Irish Shipping still declining

The latest statistics from the Irish Maritime Development Office show that only one of the five principal freight segments showed any growth over the same period last year. Exports  grew by 4% in Q3 and by 6% for the first nine months. Export demand to overseas markets such as the North America and Asia remained strong while imports fell by 11% in the quarter, down 5% for the nine months.

Ro-ro freight is heavily weighted to traffic movement to and from the UK, Ireland’s largest trading partner. The short-run outlook for the sector remains challenging, due to continued uncertainty in the European and wider global economy.