Dublin Port has recorded a 4.2% rise in trade volumes during the first nine months of 2017, putting it on track for its fifth consecutive year of growth.
The Irish Times reports that 1.49 million passengers passed through the port in the year's third quarter, representing a 2.4% increase on the same period in 2016, while the number of tourist vehicles that availed of the port jumped 2.7% to 411,921.
However, the amount of trade vehicles that passed through the port decreased 5.5% to 72,252, in part because of an increase in the number of car buyers traveling to the UK to purchase secondhand cars while the euro/sterling exchange rate remains weak.
Additionally, a total of 127 cruise ships sailed into Dublin Port during the third quarter of 2017, representing a rise of 23.3% on Q3 2016, and imports outweighed exports by approximately 4.8 million tons, with the volume of exports declining by 5.2%.
