Ports show return to growth

THE Irish ports and shipping sector experienced a return to growth last year after a record collapse of shipping volumes in 2009.

According to the latest edition of the Irish Maritime Transport Economist by the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO), most principle segments of the shipping and port sector showed signs of recovery.

The report states that unitised traffic on the main Roll-on/Roll-off routes to Britain recovered by 4% in 2010, with a decline in the Lift-on/Lift-off container sector easing substantially to a fall of just 3%.

Tanker and liquid bulk volumes were up 2%, while ferry passenger volumes also increased by 4%.

The strongest volume recovery occurred in the dry bulk segments, up 18%. Part of the return to growth in this sector is attributed to strong global demand for ore and mineral products, while domestic demand in the agricultural sector led to a rise in the imports of grains, feeds and fertilisers.

However, IMDO director Glenn Murphy said that while the overall picture is positive, the main volume gains in this segment were not evenly distributed among the ports, with some of the smaller regional ports still in negative territory for the year.

He said: “2010 was a year that saw a remarkable U-turn in fortunes for the global shipping sector. We have seen many ports and shipping segments recover some of the heavy losses which occurred over the past two years. The trend in shipping data appeared to closely follow the general economic climate last year with a strong start to 2010, before wider economic concerns over the third quarter contributed to the general slowdown at the year end.”

The report highlighted the continued resilient performance of export trades with estimates that export volumes on the principle routes to Britain, Asia and US were up overall by 7%.

The underlying performance of multinational sectors led the export recovery while established indigenous Irish exporting companies — particularly in food, drink and agribusiness segments — also contributed to the performance.

However, the report states that imports in the principle segments linked to consumer and household demand remained subdued last year with no noticeable growth, while the rise of bunker/fuel prices by 136% over the past 12 months will put further pressure on operators to increase freight rates and bunker surcharges.

Mr Murphy said the outlook for 2011 is likely to be testing for the domestic ports and shipping sector.

“The return to economic growth is likely to continue to be slow and gradual. While export volumes are extremely important for the overall economic recovery, imports are also a critical revenue component as the make up about two-thirds of volume through our ports,” Mr Murphy said.