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Dublin Port News
P&O Ferries moves to Terminal 5 & Seatruck to Terminal 4 effective January 23rd 2023
Dublin Port Company (DPC) has announced that P&O Ferries and Seatruck will move locations within Dublin Port from January 23rd 2023. The move will see P&O Ferries relocate from existing Terminal 3 (East Wall Road) to Terminal 5 (T5), at…
Dublin Port Scholarship 21st Anniversary -  Cecile Ndeley, Scholarship Recipient, Sibheal Toner, Former Scholarship Recipient, Marie Fitzpatrick, Scholarship Recipient
Dublin Port Company (DPC) is celebrating 21 years of its Scholarship Programme. In this anniversary year, 24 new recipients from the port’s local communities have been awarded scholarships for 2022. The Dublin Port Scholarship Programme is the longest-running education bursary…
Barry O’Connell has been appointed as the next Chief Executive Officer of Dublin Port Company
The Board of Dublin Port Company has announced the appointment of Barry O’Connell as its new Chief Executive Officer from 14th November 2022 following an open and competitive recruitment process. Barry joins Dublin Port Company from the Coca-Cola System, where…
The view eastward over modern Ringsend. At first glance it seems totally tamed, with the formerly anarchic waterfront along the banks of the River Dodder (running left to right across photo foreground) now neatly tidied, while the south bank of the Liffey is kept in order by the dual carriageway accessing the Eastlink Bridge. But a “magic maritime space” has been preserved to provide room for Poolbeg Y&BC with its marina and mooring area, while there’s waterfront access and pontoons for the thriving Stella Maris and St Patrick’s Rowing Club
When the multi-talented John B Kearney (1879-1967) retired from a distinguished career in Dublin Port in 1944, he re-focused most of his attention on his parallel interest as a yacht designer and builder. It was an enduring passion that went…
Mental Health Awareness: Brent Pope with Dublin Port workers following his talk on mental health as part of Irish Port Safety Week
In Dublin Port today Brent Pope, rugby pundit and mental health activist, gave a mental health talk aimed at their workers as part of events held during Irish Port Safety Week. While last years’ national ports event featured themes such as…
Dublin Port Company is changing the speed limits throughout its north port road network from 50km/h to 40km/h as part of the Dublin SafePort initiative. The initiative also announces the alignment of the speed limits within the seven unitised terminals to 20km/h
Dublin Port Company is changing the speed limits throughout its north port road network from 50km/h to 40km/h as part of the Dublin SafePort initiative. The initiative also announces the alignment of the speed limits within the seven unitised terminals…
President Higgins with his wife Sabina, President de Sousa and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue on board Ireland’s new state of the art research vessel RV Tom Crean in Dublin Port
The Marine Institute was delighted to welcome the Presidents of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins and Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on a visit to the newly commissioned research vessel RV Tom Crean berthed in Dublin’s docklands. President de Sousa is…
The Ringsend sailing trawler 'Irene'
“Broken hoops on the shore; at the land a maze of dark cunning nets; farther away chalk scrawled backdoors and on the higher beach a drying line with two crucified shirts. Ringsend: wigwams of brown steersman and master mariners. Human…
Pictured at the launch of last year’s Irish Port Safety Week at Dublin Port were Dublin Port Company’s EHS Team
Dublin Port will host a series of events later this month for the second annual Irish Port Safety Week. Running from 24-28 October, the five days will see a number of events including crucially important fire-awareness training, terminal tractor and…
Part of Dublin’s original sea wall dating back to the late 1720s
Part of Dublin’s original sea wall dating back to the late 1720s has been discovered during excavations beneath a former electricity substation at Dublin Port. Announcing the find today (Wednesday 5 October), Dublin Port Company also revealed the discovery of…
The Brixham-style fishing cutter St Patrick was probably the largest of her type ever built, yet this super-trawler of her day wasn't built in Brixham in Devon, but in Ringsend in Dublin in 1887 by the Murphy family, who designed, built, managed, manned and fished this superbly seaworthy craft from their Ringsend base
Cormac Lowth of Dublin is a one-man Irish maritime history institute, the first and last port of call for anyone seeking the facts about some aspect of our seagoing history, whether it's obscure or supposedly well-known. Quite how he carries…
The former 'smuggling' ship the Shingle has been tied up in Dublin Port for years.
The Revenue Commissioners has said it could be next summer before a ship - which is costing thousands of euro per month in mooring fees - can be moved out of Dublin Port. As The Irish Times writes, the vessel,…
According to Irish Rail, a special delivery took place at Dublin Port as the first three of 41 new Intercity railcar carriages arrived from manufacturer Hyundai Rotem in South Korea. The new rolling stock is to enter service from early 2023 on Intercity and Commuter routes. AFLOAT has identified above the heavylift ship as the AAL Kobe which was observed with other deck cargo, when arriving last Sunday, having made a previous port of call via Southampton in the UK.
Irish Rail (Iarnród Éireann) has taken delivery at Dublin Port yesterday (7 Sept) of the first three Intercity railcar carriages out of a new batch of 41 it has ordered. As Independent.ie reports the carriages are from manufacturers Hyundai Rotem…
Eamonn O’Reilly, CEO of the Dublin Port Company and Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council at a singing of an MOU where a partnership has been established with the intention to deliver workspace for artists at the port's Flour Mills Master Plan Site located in Alexandra Basin.
Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council and Eamonn O’Reilly, CEO of the Dublin Port Company on Wednesday (31st August) established a partnership between the Arts Council and DPC with the intention to deliver workspace for artists practicing in all…
A dream emerges from the mist - ST Grace O'Malley Arrives In The Liffey
When we remember that as recently as 1576, the most memorable visit to the Dublin area by the Connacht Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley resulted in her kidnapping of the heir to Howth Castle in a dispute about the hospitality -…
The Sphere at Port Centre in Dublin Port
Places are still available for this Sunday’s heritage walking tour of Dublin Port with Anthony Finnegan as part of Dublin Port Company’s events for Heritage Week Dublin Port’s history dates back to 1707 and while the company has always looked…

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.