‘Record’ year in 2015 for Dublin Port

Dublin Port experienced a "record" year in 2015, with cargo volumes up by 6.4 per cent putting the port ahead of its previous peak in 2007.

Eamonn O’Reilly, chief executive, Dublin Port Company, said: “2015 was an exceptional year for Dublin Port with a 6.4 per cent increase in cargo volumes. We have seen growth over the past three years of 17.3 per cent and are now well ahead of where we were at the height of the boom in 2007.”

In 2015, total throughput for the port was 32.8 million gross tonnes with 7,166 ship arrivals in the year, exceeding the port’s previous record levels of 2007.

The port also reported strong growth on the tourism side, with 1.8 million ferry passengers travellingthrough the port in 2015, up by 5.1 per cent on 2014, while it was also a strong year for the port’s cruise business. With 149,000 visitors on 93 cruise ships, numbers were up by 8.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively on 2014.

There was balanced growth between imports and exports, Dublin Port said, with imports up 6.5 per cent at 19.5 million gross tonnes, on the back of strengthening of domestic demand. Exports were ahead by 6.4 per cent at 13.3 million gross tonnes.

Mr O’Reilly said that Dublin Port has also finalised debt facilities of € 100 million with the European Investment Bank during 2015 and succeeded in securing € 23 million in grant funding from the EU for its investment plans.