Belfast Harbour handled a record volume of trade last year, with Brexit checks cited as one factor.

The port said 25.6 million tonnes was handled in 2021, an increase of 9% on the previous year.

The trade volume was also up 5% on the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

While a pandemic bounce back was one driver of the increase in trade in 2021, the harbour’s annual report also highlighted that Belfast had benefited from a diversion of traffic away from GB to Republic of Ireland routes.

While Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol requires checks on goods entering NI from GB, the processes are not as rigorous as those applied on GB shipments to Ireland.

Ongoing grace periods that have delayed the full implementation of the protocol are one of the main reasons for the differential in checks between NI and RoI ports.

Northern Ireland exporters can also sell unfettered in the rest of the UK market if they ship from NI ports.

More from ITV News including a comment from the CEO of Belfast Harbour on the trading results.