Slight decrease in numbers of goods handled by Irish ports, figures show

Irish ports handled 12.7 million tonnes of goods in the first three months of 2026, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This was a 2% decrease compared with the first three months of 2025. However, when it came to goods forwarded by Irish ports, this was up slightly from the same period last year to 4 million tonnes.

Goods received by Irish ports reached 8.7 million tonnes in Q1 2026, which was 3% lower than the same period in 2025.

When it came to the number of vessels, 2,499 arrived at Irish ports in Q1 2026, compared with 2,557 in the same period of 2025. Dublin Port accounted for 61% of all vessel arrivals in Irish ports.

Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Division, said: “Irish ports handled 12.7 million tonnes of goods in January, February, and March (Q1) 2026. This was a decrease of 2% compared with Q1 2025.

“Goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 4 million tonnes in Q1 2026, while 8.7 million tonnes of goods were received.

“In Q1 2026, 2,499 vessels arrived in Irish ports compared with 2,577 in Q1 2025.

“Dublin Port accounted for 1,523 (61%) vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 6,169,000 (49%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in Q1 2026.

“Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 4,112,000 (32%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports by region of trade in Q1 2026. EU countries accounted for 6,366,000 (50%) of the total tonnage of goods handled in the main ports.”