DUBLIN: New figures show that in the first quarter of this year, the Dublin Port Company saw its strongest rate of growth for ten years.
Cargo volumes at Dublin Port increased by 5.3% in the first three months of the year compared to the same time last year.
Total imports and exports rose by 5.3% to 7.8 million tonnes in the first quarter, compared to 7.4 million tonnes last year.
The company said that imports were especially strong at 4.7 million gross tonnes, while exports reached 3.1 million gross tonnes. This marked increases of 6.9% and 3% respectively.
A total of 1,642 ships arrived at the port in the three months from January to March.
Dublin Port said the overall growth was driven by increased movements of unitised goods (containers and trailers) and by imports of petroleum products.
It noted that while the recovery in volumes has been export-led in recent years, there has also been strong growth on the import side as the domestic economy also starts to recover.
Imports of new cars and commercial vehicles continued to grow very strongly, according to today’s figures, with almost 33,000 new vehicles imported through the port in the three month period. This was up almost 39% on the same time last year.
