page_title: Cork Harbour
section_title: Commercial
hierarchical_section_title: Cork Harbour / Marine activity / Commercial
caption_attribution_description: English: Ringaskiddy ferry terminal, Cork Harbour, County Cork. The Swansea - Cork ferry docks at Ringaskiddy, nine miles south east of the City of Cork. This is the view looking east.
context_page_description: Cork Harbour is a natural harbour and river estuary at the mouth of the River Lee in County Cork, Ireland. It is one of several which lay claim to the title of "second largest natural harbour in the world by navigational area". Other contenders include Halifax Harbour in Canada, Trincomalee Harbour in Sri Lanka and Poole Harbour in England.
  The harbour has been a working port and a strategic defensive hub for centuries, and it has been one of Ireland's major employment hubs since the early 1900s. Traditional heavy industries have waned since the late 20th century, with the likes of the closure of Irish Steel in Haulbowline and shipbuilding at Verolme. It still has major and strategic significance in energy generation, shipping, refining and pharmaceuticals.
context_section_description: Historically, the navigation and port facilities of the harbour were managed by the Cork Harbour Commissioners. Founded in 1814, the Cork Harbour Commissioners were reorganised as the Port of Cork Company in 1997.
  Vessels up to 90,000 tonnes deadweight (DWT) are capable of coming through the harbour entrance. As the shipping channels get shallower the farther inland one travels, access becomes constricted, and only vessels up to 60,000 DWT can sail above Cobh.
  The Port of Cork provides pilotage and towage facilities for vessels entering Cork Harbour. All vessels accessing the quays in Cork City must be piloted and all vessels exceeding 130 metres in length must be piloted once they pass within 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) of the harbour entrance at a point marked by the Spit Bank Lighthouse which is the landmark boundary for compulsory pilotage.
  The Port of Cork has berthing facilities at Cork City, Tivoli, Cobh and Ringaskiddy. The facilities in Cork City are primarily used for grain and oil transport. Tivoli (downstream of the older city quays) provides container handling, facilities for oil, livestock and ore and a roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) ramp. Prior to the opening of Ringaskiddy Ferry Port, car ferries sailed from here; now, the Ro-Ro ramp is used by companies importing cars into Ireland. In addition to the ferry terminal, which provides a service to Roscoff in France, Ringaskiddy has a deep water port.
  The Port of Cork company is a commercial semi-state company responsible for the commercial running of the harbour as well as responsibility for navigation and berthage in the port.  In 2011 the port had a turnover of €21.4 million and made pre-tax profits of €1.2 million.  This was down from a turnover of €26.4 million and profits of €5.4 million in 2006.   Container traffic increased by 6% in 2011 when 156,667teus were handled at the Tivoli container facility, however this was down from a peak of 185,000 TEUs in 2006. The 2006 figure saw the port at full capacity and the Port drew up plans for a new container facility capable of handling up to 400,000 teus per annum at Ringaskiddy. This was the subject of objections and after an oral planning hearing was held in 2008, the Irish planning board Bord Pleanala rejected the plan due to inadequate rail and road links at the location.
  Permission was later granted and work started (2018) on the new port.
  There has been an increase in cruise ship visits to Cork Harbour in the early 21st century, with 53 such ships visiting the port in 2011. The majority of these cruise ships berth at Cobh's Deepwater Quay. Historically, Cobh (under its former name Queenstown) was one of the principal ports through which flowed the stream of emigrants stemming from the Great Famine in the 1840s.
  There are also a number of private berths around the harbour, with several centred on Whitegate, Passage West, Rushbrooke, Ringaskiddy and Haulbowline.
caption: The Swansea – Cork ferry docks at Ringaskiddy.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "E885", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "E885v1.1", "Image DateTime": "2003:07:22 07:52:43", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "284", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4084", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3847", "EXIF ExposureTime": "10/1651", "EXIF FNumber": "38/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2003:07:22 07:52:43", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2003:07:22 07:52:43", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "886", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}