National statistics

Port freight annual statistics 2021: Cargo information and arrivals

Published 27 July 2022

About this release

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You can use our maritime interactive dashboard to explore port freight trends.

Port freight trends by cargo type

Chart 1: UK major port tonnage by cargo group, 2000 to 2021 (PORT0201)

While tonnage increased overall by 2%, in 2021, the trend differs between the cargo groups. In 2021:

• the largest increase was for dry bulk, which rose by 10.6 million tonnes (12%) and exceeded 2019 levels by 5%
• other general cargo increased 12%, now 9% higher than 2019, driven by increased imports of forestry products and iron and steel
• containers (Lo-Lo) traffic saw a slight increase (2%) suggesting some recovery but remained 5% below 2019,
• liquid bulk continued to decrease, following its long term downwards trend
• ro-ro tonnage declined for the third consecutive year, driven mostly by a decline in accompanied roads goods vehicles

Please use our maritime interactive dashboard for further statistics on passenger and freight trends.

Liquid bulk

Definitions

Liquid bulk consists of any liquid or liquid gas that is transported in a tank.

Liquified natural gas (LNG) is natural gas which has been cooled to approximately -160°C, changing its state from gas to liquid. This enables transportation of gas by ship, as the volume is significantly reduced compared to the gaseous state.

Oil products are derivatives of petroleum, including diesel, gasoil, aviation fuel and gas condensate.

Liquid bulk accounted for 37% of all tonnage handled at UK major ports in 2021, continuing to account for the highest proportion of all the cargo groups. All liquid bulk types declined in 2021 except for oil products, which saw an 8% increase. Liquified gas saw the largest absolute and relative decline in 2021 (-27%) within the liquid bulk category, following increases in both 2019 and 2020.

Chart 2: Liquid bulk tonnage trends from 2000-2021 (PORT0201)

According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) the UK has access to both piped gas and LNG markets, so LNG moved by ship does not necessarily follow UK demand for gas, as the relative contributions of these two markets to UK supply can shift based on prices. LNG peaked in 2019 when LNG spot prices reached record lows because of an over supplied global market.

Despite a reduction in UK gas demand, these high volumes of LNG imports were sustained in 2020 as reduced demand during the lockdowns imposed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, particularly in key Asian markets, led to a decline in LNG prices, which the UK took advantage of. In 2021, increased Asian demand, following cold weather, led to low global availability and a subsequent spike in spot prices and therefore a sharp drop in UK LNG imports (for more detail on LNG go to the BEIS energy trends collection).

Qatar was the largest import source to the UK, accounting for 40% of LNG imports. Imports of liquified gas from Qatar saw a decline of 2.7 million tonnes to 4.3 million tonnes in 2021, accounting for 68% of the decline in the UK’s imports of liquified gas.

Milford Haven handled the most liquified gas of all UK ports in 2021 (53%), consistent with previous years. In 2021, liquified gas declined by 2.6 million tonnes at Milford Haven accounting for 51% of the UK’s total decrease of this cargo. Milford Haven also handled the most oil products of any UK port (14.7 million tonnes), their largest cargo type.

Oil products were the only liquid bulk group to increase in 2021, following a 31% decrease in 2020 related to reduced demand during the pandemic. In 2021 imports increased slightly but remained 16% below 2019. This is in line with demand remaining below pre-pandemic levels, according to BEIS Energy Trends. Grimsby and Immingham saw the largest increase of oil products in the UK, to 11.1 million tonnes, accounting for 52% of the total UK oil increase. Grimsby and Immingham’s position rose from being the 5th largest liquid bulk port in 2020 to the 2nd in 2021, behind Milford Haven.

You can use our maritime dashboard to observe the trends in all liquid bulks over time, UK ports that handle liquid bulks such as, oil and liquid natural gases, as well as route information.

Dry bulk

Definitions:

Dry bulk is carried in the main cargo hold of bulk carrier vessels, for example coal, ores and scrap metal.

Other dry bulk consists of anything that does not fit into ores and scrap, coal or agricultural products but is carried in bulk on a bulk carrier vessel, including cement, aggregates, ash and wood pellets.

Biomass is a broad term covering all organic material including that from plants, trees (for example straw, crops or wood) and animals (for example, poultry litter). It is considered a renewable form of energy production as biomass growth removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil, plants or trees. Biomass is classified as other dry bulk in these statistics.

Sea dredged aggregates are sand and gravel from the seabed, used a lot for concrete and general construction.

All dry bulk categories increased from 2020, totalling 96.6 million tonnes in 2021. Overall dry bulk has increased beyond pre-pandemic levels, up 5% from 2019.

Chart 3: Dry bulk tonnage from 2000-2021 (PORT0201)

Other dry bulk accounted for the majority of dry bulk (62%) and increased by 14% in 2021 up to 59.9 million tonnes. The growth in this category over the past few years can in part be attributed to an increase in biomass, reflecting the shift to renewable fuels. HMRC Trade statistics note that the major source of biomass burnt in UK power stations are wood pellets. These trade statistics show imports of wood pellets have increased 5-fold in the past 10 years, however this does not account for the whole trend as the increase in other dry bulk is larger than the increase of wood pellets seen in the trade statistics.

