EIB commits 100m euro loan towards Dublin Port’s infrastructure project

Total throughput at the port reached 24.4 million gross tons for the first nine months of 2015, a year-over-year increase of 5.8 percent the harbor deepening project would help to accommodate.    The European Investment Bank (EIB) officially committed to providing a 100 million euro loan, amortising over 20 years, to the Dublin Port Company for the port’s Alexandra Basin Redevelopment (ABR) Project, Dublin Port Company said.
   The ABR Project is said to be the largest single infrastructure development project at Dublin Port and will cost approximately 230 million euros.
   The project involves deepening the port to provide an entrance channel with a depth of at least 10 meters and deepening and lengthening three kilometers of the port’s seven kilometers of berths to handle larger vessels.
   “We do not have spare capacity in the port and it is essential that we stay ahead of the growth with essential investment in port infrastructure. The long-term support of the EIB is just what we need,” Dublin Port Company Chief Executive Eamonn O’Reilly said in a statement.
   Trade volumes at Dublin Port continue to increase.
   For the first nine months of 2015, the port posted a total throughput of 24.4 million gross tons, an increase of 5.8 percent from the same period in 2014.
   Imports for the first nine months of the year stood at 14.4 million gross tons, while exports stood at 9.9 million gross tons, a year-over-year increase of 6 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively.
   Unitized trade grew in both the roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) and lift-on/lift-off (Lo-Lo) sectors. For the first nine months of the year, Ro-Ro trailers pushed ahead by 6.6 percent compared to the same period last year to 650,104 freight units. The Lo-Lo container business was up 8 percent to 452,992 TEUs.
   In addition, new car and commercial vehicle imports stood at 70,483 vehicles for the first nine months of 2015, a year-over-year increase of 20.7 percent.
   “It is clear now that 2015 will be a record year and that yet more growth will come in future years as Ireland’s economy recovers,” O’Reilly said. “The strong growth on the import side and, within this, the 8.2 percent growth in petroleum imports from 2.7 million to 2.9 million tons and the 12,000 additional cars imported in the first nine months all come from the welcomed recovery in the domestic economy.”