2005 was an excellent trading year for the Port with record net profits of £16.6m (up 11%) based on turnover of £29.6m (up 3%). This improved position was driven principally by the Estate Division, which continued to record ongoing growth in both turnover and revenue.

As a pre-cursor to the Port's 2006 - 2010, £140m investment programme, capital expenditure on Port and Estate infrastructure increased dramatically by 40% to £13.6m. 

This programme, the largest ever undertaken by the Port in a five-year period, will deliver a new terminal for Stena at the seaward end of the Port, additional container capacity and the first logistics park (40-acres) on the County Down side of the Port.

In addition, during 2005, 338,000 freight vehicles were carried by services operating at the Port, 133,000 containers were handled and for the fifth year running bulk traffic was in excess of seven million tonnes, including a 73% increase in paper products and a 16% increase in aggregates. Over 1.2m passengers were also carried, making Belfast the island’s busiest passenger port.