Port traffic declined marginally in the third quarter of this year, according to the latest figures from the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO).
Roll-on and roll-off traffic declined by 1% compared to the same period in 2021.
Traffic on direct routes to Europe was down 2% while traffic to ports in Great Britain was unchanged.
The IMDO said in a statement that the shift to direct routes to the EU, which emerged following the end of the Brexit transition period, "is so far holding firm".
It says that roll-on and roll-off traffic "was resilient and held constant, or very slightly below 2019 levels".
It describes 2022 as the first period during which the worst effects of Covid-19 and Brexit have passed.
It blames the "slight underperformance" of the sector in the third quarter on "the severe economic headwinds evident in the domestic economy and that of the UK and euro area".
The report also says that roll-on roll-off passenger numbers were double what they were in the third quarter of 2021 and are now just 10% below the pre-pandemic figures in the third quarter of 2019.
