A sharp increase in the volume of animal feed imports helped to mask the continued downturn in container traffic through Irish ports in the first quarter of the year.

The Irish Maritime Development Office's iShip index shows shipping and port activity rose 2 per cent in the first three months of the year as a result of increased animal feed imports linked to the recent fodder shortage.

“Irish ports have seen record levels of animal feed passing through their quays in recent months as farmers struggle with unseasonably poor weather conditions,” the office said in a statement. “Animal feed imports increased by 80 per cent compared to the same quarter last year, continuing the double-digit surge in demand for these commodities since last July.”

This trend led to a 10 per cent increase in the volume of dry bulk traffic through Irish ports in the quarter to more than 4.2 million units.

Coal shipments also rose during the period, which the office attributed the need for to poor weather conditions.

However, three of the four remaining port traffic categories fell during the period, with the exception of roll-on/roll-off traffic which increased by 1 per cent.

Container traffic (lift on/lift off) fell by 6 per cent to 140,681 units, its lowest level for more than a decade. This sector is seen as a measure of Irish exports to long-haul markets such as the US and Asia, which as a subset fell by 8 per cent in their poorest quarter since 2009.

“This is primarily due to weaker conditions in key global markets coupled with slower growth across the eurozone impacting on demand,” the office said. “Our data initially identified a slowdown in export growth starting to emerge in Q3 2011.”

Imports of container based commodities into Ireland fell by 5 per cent in the same period. This measure has fallen for 21 consecutive quarters.

Liquid bulk imports fell by 24 per cent and break bulk imports were down by 10 per cent.