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Dublin Port News
A free exhibition and lectures organised by the Dublin Dock Workers Preservation Society take place this March at EPIC - The Emigrant Irish Emigration Museum housed in the chq Custom House Quay. Above: A bygone era as Guinness ships and barges line the Liffey.
#Exhibition – On this first day of Spring marks the launch of The Dublin Dock Workers Preservation Society's free exhibition hosted at EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum located in the chq, Custom House Quay. The society is dedicated to preserving…
Big Booze Seizure At Dublin Port
#DublinPort - Revenue officials made a significant seizure of alcohol and tobacco at Dublin Port yesterday (Monday 27 February), as BreakingNews.ie reports. More than 200 litres of wine, beer and spirits, plus some 2kg of tobacco and cigarettes, were seized…
A View from the Bridge: This great on board view clearly demonstrates the complexity of a tanker's pipe network as the vessel headed up the channel fairway within Dublin Port last week.
#TankerSnap – The above photograph is not of the red-hulled tanker Iver Ability which anchored in Dublin Bay for more than five months and in doing so drew much mainstream media attention, writes Jehan Ashmore. So what is the identity…
Jeanie Johnston being floated in dry dock at Dublin Port: it is the last ship in the port’s graving dock, which is being filled in as part of a €230 million project.
#PortHistory - Jeanie Johnston made history when at Dublin Port yesterday the tall ship floated out of its graving dock. As the Irish Times writes the replica 19th century “Famine” ship is the last vessel to be worked on in…
Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club’s cityside marina is inevitably under threat from road and harbour infrastructure expansion plans
This is Public Consultation Week for the First Review of Dublin Port’s Development Masterplan 2012-2040, and with a 28-year timespan involved, some of the more remote yet very possible proposals will still seem at the very least far-fetched - and…
Replica famine-emigrant barque Jeanie Johnston is to become the last ever ship to be dry docked in Dublin Port (seen there in 2014) which is to close marking an end of an era in Irish maritime heritage
#DryDockClosure - The largest dry dock in the State and the last remaining working dry-dock (No. 2) in Dublin Port is to close marking an end of an era of our maritime heritage, writes Jehan Ashmore. The 200m dry dock…
Steamers and Three Masted Ships by Eugeen Van Mieghem
The works of the acclaimed Belgian artist Eugeen Van Mieghem will go on display to Irish audiences for the first time this week, when a major new exhibition opens at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane on Thursday, 9th February…
Alexandra Basin (east) where Weser Highway berthed on the first call to Dublin Port for a new vehicle-carrier service linking Zeebrugge in Belgium.
#NewService - Should you have seen a red-painted high-sided box shaped ship off the Irish east coast in recent weeks, it was likely to have been a vehicle-carrier, writes Jehan Ashmore. The ship been the 750 unit vehicle carrier Weser…
Dublin Port’s volumes have increased by 25% in just four years
Dublin Port’s Masterplan 2012-2040, a framework to guide the future development and operation of Dublin Port, makes provision for periodic reviews.  This ensures that the Masterplan reflects changing circumstances such as developments in policies governing planning, national transport, the environment…
Poolbeg peninsula: Windmill Lane Studios founder James Morris and film producer Alan Moloney want to develop an €80 million studio complex at the new Poolbeg strategic development zone, a 34 hectare site in the city’s east end.
#PortStudio - Chief executive of Dublin Port Company Eamonn O’Reilly has told Dublin City Council he “would have an open mind” on the development of a Hollywood-style film studio on the Poolbeg peninsula. As The Irish Times writes in recent weeks…
Applegreen to pay €15.7m to buy a 50pc stake in a fuel terminal at Dublin Port.
#FuelTerminal - Applegreen, a forecourt retailer has agreed to pay €15.7m to buy a 50pc stake in a fuel terminal at Dublin Port. The Joint Fuel Terminal writes The Irish Independent is currently equally owned by Valero Energy (Ireland) and…
Chief executive rejects ‘mad’ proposal for Hollywood-style complex on the Poolbeg Peninsula
#PortEstate -Chief executive of Dublin Port Eamonn O’Reilly has described as “mad”, “daft” and an “attempt at a landgrab” plans for a Hollywood-style film studio on the Poolbeg Peninsula. As The Irish Times writes the port company will next month…
Iver Ability photographed in Malaga. The tanker has been at anchor on Dublin Bay since August
A red–hulled ship and her crew at anchor on Dublin Bay since August are set for a lonely Christmas on the capital's waters. The long term anchorage of the 'Iver Ability' follows a fire onboard the Asphalt/Bitumen Tanker during her…
#SaveHistoricDocks - A Dublin docklands business group and waterways enthusiasts have called on Minister for Heritage Heather Humphreys to save a key piece of the Grand Canal basin’s Georgian architecture. As The Irish Times writes The Inland Waterways Association of Ireland…
Dublin Port is to 'soften' its boundaries with the capital city and provide a public realm at the Port Centre headquarters. This project will be the first such development in 35 years.
#SoftPort - A major project by Dublin Port to 'soften' its boundaries between the port's centre headquarters and the capital city to enable a greater public realm is underway. The work is the largest physical intervention by Dublin Port in…
#LiffeyPotential – Post-Brexit potentially poses an exodus of UK banks relocating from London to the EU and notably Dublin’s financial Docklands, where the Liffey flows through with barely any river-traffic compared to the Thames, writes Jehan Ashmore. Since the Brexit…

