The State-owned company which runs Dublin Port says its figures for March show a fourth consecutive month of increased trading activity at the port.
The figures for March show a 13.5% rise in the total amount of goods going through the port compared with March last year. Exports increased by 23.5% from a year earlier, while imports grew by 7.3%.
Dublin Port Company says figures for the first quarter of 2010 reveal a pattern of 'steady, incremental increased trading activity' in both exports and imports.
It says the stronger performance of both exports and imports points to a 'more balanced' sign of economic recovery.
First-quarter total throughput at Dublin Port rose by 7.9% from the same period last year, with a 14.6% increase in exports and a 3.8% rise in imports.
Dublin Port Company's finance chief Michael Sheary said that if the global economy and consumer sentiment continued to improve, total throughput for 2010 could reach 28 million tonnes, only 10% less than the historic peak reached in 2007.
