Belfast harbour reports record tonnages in 2011
image by Jake Samuels
BELFAST Harbour has reported a record year despite the economic climate as tonnages handled by the port rose by seven per cent to 17,644m tonnes in 2011.
The increase was driven by strong performances in the break bulk and roll on/roll off, freight vehicles sectors, as well as increases in dry bulk tonnages.
Break Bulk products - packaged but not containerised - jumped 23 per cent to 332,000 tonnes. In particular, steel and steel coil traffic doubled in 2011 compared with 2010 reflecting improved activity in Northern Ireland’s engineering manufacturing sector, while the number of freight vehicles using the port rose by 14 per cent.
Dry bulk, which includes items such as aggregates and agri-food related products such as animal feed, exceeded four million tonnes for the first time in the port’s history.
It was a record year also for stone exports, which rose by 13 per cent to one million tones, reflecting ongoing road maintenance and construction projects in Great Britain and Europe.
Other notable performers in the sector included scrap metal, up eight per cent, and salt, up by 82 per cent due to the harsh winter weather at the start of the year and expectations of similar conditions this year.
Reflecting the ongoing difficulties in the construction industry, timber imports fell for the sixth-year running, down 21 per cent on 2010 while liquid bulk tonnages, in particular home heating oil, fell by 16 per cent as high commodity prices and a warm winter suppressed demand.
“This is evidently a very positive set of figures for Belfast Harbour, bringing port tonnages above the 17 million mark for the first time since the onset of the global economic downturn in 2007,” said Belfast Harbour CEO Roy Adair.
Run as a not for profit trust by an appointed board of commissioners, Belfast harbour generates income through shipping movements and also through revenues raised through the harbour estate from tenants such as George Best Belfast City Airport, Harland & Wolff, Bombardier, Odyssey and the NI Science Park.
It is involved in the regeneration of the Titanic Quarter and in the development announced late last year of a major facility for renewables firm DONG Energy.
“While there are signs of increased activity in some sectors, the harbour is not complacent about future growth,” said Mr Adair.
“The Board will continue to pursue a policy of investing in capital projects to support emerging industries such as renewable energy and to future-proof the demand for new growth at the harbour through land reclamation.”
An eagerness to diversify had helped Belfast establish itself as the most modern and efficient port on the island, and a leader in the UK’s renewable energy market, he said.
“That long-term approach has delivered today’s record trade figures, but the corollary is that success in future years is related strongly to the level and quality of investment which the harbour makes today.
“Projects such as the harbour’s development of a new £50m terminal for DONG Energy have significantly raised the port’s profile, and we are progressing a number of UK and overseas-based business leads, particularly from the renewable sector.
“It is important that the harbour continues to invest to accommodate and win these land hungry, capital intensive initiatives for Northern Ireland.”
Belfast has also benefited from the development of new terminals on both sides of the Irish Sea servicing the Belfast to Loch Ryan route and the introduction of new vessels by Stena. This, linked with the rationalisation of ferry services in the Irish Sea, resulted in a 14 per cent increase in the number of freight vehicles (357,000) using the port and a third consecutive year of increasing container traffic (load on/load off) – up two per cent to 129,000 boxes.
Passenger numbers passing through Belfast remained largely static at c.1.26m compared to c.1.3m in 2010.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