Another explanation for the increase in other dry bulk is sea dredged aggregates, evidenced by a sharp 29% increase in domestic one-port traffic in 2021. One-port tonnage consists of traffic to and from offshore locations, including sea dredging. Aggregates from sea dredging are used in construction, and according to the ONS construction output increased 12.7% overall in 2021 compared with 2020.

London was the largest dry bulk port handling 17% of dry bulk overall and 23% of other dry bulk in 2021. Other dry bulk at London increased 2.2 million tonnes (20%), the largest absolute increase in other dry bulk of all UK ports in 2021. The next largest other dry bulk increase was at Liverpool (1.3 million).

Coal, once the largest subcategory of dry bulk, is now a sixth of the previous peak in 2013, reflecting the UK’s plan to phase out coal-fired powerplants by 2025. Coal has increased slightly in 2021 to 8.5 million tonnes but remains just below pre-pandemic levels (8.7 million tonnes in 2019). According to BEIS Energy Trends, with the Drax coal units mothballed at the end of March 2021, three coal plants remain operational in the UK.

Containers (Lo-Lo)

Definitions:

Lift-on/Lift-of (Lo-Lo) Consists of container traffic. TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) is a standardised measure to allow for the different sizes of container boxes.

Transhipment: These statistics collect the port of loading or unloading of the cargo, which may not be the port of ultimate origin or destination. For example, if a ship carrying cargo from Asia unloads/loads the cargo at a European port which is then put on another ship to the UK, our statistics will state the port of load as the European port, rather than the port in Asia.

Deep Sea: Maritime traffic that crosses oceans. This consists of countries in Africa, America, Asia and Australasia. Mediterranean countries are classed under short sea in the port freight series.

Short Sea: Maritime traffic that moves cargo along a coast without having to cross an ocean. This consists of European Union (EU) and ‘Other Europe and Mediterranean’ (Extra-EU) countries.

Container (Lo-Lo) traffic is measured in both tonnes and units, where 1 unit is 1 container, and tonnage measures the weight of the cargo being carried, excluding the weight of the container itself, so an empty container has a weight of 0.

Overall container tonnage increased slightly from 2020 by 2% to 63.4 million tonnes, with all container types increasing. Inward container tonnage slightly exceeded 2019 pre-pandemic levels, whereas outward tonnage declined further.

Felixstowe was the largest container port in 2021, handling 17.6 million tonnes, followed by London handling 16.9 million tonnes. Felixstowe saw the largest absolute decrease of 1.6 million tonnes (9%) from 2020, 1 million of which was a decline in inwards traffic. Conversely, London had the largest absolute increase of 1.6 million tonnes (10%) from 2020, the majority of which (1.4 million) was also inwards traffic.

Measured in units, container traffic has increased 6% to 5.9 million units in 2021. This remains slightly below pre-pandemic levels in 2019 (-5%).

Chart 4: International deep and long sea container tonnage and unitised traffic, 2000 to 2021 (PORT0499)

Towards the end of 2020 and throughout 2021, there were worldwide congestion and capacity issues at container ports and shipping fleets created by unprecedented demand for goods in a COVID-19 affected operating environment. Congestion reduced the operational effectiveness of ports and reliability of vessel schedules. This had a number of effects such as vessels staying at berth for longer and an increase in waiting time at anchor (according to port congestion and waiting time information from sea/ by Maritech.

The sector sought to mitigate this in various ways including short term changes aimed at dynamically managing vessels, calls, and cargo handling across their international locations (not just in the UK). As a result, loading and unloading patterns were changed, including prioritising loaded imports over empty exports, temporary schedule changes and transhipment. This led to a build-up of empty containers in North America and Europe.

UK port freight statistics saw an increase in empty containers exported during 2021, likely to rebalance this build-up. Empty containers units handled by UK ports increased in 2021 by 11%. Exported containers accounted for all of the increase, where imported empty containers saw a slight decline. Empty containers on deep sea routes accounted for 74% of this national increase in empty containers.

Deep sea container tonnage declined sharply in 2020, and declined a further 1.2 million tonnes in 2021, at the same time short sea container tonnage increased 5% in 2020 and a further 10% in 2021. This could be some evidence to suggest that some vessels missed their UK port calls and discharged containers destined for the UK at another European port, which were then transhipped on another vessel to the UK (transhipment is explained in the definitions at the top of this section) This could also happen in reverse, with containers destined for other European ports discharged in the UK and then transhipped.

This behaviour was widely reported on during 2021 by the industry for example by Lloyd’s list. However, transhipment likely does not account for all of this shift. There has been an overall increasing trend of short sea container imports since 2010 in both tonnage and units. In 2021, there was an increase of 2.5 million tonnes (12%) in imported short sea containers, alongside a 0.1 million units increase (10%), which has not been matched by a decline in deep sea container traffic.

Ro-Ro

Definitions

Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) is cargo that can be moved on to, or off, a vessel either by their own propulsion (such as a passenger car) or with assistance (such as an unaccompanied trailer). For detailed information see the cargo category flowchart.

