Belfast

Established in 1847, Belfast Harbour is Northern Ireland’s largest port handling 70% of the region’s seaborne trade. This includes 80% of Northern Ireland’s oil and petroleum imports and 1.4 million ferry passengers each year. Belfast Harbour is the largest ferry port in Northern Ireland handling 500,000 freight vehicles per year on the Stena Line services to Cairnryan, Liverpool and Heysham. Belfast Harbour is the largest cruise port in Northern Ireland with over 140,000 visitors each year. The Harbour Estate covers an area of 2,000 acres, representing 20% of the Belfast city area. Belfast Harbour has realised substantial growth in the number of cruise ships calling each year with 82 ship calls in 2016. The port can handle up to 3 cruise ships per day with the largest ship handled to date being the 330m Royal Princess. The Harbour has the longest deepwater quay in Ireland at 1 kilometre in length with a draft of 10.2 metres.