Shipping trade volumes returned to growth last year following a record collapse in 2009, according to new figures from the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO).

The latest annual edition of the Irish Maritime Transport Economist reveals that Irish ports and shipping sector saw a return to growth across most of the principle segments.

Export volumes on the principle routes to the UK, Asia and US were up overall by 7 per cent.

The report shows that unitised traffic on the main Roll-on/Roll-off routes to the UK recovered by 4 per cent in 2010, with a decline in the Lift-on/Lift-off container sector easing substantially compared to the 2009 with a fall of just 3 per cent.

The strongest volume recovery recorded occurred in the dry bulk segments which were up 18 per cent. The return to growth was attributed to strong global demand for ore and mineral products such as alumina. Meanwhile, domestic demand in the agricultural sector led to a rise in the imports of grains, feeds and fertilisers.

The report shows that despite a lift in volumes some regional ports still ended the year in negative territory. It also reveals minor growth in tanker and liquid bulk, which were up 2 per cent and ferry passenger volumes, up 4 per cent for the year.

“We have seen many ports and shipping segments recover some of the heavy losses which occurred over the past two years,” said IMDO director Glenn Murphy.

“The trend in shipping data appeared to closely follow the general economic climate last year with a strong start to 2010, before wider economic concerns over the third quarter contributed to the general slow down at the year end,” he added.

The report suggests that the outlook for 2011 looks likely to be testing for the domestic ports and shipping sectors with less growth forecast across the majority of the shipping segments.

It said the rise of bunker/fuel prices by 136 per cent over the past 12 months will put further pressure on operators to increase freight rates and bunker surcharges.