Tourism & Transport Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2016

Introduction - Transport

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This chapter presents information on the transport sector of the Irish economy. The transport tables cover new vehicles by taxation class and by local authority, goods carried by road, vessels and goods handled by Irish ports, and passengers and freight passing through Irish airports.

New motor vehicles licensed for the first time by taxation class

19.1 New motor vehicles licensed for the first time by taxation class

Number
Taxation class	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015

Private cars	146,470	54,432	84,907	86,932	76,256	71,348	92,361	121,110
Goods vehicles	31,459	10,051	10,510	11,188	10,855	11,024	16,254	22,939
Tractors	4,154	1,883	1,359	1,731	1,996	4,403	2,186	1,986
Motor cycles	3,194	1,879	1,321	1,102	955	878	960	1,244
Exempt vehicles	6,286	3,690	4,207	4,014	3,930	3,955	4,762	5,234
Public service vehicles	1,614	493	306	297	531	378	517	761
Small	893	190	193	195	275	160	237	343
Large	721	303	113	102	256	218	280	418
Machines or contrivances	906	409	222	294	409	606	399	409
Other classes	734	288	244	203	161	295	213	167

Total	194,817	73,125	103,076	105,761	95,093	92,887	117,652	153,850
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: 19.1 New motor vehicles licensed for the first time by taxation class (XLS 12KB)

Interactive table: StatBank link

There were 121,110 new private cars licensed in 2015, a rise of 31.1% compared with 2014. This was the highest number of new cars licensed since 2008. In total, there were 153,850 new vehicles licensed during 2015 and this was up 30.8% on 2014.

New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority

19.2 New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority

Number
Licensing authority	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015

Carlow	2,619	959	1,371	1,357	1,149	1,152	1,461	1,828
Cavan	2,676	929	1,285	1,315	1,153	1,112	1,405	1,927
Clare	4,470	1,451	2,356	2,377	1,869	1,795	2,431	3,305
Cork	25,026	10,031	14,544	14,385	11,141	10,706	13,794	18,964
Donegal	4,465	1,828	2,909	2,515	2,193	2,051	2,723	3,643
Dublin	60,159	24,070	30,997	34,501	34,268	33,668	42,048	54,021
Galway	8,403	2,940	4,560	4,571	3,701	3,670	4,493	6,481
Kerry	4,513	1,694	2,705	2,508	2,193	1,953	2,554	3,420
Kildare	8,697	2,902	4,152	4,267	3,693	3,767	4,927	6,503
Kilkenny	3,910	1,417	2,072	2,143	1,864	1,825	2,213	2,923
Laois	3,034	974	1,408	1,416	1,131	1,192	1,399	1,826
Leitrim	940	355	529	542	450	445	521	740
Limerick	8,577	3,457	4,495	4,873	3,713	3,371	4,496	5,663
Longford	1,381	519	677	723	602	552	655	858
Louth	4,725	1,818	2,562	2,469	2,067	1,824	2,568	3,393
Mayo	4,314	1,586	2,293	2,195	1,961	1,929	2,311	3,085
Meath	7,641	2,553	3,584	3,398	2,933	2,854	3,682	5,006
Monaghan	2,071	719	1,138	1,110	979	947	1,116	1,525
Offaly	3,038	952	1,417	1,303	1,223	1,227	1,485	1,939
Roscommon	3,277	1,449	2,142	2,369	3,203	3,717	4,253	4,877
Sligo	2,359	907	1,280	1,246	1,063	984	1,220	1,572
Tipperary	6,566	2,276	3,388	3,334	3,003	2,782	3,481	4,407
Waterford	6,404	1,925	2,985	3,029	2,801	2,530	3,636	4,457
Westmeath	3,147	1,140	2,041	1,842	1,689	1,729	2,084	2,595
Wexford	7,121	2,481	3,636	3,657	3,031	3,172	4,133	5,379
Wicklow	5,284	1,793	2,550	2,316	2,020	1,933	2,563	3,513

Total	194,817	73,125	103,076	105,761	95,093	92,887	117,652	153,850
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: 19.2 New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority (XLS 13KB)

Interactive table: StatBank link

In 2015, 35.1% (54,021) of all new vehicles were licensed for the first time in Dublin City and County Councils, while a further 12.3% (18,964) were licensed in the Cork licensing authority.

Key indicators for transport of goods by road

19.3 Key indicators for transport of goods by road

	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015

Tonnes carried (thousand)	245,788	148,328	125,865	110,260	108,078	108,831	112,499	118,059
Tonnes-kilometres (million)	17,289	12,071	10,924	9,941	9,895	9,138	9,772	9,844
Vehicle kilometres (million)	2,207	1,585	1,457	1,338	1,316	1,261	1,307	1,302
Average number of vehicles	97,640	87,616	84,025	81,178	79,971	76,967	83,650	87,094
Laden journeys (thousand)	20,085	12,659	11,177	10,168	10,057	9,925	10,094	10,279
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: 19.3 Key indicators for transport of goods by road (XLS 11KB)

Interactive table: Statbank link

Irish registered goods vehicles carried 118.1 million tonnes of goods on 10.3 million laden journeys in 2015 and the amount of freight activity, as measured by tonnes-kilometers, was 9.8 billion.

The average number of registered goods vehicles in the State was an estimated 87,094 and these vehicles travelled a total of 1.3 billion kilometers. This is the largest fleet since 2009 when 87,616 vehicles were registered.

