Munster's ports report strong profits on Covid recovery

The sharp rise in pre-tax profits at the Port of Cork chiefly arose from the sale of fixed assets including its Custom House building in 2021. Picture: Larry Cummins

Munster's port companies have reported strong financial results for 2021 as they rebounded from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Three sets of accounts for port company firms show a surge in profits at Cork, Shannon Foynes and Waterford port companies.

Pre-tax profits more than doubled at the Port of Cork Company last year to €11.03m.

The sharp rise in pre-tax profits chiefly arose from the Cork Port firm recording a €4.18m profit from the sale of fixed assets including its Custom House building in 2021.

The annual report shows that profits also increased as revenues rose by 18pc from €33.74m to €39.82m.

The Port of Cork Company accounts reveal that it paid out €391,861 under the heading of conciliation and arbitration payments last year relating to contracts with third parties.

Throughput at Cork Port last year increased from 10.5m tonnes to 10.6m tonnes and the port firm’s operating profits increased by 27pc to €7.33m.

Numbers employed at the Cork Port firm show that headcount increased from 155 to 164 with staff costs rising from €12.33m to €14.4m. Staff costs included overtime pay of €1.1m.

Shannon Foynes

Separate accounts show that the Shannon Foynes Port Company last year incurred legal costs totalling €225,460 concerning a High Court case involving an employee.

According to the 2021 annual report for Shannon Foynes Port Company, the firm’s performance rebounded last year as pre-tax profits increased by 70pc to €5.26m.

This followed revenues recovering by 24pc from €12.9m in 2020 to €16m last year.

Concerning the High Court case, a note attached to the accounts on the invoiced and received expenditure of €225,460 on the High Court legal case, it states that “whilst heard by the High Court during 2021, judgement remains pending”.

CEO Pat Keating said that the company was “delighted to report record earnings for the year”.

He said: “This strong performance was driven by several factors such as underlying sectors adapting and recovering from Covid-19 impacts sooner than expected, a resurgent economy and the supply/demand imbalance in the energy generation sector”.

Strong performance was achieved across both the privately owned and our directly managed terminals.

The Shannon Foynes Port accounts show that numbers employed totalled 51 and the staff short term benefits bill of €3.54m included performance related pay of €209,128.

The company’s cargo and ship dues increased sharply by 40pc from €6.74m to €9.43m. The profit last year takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €2.37m.

In his report on the year, chairman of the Shannon Foynes Port Company, David McGarry stated that 2021 “has proved financially to be a very successful one for Shannon Foynes Port Company where the Company posted historically high levels of profitability”.

Port of Waterford

Separate accounts for the Port of Waterford Company show that pre-tax profits last year increased by 56pc to €1.12m.

This followed revenues rising by 7pc from €7.23m to €7.73m. Numbers employed remained at 45.