Dublin Port to pay €8.8m dividend to the State

Dublin Port Company is to pay an €8.8 million dividend payment to the State, equivalent to 30 per cent of the port's distributable profits for 2014.

The payment comes after a successful year for the port in which activity returned back to the record levels of 2007.

Cargo volumes rose by 7 per cent in 2004 with a total throughput of 31 million gross tonnes with 7,109 ship arrivals.

Figures for the first quarter show continued growth in import and export trade with cargo volumes up 5.3 per cent on the same period a year earlier. This marks the strongest first quarter the port has had in a decade and surpasses the previous record year of 2007 by 3 per cent.

Dublin Port Company has paid the Government a total of €78.6 million in dividends since 2007.

“2014 was a very strong year for Dublin Port and I am delighted that we are in a position to pay a healthy dividend to our shareholders. Dublin Port is profitable, committed to sustainable investment and in an excellent position to fund major infrastructural development,” said chairwoman Lucy McCaffrey.

The port has recently financed a €35 million redevelopment of the Alexandra Quay container terminal and opened a €3.4million trade car terminal at East Wall Road.

“We are now ready to finance our proposed €230 million Alexandra Basin redevelopment project, the single largest infrastructural investment project in the history of the port, which we hope to commence later this year,” said Ms McCaffrey.