Dublin Port refuses to say if credit card spending review is complete

The Dublin Port Company refused to disclose whether a review of substantial credit card spending, including €95,000 on the credit card of the chief executive alone, has been completed by professional services firm Mazars as the facility reported strong results for 2019.

A review was ordered by the board in the summer of last year after it emerged that port managers spent more than €500,000 on a plethora of expenses across 22 credit cards. Four executives alone racked up a €270,000 bill on items such as foreign travel, iTunes subscriptions and dishwasher repairs.

A spokeswoman for the taxpayer-owned body said it wouldn’t comment when asked what the status of the Mazars review was.

Controversy over spending overshadowed what was otherwise a relatively strong year at the port, which handles almost 50 per cent of all trade in the Republic.

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The number of ferry passengers who travelled through the facility last year climbed 6.7 per cent to more than 1.9 million passengers, while the number of vehicles through the port rose just shy of 10 per cent.

Cargo volumes

In its trading figures for 2019, Dublin Port reported growth across the majority of its activities, with lift-on/lift-off cargo volumes up 6.5 per cent, surpassing the pre-recession level seen in 2007.

Roll-on/roll-off growth was more subdued at 2.6 per cent with the port accommodating 1.1 million units in the year.

“Behind these growth figures, however, we saw a marked difference between the UK and the EU 26. Where GB volumes declined by 0.2 per cent, volumes on roll-on/roll-off and lift-on/lift-off services to continental Europe grew very strongly, by 10.7 per cent,” said Dublin Port chief executive Eamonn O’Reilly.

Some 158 cruise ships arrived at the port during the year compared to 150 in 2018

Increasing activity in the road transport and aviation sectors prompted growth in bulk liquid volumes, which mainly comprises petroleum products. Some 4.7 million tonnes came through the port last year, a figure that’s 14.4 per cent higher than in 2007 and up 0.9 per cent on the previous year.

But bulk solid commodity volumes fell a considerable 23.4 per cent in the year. Dublin Port attributed this to two factors, saying that, firstly, 2018 had been an "exceptionally strong year for agri-feed imports" and secondly, because Boliden Tara Mines ceased exports for a four-month period during the year.

Cruise business

As the ferry passenger business running through the port during the year was strong, so too was the success of its cruise business. Some 158 cruise ships arrived at the port during the year compared to 150 in 2018, with passenger numbers up 16.7 per cent.

In December, the company finalised a €300 million debt facility to continue investment n its Alexandra Basin redevelopment project. The scheme, the largest ever undertaken by the port, will deepen the navigation channel to allow for bigger container and cruise ships.