New figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal that Irish ports handled 54 million tonnes of goods in 2025, an increase of 6% compared with 2024.
The CSO said that goods forwarded from Irish ports amounted to 17 million tonnes in 2025, while a total of 37 million tonnes of goods were received.
Today's figures show that a total of 11,861 vessels arrived in Irish ports last year, down from the 11,958 vessels in 2024.
Dublin Port accounted for 6,683 (56%) vessel arrivals in Irish ports and for 47% of the total tonnage of goods handled last year.
The CSO said that Great Britain & Northern Ireland accounted for 17 million tonnes of the total goods (32%), while European Union countries accounted for almost 25 million tonnes (46%) of goods handled in the main ports.
Meanwhile, a total of 263 cruise ships arrived in Irish ports in 2025 compared with 292 in 2024.
Cork had the highest number of cruise ship arrivals (91), followed by Dún Laoghaire (65) and Dublin (36).
All cruise ships arrived between the months of March and October.
The CSO also noted today that Greenore Port in Co Louth was added as a main statistical port from this year, in line with European methodological guidelines.
It joins Bantry Bay, Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Rosslare, Shannon Foynes and Waterford, and increases the total number of main statistical ports in Ireland from seven to eight.
This is the first time the number of statistical ports in Ireland has increased since this series began in 2017, the CSO added.