Statistics of port traffic

19.4 Statistics of port traffic - number of vessel arrivals, tonnage of goods handled by type of cargo and area of trade

Category of traffic	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Number of vessels by type
Liquid bulk	1,589	1,344	1,349	1,138	1,060	1,027	985	1,029
Dry bulk	1,465	1,068	1,143	1,088	1,144	773	585	588
Container	2,243	1,986	1,678	1,418	1,403	1,262	1,205	1,204
Specialised	243	121	85	105	113	99	121	200
General	8,992	8,512	8,813	8,012	7,897	8,554	9,125	9,018
Passenger	197	192	243	298	193	225	183	203
Total number of vessels	14,729	13,223	13,311	12,059	11,810	11,940	12,204	12,242

Tonnage of goods by type of cargo ('000)
Roll-on/roll-off traffic	12,080	10,928	12,256	12,066	11,609	12,145	13,104	13,907
Lift-on/lift-off traffic	7,945	6,659	6,457	6,311	6,151	6,204	6,646	6,983
Liquid bulk	13,315	12,100	12,019	11,804	13,417	11,541	11,345	12,438
Dry bulk	15,905	11,185	13,435	13,932	15,042	15,948	15,128	15,866
Break bulk and all other goods	1,836	964	904	965	870	883	1,261	1,472
Total tonnage of goods handled	51,081	41,836	45,071	45,078	47,088	46,722	47,483	50,666

Tonnage of goods by area of trade ('000)
Great Britain & Northern Ireland	19,949	16,957	18,002	19,279	16,887	17,028	17,418	19,721
Other EU	17,334	14,267	14,948	14,111	15,413	15,944	15,495	16,370
Non-EU	2,967	2,749	3,355	2,049	1,579	2,769	2,363	3,622
Other ports	8,908	5,913	7,028	7,555	8,992	8,167	9,283	8,617
Coastal trade	1,923	1,950	1,738	2,085	4,217	2,814	2,924	2,336
Total tonnage of goods handled	51,081	41,836	45,071	45,078	47,649	46,722	47,483	50,666
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: 19.4 Statistics of port traffic (XLS 13KB)

Interactive tables: StatBank link

In 2015, a total of 12,242 vessels arrived at Irish ports, a marginal increase of 0.3% on 2014. General cargo vessels accounted for almost three quarters (73.7%) of total arrivals.

Irish ports handled 50.7 million tonnes of goods in 2015, an annual increase of 6.7%. Great Britain and Northern Ireland remained the main areas of trade for Irish sea ports, accounting for almost two fifths (38.9%) of all goods handled in 2015.

Key indicators for the five main airports

19.5 Key indicators for the five main airports

'000
Category of traffic	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Dublin
Passengers	23,507.2	20,507.4	18,426.8	18,749.1	19,090.8	20,148.6	21,694.9	24,962.5
Freight (tonnes)	107.3	97.3	105.3	101.9	111.1	113.5	127.4	137.3
Commercial flights	202.5	169.9	156.2	159.0	158.5	162.0	173.0	188.8

Cork
Passengers	3,259.1	2,767.8	2,422.9	2,356.6	2,333.6	2,252.6	2,138.1	2,065.7
Freight (tonnes)	4.0	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.2
Commercial flights	33.3	25.6	23.4	22.0	21.5	20.2	19.6	17.9

Shannon
Passengers	2,956.3	2,579.7	1,531.3	1,364.8	1,286.1	1,308.2	1,555.2	1,680.3
Freight (tonnes)	23.2	18.9	20.0	16.6	16.1	13.9	10.9	12.3
Commercial flights	25.0	21.2	13.4	13.6	12.7	12.6	15.6	16.7

Knock
Passengers	630.8	606.5	586.4	653.6	677.4	665.6	703.7	684.7
Freight (tonnes)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Commercial flights	5.8	6.0	5.7	6.1	6.4	6.2	6.2	5.2

Kerry
Passengers	426.1	356.7	383.9	310.9	286.4	306.0	295.0	303.0
Freight (tonnes)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Commercial flights	6.7	4.8	4.4	3.1	3.3	3.5	3.2	3.1

Total
Passengers	30,779.5	26,818.1	23,351.3	23,435.0	23,674.3	24,681.0	26,386.9	29,696.2
Freight (tonnes)	134.5	117.1	126.1	119.3	127.9	128.1	139.0	149.8
Commercial flights	273.3	227.5	203.1	203.8	202.4	204.5	217.6	231.6
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: 19.5 Key indicators for the five main airports (XLS 12KB)

Interactive table: StatBank link

In 2015, 29.7 million passengers passed through Ireland's five main airports, an increase of 12.5% over the previous year.

Almost 232,000 commercial flights were handled by Ireland's five main airports in 2015. Dublin accounted for 81.5% of all flights (188,800), while Cork handled 7.7% of all flights (17,900).

Ireland's five main airports handled a total of 149,800 tonnes of freight in 2015, and this represented an annual increase of 7.8%.

Dublin airport accounted for 76.4% of all passengers passing through Ireland's main airports in 2008. This had increased to 84.1% by 2015.

Go to next chapter >>> Agriculture

	Percentage share of total passengers by main airport, 2008
Dublin	76.4
Cork	10.6
Shannon	9.6
Knock	2
Kerry	1.4

	Percentage share of total passengers by main airport, 2015
Dublin	84.1
Cork	7
Shannon	5.7
Knock	2.3
Kerry	1

Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2016

Transport

Introduction - Transport

New motor vehicles licensed for the first time by taxation class

New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority

Key indicators for transport of goods by road

Statistics of port traffic

Key indicators for the five main airports

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