Shannon Foynes Port Company, Ireland's second-largest port company and its largest bulk cargo handler, has reported record tonnages at its main ports, Foynes and Shannon.
Foynes, with 1.8 million tonnes, recorded a 14 per cent rise in the number of tonnes handled, while Limerick reported a 12 per cent rise in tonnage to 635,000 tonnes.
Much of the company's throughput came from the construction industry and the agribusiness sector, it said.
Volumes on its container line, which was established in 2004 and which the company said provides the western seaboard's only direct connection to and from Europe's largest transhipment port, Rotterdam, also doubled in 2006. Three cruise liners also docked at Foynes during the year as part of a joint marketing campaign with Shannon Development to target the cruise line sector.
It said its Limerick Docklands Initiative would continue to examine future options for the docklands area in conjunction with local stakeholders and existing port users.