About Dublin Port 

Dublin Port is Ireland’s largest and busiest port with approximately 17,000 vessel movements per year. As well as being the country’s largest port, Dublin Port has the highest rate of growth and, in the seven years to 2019, total cargo volumes grew by 36.1%.

The vision of Dublin Port Company is to have the required capacity to service the needs of its customers and the wider economy safely, efficiently and sustainably. Dublin Port will integrate with the City by enhancing the natural and built environments. The Port is being developed in line with Masterplan 2040.

Dublin Port Company is currently investing about €277 million on its Alexandra Basin Redevelopment (ABR), which is due to be complete by 2021. The redevelopment will improve the port's capacity for large ships by deepening and lengthening 3km of its 7km of berths. The ABR is part of a €1bn capital programme up to 2028, which will also include initial work on the Dublin Port’s MP2 Project - a major capital development project proposal for works within the existing port lands in the northeastern part of the port.

Dublin Port has also recently secured planning approval for the development of the next phase of its inland port near Dublin Airport. The latest stage of the inland port will include a site with the capacity to store more than 2,000 shipping containers and infrastructures such as an ESB substation, an office building and gantry crane.

Dublin Port Company recently submitted a planning application for a €320 million project that aims to provide significant additional capacity at the facility within the port in order to cope with increases in trade up to 2040. The scheme will see a new roll-on/roll-off jetty built to handle ferries of up to 240 metres in length, as well as the redevelopment of an oil berth into a deep-water container berth.

Dublin Port FAQ

Dublin was little more than a monastic settlement until the Norse invasion in the 8th and 9th centuries when they selected the Liffey Estuary as their point of entry to the country as it provided relatively easy access to the central plains of Ireland. Trading with England and Europe followed which required port facilities, so the development of Dublin Port is inextricably linked to the development of Dublin City, so it is fair to say the origins of the Port go back over one thousand years. As a result, the modern organisation Dublin Port has a long and remarkable history, dating back over 300 years from 1707.

The original Port of Dublin was situated upriver, a few miles from its current location near the modern Civic Offices at Wood Quay and close to Christchurch Cathedral. The Port remained close to that area until the new Custom House opened in the 1790s. In medieval times Dublin shipped cattle hides to Britain and the continent, and the returning ships carried wine, pottery and other goods.

