1 Introduction

1. Introduction

In 2011, 12,057 vessels carrying 45 million tonnes called at 19 Irish ports. The diversity apparent in the sector is reflected in figures that show Dublin port facilitated 6,767 of these vessel calls and handled just over 19 million tonnes, while at the other end of the scale, Tralee and Fenit, a port under the control of Kerry County Council, facilitated 15 commercial vessel calls and handled approximately 19,000 tonnes.

As can be seen from Table 1.1, these 19 ports operate under a variety of different ownership structures.

Table 1.1: Ports, ownership structure, vessel arrivals, 2011

Port	Structure	Arrivals (Number)
Bantry Bay	Harbour Authority	30
	Fisheries Centre
Cork	Port Company	1274
	Port Company
Dublin	Port Company	6767
	Port Company
*Dundalk	Port Company	51
	Port Company
Greenore	Private Ownership	86
	Fisheries Centre
Kinsale	Local Authority	37
	Port Company
Rosslare	Iarnród Éireann	1791
	Port Company
Sligo	Local Authority	20
	Local Authority
Waterford	Port Company	426
	Port Company
Youghal	Local Authority	82

• In July 2011 Dundalk Port Company was dissolved and its functions transferred to Dublin Port Company.

There are nine State commercial port companies established under the ownership of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Iarnród Éireann operates Rosslare Europort under a complex ownership arrangement involving Fishguard port that dates to the 19th century.

One harbour authority, Bantry Bay, operates under the aegis of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, while local authorities run four ports. Finally, there are two fisheries centres where commercial freight traffic is incidental to their primary purposes, and one privately owned commercial port, Greenore.

The various port and harbour authorities were largely established in an ad hoc fashion over the course of the past three hundred years. In the face of evolving market trends, these traditional corporate governance structures proved increasingly unsuitable and, beginning in 1997, a process of corporatisation began in respect of the larger ports.

Port companies were encouraged to compete commercially with each other while the State provided limited direction on developing an overarching vision for the sector. In addition, no differentiation was made between ports of national significance and those of more regional significance. Furthermore, due to the proliferation of ports under the Department’s aegis, the primary focus of the Department’s efforts in this

Figure 1.1: Tonnage handled at Irish ports 1997–2011

Million Tonnes

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003’ 2004 2005

(CSO, 1997–2011)

area was corporate governance oversight of all of these bodies rather than providing direction to the major ports of national significance.

In the decade between port corporatisation in 1997 and 2007, tonnage throughput at the State’s commercial ports increased by almost 50%, from 36.3 million tonnes to 54.1 million tonnes. A large proportion of this increase was attributable to unitised traffic, which increased by almost 100% during that period. It is to the credit of the ports that they rose to the challenge by successfully facilitating this increase in volume without any significant disruption to trade.

This National Ports Policy addresses the pressing issues facing the sector today, but also looks to the future in order to ensure that the commercial seaports make a full contribution to facilitating economic recovery and prosperity.

Therefore, National Ports Policy introduces a clear categorisation of the ports sector into Ports of National Significance (Tier 1), Ports of National Significance (Tier 2) and Ports of Regional Significance.

However, since 2007, the ports sector has faced a very different challenge during the economic downturn. In 2008 and 2009, overall tonnage fell by almost 30%. It increased by 7.7% in 2010 and remained more or less static in 2011. The volume of traffic being handled by Irish ports is now at the level of a decade ago.

Furthermore, it establishes a set of overarching principles to underpin a policy framework that will allow the commercial ports sector to develop in a sustainable manner. Within the framework set out above, it provides for future decisions on port restructuring designed to suit the very different circumstances that the ports now face.

This decline has alleviated the immediate national capacity concerns that came to the fore in the period of rapid expansion up to 2007. However, transport infrastructure requires long-term planning and vision. Since corporatisation began in 1997 and subsequently with the publication of the 2005 Ports Policy Statement, the general policy for the ports sector can accurately be described as laissez faire.

section 2 Organisational And Ownership Structure