Dublin Port traffic on the increase

Dublin Port is Ireland’s busiest seaport accounting for 40.5% of imports (by volume) and 43.3% of all exports (by volume) in 2008.  See here.  The Dublin Port Company have recently started issuing statements on monthly traffic at the port.  Thus far we have figures for January and February of this year, with comparisons made to the equivalent figures from last year.  Here is the picture told by the data we have so far.

The numbers for February are encouraging when compared to the same month last year.

• Total traffic up 6.4% at 2.15 million tonnes
• Imports up 3.7% at 1.29 million tonnes
• Exports up 10.7% at 0.86 million tonnes

Imports give a better indicator of domestic activity than exports and after a slight annual drop in January of -1.9%, the 3.7% increase in February is a positive sign.  It should be noted though that 75% of the goods coming through Dublin Port are destined for a region within a 50 mile radius of the port.  Only a quarter of the goods go beyond The Pale.
We don’t know anything about what categories these goods come from.  Monthly figures for previous years would also be useful to compare to pre-recessions level.   Regardless, this increase must be considered is good news.