Ports and Harbours
Ireland has major ports in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Rosslare, Derry and Waterford. Smaller ports exist in Arklow, Ballina, Drogheda, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire, Foynes, Galway, Larne, Limerick, New Ross, Sligo, Warrenpoint and Wicklow.
Ports in the Republic handle 3.6 million travellers crossing the sea between Ireland and Great Britain each year. This has been steadily dropping for a number of years (20% since 1999), probably as a result of low cost airlines. Ferry connections between Britain and Ireland via the Irish Sea include the routes from Fishguard and Pembroke to Rosslare, Holyhead to Dún Laoghaire, Stranraer to Belfast and Larne, and Cairnryan to Larne; the Swansea to Cork route has closed. There is also a connection between Liverpool and Belfast via the Isle of Man. The world's largest car ferry, Ulysses, is operated by Irish Ferries on the Dublin–Holyhead route.
In addition, there are ferries from Rosslare and Cork to France.
The vast majority of heavy goods trade is done by sea. Northern Irish ports handle 10 megatonnes (Mt) of goods trade with Britain annually, while ports in the south handle 7.6 Mt, representing 50% and 40% respectively of total trade by weight.
Read more about this topic: Transport In Ireland
Famous quotes containing the words ports and and/or ports:
“All places that the eye of heaven visits
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“When its errands are noble and adequate, a steamboat bridging the Atlantic between Old and New England, and arriving at its ports with the punctuality of a planet, is a step of man into harmony with nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)