The Irish Maritime Development Office has announced that shipping volume and port traffic through Irish ports continued to decline during the third quarter.

According to the IMDO, lift on lift off trades dropped 5% with the total volume falling by 1% for the first 9 months to 462,810 twenty foot equivalent units.

Roll on Roll off export traffic lowered 2% with 209,782 freight units handled which resulted in no overall growth for the first 9 months of 2011. Exports rose 4% in the third quarter and 6% for the first nine months.

Imports fell by 11% which represented the 15th consecutive quarter of declining import volumes as consumption remained weak in the domestic economy.

Dry bulk volumes increased slightly by 2% to 3.1 million tonnes, while liquid bulk volumes decreased 7% due to weaker domestic and international transshipment demand.

IMDO said that "The short run outlook for the sector remains challenging as continued uncertainty in the European and wider Global Economy continues to weaken market demand and impact on consumer confidence."

(Sourced from www.bunkerworld.com)