Dublin Port experiences 6.4% tonnage increase

The Irish port handled 32.8 million gross tons of cargo in 2015, a 6.4 percent increase from 2014.    Dublin Port handled a record 32.8 million gross tons of cargo in 2015, a 6.4 percent increase from 2014 and a 6.1 percent increase from the previous record year of 2007, Dublin Port Company said.
   Import volumes rose 6.5 percent year-over-year in 2015 to 19.5 million gross tons, while export volumes experienced a 6.4 percent surge to 13.3 million gross tons.
   In addition, unitized trade saw steady growth in both the roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) and lift-on/lift-off (lo-o) sectors. Volumes in the ro-ro business totaled 877,826 freight units in 2015, a 6.8 percent increase from 2014, while volumes in the lo-lo container business jumped 8.6 percent to 614,226 TEUs.
   In July 2015, the port was granted approval by An Bord Pleanála, Ireland’s agency responsible for determining appeals and infrastructure development applications, for its Alexandra Basin Redevelopment (ABR) Project.
   In addition to deepening the port to provide an entrance channel with a depth of at least 10 meters, the project involves lengthening three kilometers of the port’s seven kilometers of berths to handle larger vessels.
   In October 2014, the European Union agreed to fund 2.4 million euros (U.S. $2.6 million) towards bringing the ABR Project through to the point of being ready for construction. In June 2015, the European Commission announced further funding of 22.8 million euros for the construction phase of the project and in October 2015, the European Investment Bank committed to providing a 100 million euro loan, amortizing over 20 years, to the Dublin Port Company for the project.
   Overall, the 230 million euro ABR Project is projected to take five years to complete, Dublin Port Company said in October.