Tourism & Transport Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2017

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

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

Number
Taxation Class		2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Private cars		54,432	84,907	86,932	76,256	71,348	92,361	121,110	141,931
Goods vehicles		10,051	10,510	11,188	10,855	11,024	16,254	22,939	28,051
Tractors		1,883	1,359	1,731	1,996	4,403	2,186	1,986	1,934
Motor cycles		1,879	1,321	1,102	955	878	960	1,244	1,546
Exempt vehicles		3,690	4,207	4,014	3,930	3,955	4,762	5,234	6,207
Public service vehicles		493	306	297	531	378	517	761	957
	Small	190	193	195	275	160	237	343	500
	Large	303	113	102	256	218	280	418	457
Machines or Contrivances		409	222	294	409	606	399	409	444
Other classes		288	244	203	161	295	213	167	223
Total		73,125	103,076	105,761	95,093	92,887	117,652	153,850	181,293
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: 21.1 New motor vehicles licensed for the first time by taxation class (XLS 12KB)

Interactive table: StatBank link

There were 141,931 new private cars licensed in 2016, a rise of 17.2% compared with 2015. This was the highest number of new cars licensed since 2008. In total, there were 181,293 new vehicles licensed during 2016 and this was up 17.8% on 2015.

If you like smaller cars then there were 119 Porsches licensed for the first time in 2016. Volkswagen (15,094) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in 2016, followed by Toyota (14,728), Hyundai (14,630), Ford (14,092) and Nissan (11,503). Together those five makes represent half (49%) of all new private cars licensed.

Why not check out the CSO's new interactive tool - Ireland's Top Motors

New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority

21.2 New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority
Number
Licensing authority	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Carlow	959	1,371	1,357	1,149	1,152	1,461	1,828	2,212
Cavan	929	1,285	1,315	1,153	1,112	1,405	1,927	2,296
Clare	1,451	2,356	2,377	1,869	1,795	2,431	3,305	3,730
Cork	10,031	14,544	14,385	11,141	10,706	13,794	18,964	22,571
Donegal	1,828	2,909	2,515	2,193	2,051	2,723	3,643	4,282
Dublin	24,070	30,997	34,501	34,268	33,668	42,048	54,021	62,870
Galway	2,940	4,560	4,571	3,701	3,670	4,493	6,481	7,298
Kerry	1,694	2,705	2,508	2,193	1,953	2,554	3,420	4,218
Kildare	2,902	4,152	4,267	3,693	3,767	4,927	6,503	7,807
Kilkenny	1,417	2,072	2,143	1,864	1,825	2,213	2,923	3,495
Laois	974	1,408	1,416	1,131	1,192	1,399	1,826	2,193
Leitrim	355	529	542	450	445	521	740	893
Limerick	3,457	4,495	4,873	3,713	3,371	4,496	5,663	6,944
Longford	519	677	723	602	552	655	858	1,031
Louth	1,818	2,562	2,469	2,067	1,824	2,568	3,393	3,932
Mayo	1,586	2,293	2,195	1,961	1,929	2,311	3,085	3,659
Meath	2,553	3,584	3,398	2,933	2,854	3,682	5,006	6,290
Monaghan	719	1,138	1,110	979	947	1,116	1,525	1,838
Offaly	952	1,417	1,303	1,223	1,227	1,485	1,939	2,400
Roscommon	1,449	2,142	2,369	3,203	3,717	4,253	4,877	5,039
Sligo	907	1,280	1,246	1,063	984	1,220	1,572	1,825
Tipperary	2,276	3,388	3,334	3,003	2,782	3,481	4,407	5,217
Waterford	1,925	2,985	3,029	2,801	2,530	3,636	4,457	5,231
Westmeath	1,140	2,041	1,842	1,689	1,729	2,084	2,595	3,771
Wexford	2,481	3,636	3,657	3,031	3,172	4,133	5,379	6,130
Wicklow	1,793	2,550	2,316	2,020	1,933	2,563	3,513	4,121
Total	73,125	103,076	105,761	95,093	92,887	117,652	153,850	181,293
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: 21.2 New vehicles licensed for the first time by licensing authority (XLS 13KB)

In 2016, 34.7% (62,870) of all new vehicles were licensed for the first time in Dublin City and County Councils, while a further 12.5% (22,571) were licensed in the Cork licensing authority.

Key indicators for transport of goods by road

21.3 Key indicators for transport of goods by road

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Tonnes carried (thousand)	148,328	125,865	110,260	108,078	108,831	112,499	118,059	141,669
Tonne-kilometres (million)	12,071	10,924	9,941	9,895	9,138	9,772	9,844	11,564
Vehicle kilometres (million)	1,585	1,457	1,338	1,316	1,261	1,307	1,302	1,558
Average number of vehicles	87,616	84,025	81,178	79,971	76,967	83,650	87,094	98,656
Laden journeys (thousand)	12,659	11,177	10,168	10,057	9,925	10,094	10,279	12,090
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: 21.3 Key indicators for transport of goods by road (XLS 11KB)

Interactive table: Statbank link

Irish registered goods vehicles carried 141.7 million tonnes of goods on 12.1 million laden journeys in 2016 and the amount of freight activity, as measured by tonne-kilometers, was 11.6 billion.

The average number of registered goods vehicles in the State was estimated at 98,656 in 2016 and the fleet travelled a total of 1.6 billion kilometers.