510 acres. The modern Dublin Port is located either side of the River Liffey, out to its mouth. On the north side of the river, the central part (205 hectares or 510 acres) of the Port lies at the end of East Wall and North Wall, from Alexandra Quay.

Dublin Port Company is a State-owned commercial company responsible for operating and developing Dublin Port.

Dublin Port Company is a self-financing, and profitable private limited company wholly-owned by the State, whose business is to manage Dublin Port, Ireland's premier Port. Established as a corporate entity in 1997, Dublin Port Company is responsible for the management, control, operation and development of the Port.

Captain William Bligh (of Mutiny of the Bounty fame) was a visitor to Dublin in 1800, and his visit to the capital had a lasting effect on the Port. Bligh's study of the currents in Dublin Bay provided the basis for the construction of the North Wall. This undertaking led to the growth of Bull Island to its present size.

Yes. Dublin Port is the largest freight and passenger port in Ireland. It handles almost 50% of all trade in the Republic of Ireland.

All cargo handling activities being carried out by private sector companies operating in intensely competitive markets within the Port. Dublin Port Company provides world-class facilities, services, accommodation and lands in the harbour for ships, goods and passengers.

Eamonn O'Reilly is the Dublin Port Chief Executive.

Capt. Michael McKenna is the Dublin Port Harbour Master

In 2019, 1,949,229 people came through the Port.

In 2019, there were 158 cruise liner visits.

In 2019, 9.4 million gross tonnes of exports were handled by Dublin Port.

In 2019, there were 7,898 ship arrivals.

In 2019, there was a gross tonnage of 38.1 million.

In 2019, there were 559,506 tourist vehicles.

There were 98,897 lorries in 2019

Boats can navigate the River Liffey into Dublin by using the navigational guidelines. Find the guidelines on this page here.

VHF channel 12. Commercial vessels using Dublin Port or Dun Laoghaire Port typically have a qualified pilot or certified master with proven local knowledge on board. They "listen out" on VHF channel 12 when in Dublin Port's jurisdiction.

A Dublin Bay webcam showing the south of the Bay at Dun Laoghaire and a distant view of Dublin Port Shipping is here
Dublin Port is creating a distributed museum on its lands in Dublin City.
 A Liffey Tolka Project cycle and pedestrian way is the key to link the elements of this distributed museum together.  The distributed museum starts at the Diving Bell and, over the course of 6.3km, will give Dubliners a real sense of the City, the Port and the Bay.  For visitors, it will be a unique eye-opening stroll and vista through and alongside one of Europe’s busiest ports:  Diving Bell along Sir John Rogerson’s Quay over the Samuel Beckett Bridge, past the Scherzer Bridge and down the North Wall Quay campshire to Berth 18 - 1.2 km.   Liffey Tolka Project - Tree-lined pedestrian and cycle route between the River Liffey and the Tolka Estuary - 1.4 km with a 300-metre spur along Alexandra Road to The Pumphouse (to be completed by Q1 2021) and another 200 metres to The Flour Mill.   Tolka Estuary Greenway - Construction of Phase 1 (1.9 km) starts in December 2020 and will be completed by Spring 2022.  Phase 2 (1.3 km) will be delivered within the following five years.  The Pumphouse is a heritage zone being created as part of the Alexandra Basin Redevelopment Project.  The first phase of 1.6 acres will be completed in early 2021 and will include historical port equipment and buildings and a large open space for exhibitions and performances.  It will be expanded in a subsequent phase to incorporate the Victorian Graving Dock No. 1 which will be excavated and revealed. 
 The largest component of the distributed museum will be The Flour Mill.  This involves the redevelopment of the former Odlums Flour Mill on Alexandra Road based on a masterplan completed by Grafton Architects to provide a mix of port operational uses, a National Maritime Archive, two 300 seat performance venues, working and studio spaces for artists and exhibition spaces.   The Flour Mill will be developed in stages over the remaining twenty years of Masterplan 2040 alongside major port infrastructure projects.

Source: Dublin Port Company ©Afloat 2020.