Irish Shipping Volume Stabilizes, Breakbulk Slides

The latest figures from the Irish Maritime Development Office on Irish shipping trade volumes and port traffic data for the first half of 2010 indicate that shipping volumes have stabilized.

Both lift-on/lift-off and roll-on/roll-off exports rose 5 percent during the first half of 2010 compared with the same period in 2009. Import volumes were down 2 percent due to persistent weak domestic demand, but the rate of decline has eased sharply, IMDO said.

However, breakbulk volumes linked to construction inventories such as steel and timber continued to decline by 11 percent and volume activity in this segment remains at a historically low level.

The outlook for continued short term volume recovery remains largely contingent on the external recovery in the global economy, IMDO said. The
IMDO is Ireland's national dedicated development, promotional and marketing agency for the shipping services sector.