Six of the seven main Irish ports handled 12.3 million tonnes of goods in Q3 2020, a marginal decrease of 0.1% compared with Q3 2019, according to CSO figures. 

Goods forwarded from these ports amounted to 4.2 million tonnes in Q3 2020, while a total of 8.1 million tonnes of goods were received. Data from Rosslare is not included in these figures.

The tonnage of goods handled increased in three of the five traffic categories in Q3 2020, but there were quarterly percentage decreases in liquid bulk traffic (-5.6%) and in roll on/roll off traffic (-7.4%). 

Vessels arriving

 The results also show that:

• The number of vessels arriving during Q3 2020 in six of the seven main Irish ports decreased by 246 (-8.8%), while the gross tonnage of all arriving vessels fell by 15.3% to 53,463 thousand tonnes,
• In Dublin, Ireland's largest port, the number of vessels arriving in Q3 2020 was down by 7.8% compared to the same quarter in the previous year, while the gross tonnage of arriving vessels was down by 9.9%,
• In Cork, the number of vessels arriving dropped by almost 20% compared to the same quarter last year, while the gross tonnage of vessels arriving was down by almost 50%,  
• Great Britain and Northern Ireland accounted for 39.7% of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q3, and other EU countries accounted for a similar percentage of trade.