports in Q2 2024.
| Tonnage of goods handled by main Irish ports, Quarter 2 2022-2024 | ||||
| '000 tonnes | ||||
| Category of goods | Q2 2022 | Q2 2023 | Q2 2024 | % Change Q2 2023-2024 |
| Liquid bulk | 2,829 | 2,840 | 2,320 | -18 |
| Dry bulk | 3,742 | 3,021 | 3,358 | 11 |
| Lift-on/lift-off | 2,287 | 2,076 | 2,270 | 9 |
| Roll-on/roll-off | 4,003 | 4,001 | 3,921 | -2 |
| Break bulk & other goods | 281 | 249 | 269 | 8 |
| Total | 13,141 | 12,188 | 12,137 | 0 |
Figure 1 shows the tonnage of goods handled by Irish ports. Total goods handled increased in the categories of Dry Bulk (+11%) and Lift-on/lift-off traffic (+9%) compared with Q2 2023, while Liquid Bulk fell by 18%.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (22 October 2024) published Statistics of Port Traffic results for Quarter 2 (Q2) 2024.
Commenting on the figures, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “Irish ports handled 12.1 million tonnes of goods in April, May, and June (Q2) 2024. This represented a marginal decrease when compared with Q2 2023.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 3.9 million tonnes in Q2 2024, while nearly 8.2 million tonnes of goods were received (See Table 1).
Vessel Analysis
The total number of vessels that arrived in the seven main Irish ports during Q2 2024 fell by 3% when compared with Q2 2023 (See Table 2).
Dublin Port accounted for 61% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 53% of the total tonnage of goods handled in Q2 2024 (see Tables 2 and 5 respectively).
Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for one-third (33%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q2 2024. EU countries made up almost half (48%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports (See Table 5).”