Statistics of port traffic

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

Category of traffic	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Number of vessels by type
Liquid bulk	1,344	1,349	1,138	1,060	1,027	985	1,029	1,126
Dry bulk	1,068	1,143	1,088	1,144	773	585	588	864
Container	1,986	1,678	1,418	1,403	1,262	1,205	1,204	1,240
Specialised	121	85	105	113	99	121	200	189
General	8,512	8,813	8,012	7,897	8,554	9,125	9,018	9,244
Passenger	192	243	298	193	225	183	203	217
Total number of vessels	13,223	13,311	12,059	11,810	11,940	12,204	12,242	12,880

Tonnage of goods by type of cargo ('000)
Roll-on/roll-off traffic	10,928	12,256	12,066	11,609	12,145	13,104	13,907	14,884
Lift-on/lift-off traffic	6,659	6,457	6,311	6,151	6,204	6,646	6,983	7,230
Liquid bulk	12,100	12,019	11,804	13,417	11,541	11,345	12,438	11,274
Dry bulk	11,185	13,435	13,932	15,042	15,948	15,128	15,866	15,937
Break bulk and all other goods	964	904	965	870	883	1,261	1,472	1,387
Total tonnage of goods handled	41,836	45,071	45,078	47,088	46,722	47,483	50,666	50,712

Tonnage of goods by area of trade ('000)
Great Britain & Northern Ireland	16,957	18,002	19,279	16,887	17,028	17,418	19,721	20,475
Other EU	14,267	14,948	14,111	15,413	15,944	15,495	16,370	16,714
Non-EU	2,749	3,355	2,049	1,579	2,769	2,363	3,622	4,014
Other ports	5,913	7,028	7,555	8,992	8,167	9,283	8,617	7,832
Coastal trade	1,950	1,738	2,085	4,217	2,814	2,924	2,336	1,677
Total tonnage of goods handled	41,836	45,071	45,078	47,649	46,722	47,483	50,666	50,712
Source: CSO

Open in Excel: 21.4 Statistics of port traffic (XLS 12KB)

Interactive tables: StatBank link

In 2016, a total of 12,880 vessels arrived at Irish ports, an increase of 5.2% on 2015. General cargo vessels accounted for almost three quarters (71.8%) of total arrivals.

Irish ports handled 50.7 million tonnes of goods in 2016, an increase of 46,000 tonnes when compared with 2015. Great Britain and Northern Ireland remained the main area of trade for Irish sea ports, accounting for two fifths (40.4%) of all goods handled in 2016.

Key indicators for the five main airports

21.5 Key indicators for the five main airports

'000
Category of traffic	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Dublin
Passengers	20,507.4	18,426.8	18,749.1	19,090.8	20,148.6	21,694.9	24,962.5	27,778.9
Freight (tonnes)	97.3	105.3	101.9	111.1	113.5	127.4	137.3	134.2
Commercial flights	169.9	156.2	159.0	158.5	162.0	172.6¹	188.8	204.6

Cork
Passengers	2,767.8	2,422.9	2,356.6	2,333.6	2,252.6	2,138.1	2,065.7	2,226.2
Freight (tonnes)	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.2	0.0
Commercial flights	25.6	23.4	22.0	21.5	20.2	19.6	17.9	19.9

Shannon
Passengers	2,579.7	1,531.3	1,364.8	1,286.1	1,308.2	1,555.2	1,642.9¹	1,674.6
Freight (tonnes)	18.9	20.0	16.6	16.1	13.9	10.9	12.2¹	12.6
Commercial flights	21.2	13.4	13.6	12.7	12.6	15.6	13.3¹	13.6

Knock
Passengers	606.5	586.4	653.6	677.4	665.6	703.7	684.7	735.9
Freight (tonnes)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Commercial flights	6.0	5.7	6.1	6.4	6.2	6.2	5.2	6.1

Kerry
Passengers	356.7	383.9	310.9	286.4	306.0	295.0	303.0	325.7
Freight (tonnes)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Commercial flights	4.8	4.4	3.1	3.3	3.5	3.2	3.1	3.2

Total
Passengers	26,818.1	23,351.3	23,435.0	23,674.3	24,681.0	26,386.8¹	29,658.8¹	32,741.2
Freight (tonnes)	117.1	126.1	119.3	127.9	128.1	139.0	149.7¹	146.8
Commercial flights	227.5	203.1	203.8	202.4	204.5	217.1¹	228.2¹	247.3
Source: CSO
¹ Revised

Open in Excel: 21.5 Key indicators for the five main airports (XLS 13KB)

Interactive table: StatBank link

In 2016, 32.7 million passengers passed through Ireland's five main airports, an increase of 10.4% over the previous year.

Over 247,000 commercial flights were handled by Ireland's main airports in 2016. Dublin accounted for 82.7% of all flights (204,600), while Cork handled 8.0% of all flights (19,900).

Ireland's main airports handled a total of 146,800 tonnes of freight in 2016, and this represented an annual decrease of 1.9%.

Dublin airport accounted for 76.5% of all passengers passing through Ireland's main airports in 2009. This had increased to 84.8% by 2016.

Go to next chapter >>> Agriculture

	Percentage share of total passengers by main airport, 2016
Dublin	84.8
Cork	6.8
Shannon	5.1
Knock	2.2
Kerry	1

	Percentage share of total passengers by main airport, 2009
Dublin	76.5
Cork	10.3
Shannon	9.6
Knock	2.3
Kerry	1.3

Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2017

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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