Port of Cork’s tonnage jumps 10% in 2015

The Irish port’s cargo throughput reached 9.8 million tons in 2015, a 10 percent increase from 2014.

   The Port of Cork, situated in southern Ireland, posted a cargo throughput of 9.8 million tons in 2015, a 10 percent increase from 2014, the port said.
   The Bantry Bay Port Company, located 47 miles southwest of the Port of Cork, handled 1.1 million tons of cargo in 2015, a year-over-year drop of 15.4 percent. The Bantry Bay Port is primarily frequented by bulk cargo vessels and tankers, according to its website. Traffic from the Bantry Bay Oil Storage Terminal accounts for all commercial traffic through Bantry Bay Port, the Port of Cork said.
   At the Port of Cork, liquid bulk cargo volumes surged 20 percent year-over-year in 2015. The port attributed the sharp increase in liquid bulk cargo volumes to the recovery of the domestic market and the maintenance shutdown of the Whitegate Oil Refinery in 2014, which affected refining for six weeks. Oil traffic through Whitegate Oil Refinery contributes to most of the Port of Cork’s liquid bulk throughput. 
   Container volumes through the Port of Cork’s Tivoli and Ringaskiddy terminals combined exceeded 205,000 TEUs in 2015, an 8 percent increase from 2014. The port will move all of its container operations to Ringaskiddy in the near future.
   In May, 2015, the Port of Cork was granted planning permission by the An Bord Pleanála, Ireland’s agency responsible for determining appeals and infrastructure development applications, for the Ringaskiddy Port Redevelopment Project.
   The port submitted four key areas for development in the planning application. Three areas are now being progressed, which include a new container terminal with a 500-meter berth at Ringaskiddy East, road improvements and construction of a new amenity area.
   The project is expected to cost around 80 million euros (U.S. $87 million), the Port of Cork said in a newsletter last month. Funding for the project will be facilitated by borrowings from European and Irish lenders and grant aid from Connecting Europe TEN-T.
   “This redevelopment is necessary to allow the Port of Cork to overcome the existing physical constraints in handling larger vessels and to adapt to the changing nature of port activities, including the trend towards port-centered logistics,” the Port of Cork said. 
   Advance works, which includes site clearance for the proposed container compound area, are beginning this month and the port aims to have the Ringaskiddy Port Redevelopment Project’s developments operational by the fourth quarter of 2018.