Waterford (Ireland)

Waterford Harbour is a river port in Ireland, featuring a natural harbor located at the mouth of the rivers Barrow, Nore and Suir. The harbor is navigable and used for shipping by both cities - Waterford and New Ross. Waterford's Belview Port (locode IEWAT) is deepwater and can handle vessels with max weight 32000 DWT-tons. It is also one of Ireland's major cargo ports and the closest to mainland Europe. On the harbor's west side is the fishing village Dunmore East (a popular holiday vacation resort).

Belview Port (on River Suir) serves mainly the commercial shipping traffic, while Dunmore East Port (at Waterford Harbour's western entrance) serves passenger traffic. Port Dunmore East is managed by An Roinn Talmhaíochta, Bia agus Mara (Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine).

Waterford (Munster province) is at the harbor's head. It is Ireland's oldest and by population (around 70,000) ranked the country's 5th most populous.

Among local tourist attractions are:

• Reginald's Tower (located on the Quays) is a museum and Ireland's oldest building (a Viking monument).
• The city is internationally famous for its glass production between 1783-2009 when the Waterford Crystal factory was shut down. The House of Waterford Crystal (visitor center) was opened in June 2010.
• Between the mid-1850s - late-1860s, the Neptune Ironworks (shipbuilding company owned by the Malcomson Family) built here and operated some of the world's largest iron steamers, among which 5 Transatlantic ocean liners.
• Bishop's Palace museum (opened in 2011) has items from the period 1700–1970. Next to Bishop's Palace there is a second museum displaying the city's Medieval history.
• Theatre Royal (1876-built) is part of the City Hall.
• Municipal Art Gallery has a collection of over 200 paintings, including from renowned artists.

In 2023, Port Waterford Harbour had scheduled a total of 20 cruise ship calls bringing estimated ~39000 tourists (~27000 passengers plus ~12000 crew).