Irish ports handled 12.9 million tonnes of goods in the first quarter. That is 7 per cent ahead of the same period last year, data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
However, the latest numbers include traffic through Greenore, Co Louth, as a main statistical port for the first time. That, the CSO pointed out, skews comparisons with previous data.
Greenore joins Bantry Bay, Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Rosslare, Shannon Foynes, and Waterford as one of the State’s main ports.
Under international guidelines, main statistical ports are categorised as those that have exceeded handling one million tonnes of goods or 200,000 passengers each year for a consecutive three-year period.
Goods forwarded from Irish ports were up 5 per cent to four million tonnes, while goods received rose 8 per cent to nine million tonnes.
Irish ports hosted 2,557 vessels during the period compared with 2,488 during the same months last year. Dublin Port accounted for 1,478 (58 per cent) of those, and for 6,046 (47 per cent) of the total tonnage handled.
Britain and Northern Ireland accounted for 3,794 (29 per cent) of the total tonnage handled, while EU countries accounted for 6,208 tonnes (48 per cent).
