Belfast Harbour

Major maritime hub in Northern Ireland

Belfast Harbour is a major maritime hub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, handling 67% of Northern Ireland's seaborne trade and about 25% of the maritime trade of the entire island of Ireland. It is a vital gateway for raw materials, exports and consumer goods, and is also Northern Ireland's leading logistics and distribution hub. The Belfast Harbour Estate is home to many well known Northern Ireland businesses such as George Best Belfast City Airport, Harland and Wolff, Spirit AeroSystems, Odyssey, the Catalyst Inc, Titanic Quarter and Titanic Belfast. Over 700 firms employing 23,000 people are located within the estate. Belfast is only one of two ports on the island of Ireland to handle a full range of cargoes, from freight vehicles to containers, dry, break and liquid bulk, as well as passenger services and cruise calls. Belfast Harbour handled 23 million tonnes of cargo during 2015, similar to its throughput for 2014. The tonnages suggest a varying performance between sectors in the wider Northern Ireland economy. BBC One Northern Ireland began a three part documentary (4 parts when broadcast in 2022) on Belfast Harbour entitled Belfast Harbour: Cruises, Cranes and Cargo on 14 April 2020 examining the role of the Port of Belfast in Northern Ireland's economy.

Belfast Harbour is one of the UK's many "Trust Ports" and is an independent statutory body. Trust Ports are not owned by Government; they are obliged to operate independently and on a commercial basis. Its Board – known as Belfast Harbour Commissioners is appointed by Northern Ireland's Department for Regional Development on the basis of open public advertisement. The Commissioners currently number fifteen and are led by a Chairman. The positions are remunerated and are for terms of three years. All of the Commissioners with the exception of the Chief Executive are non executives.

The current Commissioners as of February 2020 include David Dobbin CBE as chairman and Joe O’Neill as CEO.

The port is patrolled by the Belfast Harbour Police, which is one of the oldest constabularies in the British Isles, dating back over 160 years. In recent times the service has faced new challenges as the relocation of marine facilities to the seaward end of the Port have created opportunities to develop new residential, commercial and public spaces. In addition to traditional port users the Harbour Police now provide a range of policing services to tenants, residents and visitors who frequent the Harbour Estate.

Connecting Belfast with Glasgow Central via using the coach link from Cairnryan. Trains run along the Glasgow South Western Line from Ayr to Glasgow Central. There is Metro bus Service 96 connecting with Yorkgate onto the Londonderry Line and Belfast Suburban Rail network of Northern Ireland Railways.

It is increasingly popular with cruise liners, with 2016 due to be the busiest cruise season in the city's history with over 145,000 passengers and crew due to visit, representing a 26% increase in visitor numbers compared with 2015. The 2 cruise berths that are used are the Pollock dock, named after Northern Irish politician Hugh MacDowell Pollock, for smaller ships and the Stormont Wharf (deep water berth) for larger ships, The extended Stormont Wharf was opened on 30 June 2009 by the Grand Princess. Pollock Dock: (Length 457m, depth 8.5m)
Stormont Wharf (Length 177m, depth 10.2m)

Belfast Harbour has extensive property interests covering about 855 acres are used directly for port operations, are reserved for nature conservation and the remaining 1,005 are either leased or under negotiation.

Belfast Harbour's largest property project is the Titanic Quarter, which is "co promoted" with Titanic Quarter Limited.

Belfast Harbour Commissioners and its partners made the first planning application for Holywood Exchange (previously known as D5 or Harbour Exchange) on 14 November 1995. Planning permission was granted twice and then successfully challenged. The third time planning permission was granted it was again challenged, but this time unsuccessfully. Construction began in December 2002 and when completed the development consisted of an 11 unit 13,940 m2 (150,000 ft2) retail warehouse centre, a Sainsbury's store and service station, and a B&Q store. A 29,000 m2 (312,000 ft2) IKEA store opened on 13 December 2007.

City Quays is a mixed use commercial offices in City Quays 1 and City Quays 2 and includes shops, cafes, restaurants and other local services.

The Odyssey Complex, which consists of the Odyssey Pavilion, SSE Arena Belfast and W5 is a large sports and entertainment centre in the Belfast Harbour Estate. The Odyssey arena and pavilion is built on land owned by The Odyssey Trust under a 150 year lease with Belfast Harbour Commissioners.