The Irish Road Hauliers Association has criticised Dublin Port's plan to significantly raise its charges on goods shipments from next year.
The port plans to raise the charge levied on unaccompanied shipping containers by 5%, raising the base price of a 40ft container to €38.33.
There will also be a new €15 infrastructure charge - which amounts to an effective 46% increase in the charges levied on a container compared to 2025.
"We feel that these costs are a tariff on companies doing business in Ireland," said Ger Hyland, President of the Irish Road Hauliers Association. "It's going to effect every company that's getting freight in and out of Ireland."
Dublin Port has said the higher charges and new levy are required to support the next phase of its €2 billion Masterplan 2040. That aims to double capacity at the port over the next 15 years.
Outlining the rationale for its new charging structure, the Dublin Port Company said the port is currently running at close to capacity, making such a large-scale investment necessary. As the port is self-funding, it said, it is required to raise charges to cover the cost.
The port company also said that this significant increase in charges comes on the back of two decades of relatively small change.
It said charges had been flat between 2004 and 2021, with more modest increases introduced in recent years.
"However this was also in the context of a smaller capital programme," its charges update said. "For context, the average annual capital spend between 2015 and 2024 was c.€65m with the same figure for 2025-2030 envisaged to be c.€170m – an increase of c.160%."
Mr Hyland agreed that investment was needed to ensure the port's capacity could keep up with demand, however he said there should be a different approach taken in funding that.
"The traffic throughput through Dublin Port over those two decades has been enormous," he said. "So they've got their price increases in the upturn in freight that has come in and out of this country.
"There is also synergies there where there can be money saved."
He also said that the higher cost of shipping would inevitably be passed on to consumers.
"It's going to be seen in every shopping basket and every shopping trolley in Ireland," Mr Hyland said. "Every euro that hits the shopping trolley at the present time is an attack on the consumer.
"Our hauliers and our logistics people, the container companies, they can't take this charge so it effectively has to be passed on."
According to Dublin Port, the new charges will mean a €16.83 increase in the cost of an unaccompanied shipping container, with an accompanied container costing €15.70 more.
The Central Statistics Office estimates that the average shipping container coming through the port contains €100,000 worth of goods.
