Belfast Harbour has reported a record setting year for the volume of freight transport and animal feed passing through the port, while tourist numbers also surged last year.
The latest annual trade data showed roll-on, roll-off freight (RoRo) reached a record 625,000 units in 2025, as Stena Line rolled out new higher capacity vessels toward the end of the year.
Grain and animal feeds also reached new record levels of 2.76 million tonnes, surpassing last year’s previous record of 2.46 million tonnes.
The trust-owned port’s annual snapshot of trade activity also suggests the post-pandemic boom in ‘car-cations’ and coach tourism has become a permanent feature for the Irish tourist industry.
Passenger numbers passing through Belfast Harbour terminal on an annual basis had hovered around 1.5 million prior to the pandemic, but surged to 1.77 million in 2022 as the restrictions on travel eased.
Numbers dipped to 1.7 million in 2023 and 2024, but increased again last year to 1.73 million, indicating the tourism trend is here to stay.
The 13,500 tourist coaches that passed through the harbour in 2025 was the highest on record.
Overall, Belfast Harbour handled 24.3 million tonnes of goods in 2025, which was up on 2022 and 2023, but on par with pre-pandemic levels in 2019 and well below the record 25.6 million tonnes set in 2021.
The number of container units passing through the docks increasing 1% last year to just over 125,000 units.
While it marked the second successive year of annual growth, it remains well below the pre-pandemic peak of 130,000 units from 2019 and below the record high of 132,000 set during 2021 in response to Covid stock-piling.
Elsewhere, Belfast Harbour said 2025 was a strong year for liquid bulk commodities, with volumes of refined oils including petrol and diesel up 6% on the year before, while break bulk volumes were also robust, with steel up 11% to 200,000 tonnes.
The trust-owned port said its latest figures continue to highlight its role as a gateway for trade, handling more than 70% of the Northern Ireland’s seaborne imports and exports and 25% of sea trade for the island of Ireland.
A recent economic assessment estimates Belfast Harbour handles around £26.7 billion of good and freight on an annual basis.
“Trade through Belfast Harbour has once again been resilient in the face of local and global headwinds and we were proud to keep supporting essential industries such as agri-food throughout the year,” said port director Michael Robinson.
“We continue to invest in our port facilities and will this year unveil our 2025-2050 Masterplan, which contains plans for major port expansion and upgrades that will further increase our port trade capacity.”