Landbridge is a term commonly used to describe the route that connects the Island of Ireland to the rest of the EU via mainland Britain’s road and ports network.

Accompanied or self propelled are road goods vehicles carrying freight accompanied by the driver on the sea crossing.

Unaccompanied or non-self propelled are road goods vehicles without the accompanied cab, rolled on and off the vessel by port operations and collected by a new driver at the destination port.

Roll-on, roll-off traffic is measured in both tonnes and units, where 1 unit is 1 vehicle or trailer, and tonnage measures the weight of the cargo being carried, excluding the weight of the vehicle itself, so an empty unit has a weight of 0.

Overall, Ro-Ro tonnage has seen a decline of 4% in 2021, a similar decrease that was observed from 2019 to 2020 of 5%. Unitised traffic remained stable in 2021, this follows a 31% decrease in 2020.

This different trend in units and tonnage is largely explained by passenger vehicles, which are counted in units but do not have a tonnage (because they are not carrying any cargo). Passenger vehicle units stayed low at 2.4 million units in 2021, after a 67% decline in 2020, and are still 62% below 2019 levels. The trend closely follows the trend seen in sea passenger statistics. There were still restrictions on international travel in place from both the UK and France throughout 2021 which affected these figures. Domestic UK routes accounted for 55% of passenger vehicle traffic, followed by France at 22%. The figures increased in summer months following the pre-pandemic seasonal pattern but at much lower levels.

Chart 5: Roll-on, Roll-off (Ro-Ro) unitised traffic from 2000 to 2021 (PORT0201)

Chart 6: Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) unitised traffic handled at UK ports in 2021 (PORT0201)

Accompanied road goods vehicles, such as heavy goods vehicles, decreased 0.3 million units (8%) while unaccompanied vehicles saw an increase of 0.3 million units (10%). This might initially suggest a shift from accompanied to unaccompanied vehicles however, in tonnage accompanied freight saw a decrease of 4.7 million tonnes (-12%) and unaccompanied saw an increase of 2.6 million tonnes (+6%). The decrease in accompanied tonnage was much larger than the increase in unaccompanied, therefore a shift from accompanied to unaccompanied would not completely explain the decline in accompanied Ro-Ro tonnage.

Dover accounted for 2.1 million tonnes of this total decrease in accompanied freight, followed by Holyhead (1.4 million). Combined, the 2 ports account for 75% of the total decrease in accompanied freight. Unaccompanied tonnage traffic at Dover decreased slightly, although only 2% of all freight handled at Dover is unaccompanied. Holyhead also saw a decrease in unaccompanied freight of 0.7 million tonnes. This suggests an overall decline at these ports rather than a shift from accompanied to unaccompanied traffic.

Examining the quarterly trend in Ro-Ro freight units (PORT0503) there was an increase in quarter 4 (October to December 2020) as companies stockpiled in the lead up to the UK leaving the European Union at the end of 2020, this was followed by lower traffic levels in quarter 1 (January to March 2021) as these stockpiles were unwound, but at some ports such as Dover and Holyhead traffic has not returned to 2019 levels. Decline in Ro-Ro traffic at these ports could be related to a decline in demand for the landbridge as a route to and from the European Union (EU) following the UK’s exit from the EU. See Irish Maritime Development Office quarterly statistics for more information.

In a similar way to containers, the difference in trends between goods vehicles measured in tonnes and units can be explained by empty units. In 2021, there was a decline in road goods vehicles carrying cargo, and a small increase in empty vehicles being moved resulting in a larger decline in tonnage compared to units.

The largest absolute increase in unaccompanied freight tonnage was at Grimsby and Immingham (+9%), which handled the most unaccompanied freight in the UK (22%).

The number of motor vehicles imported and exported saw a large decline in 2020 and a further decline in 2021 of 7%. London was the largest UK port contributing to this decline, accounting for 44% of the fall seen in 2021. The largest UK ports handling imports and exports of vehicles were Grimsby and Immingham and Southampton, accounting for 51% of the UK total. The number of import and export motor vehicles through Grimsby and Immingham declined 5% while at Southampton it increased 1%.

According to the Office for National Statistics Index of production the production of motor vehicles declined sharply in 2020 then increased slightly in 2021. As 8 out of 10 cars made in the UK are exported, this decline in car production is likely to be related to the decrease in import and export vehicle traffic observed.

Arrivals statistics

Statistics on vessel arrivals are outside the scope of National Statistics and are based on data from a number of sources including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency CERS system.

The methods used to compile these figures changed in 2018. 2017 figures using the previous and current method are provided in the PORT06 tables for comparison. Further details are provided in the notes and definitions.

These figures largely exclude domestic ferries such as to and from the Isle of Wight. The PORT06 tables cover all vessels arriving at all UK ports, whilst this page only covers arrivals at UK major ports.

Definitions

Gross Tonnage (GT) is the measurement of the ship’s internal volume (for example, the space on the ship).

Deadweight Tonnage (DWT) is the maximum weight, in tonnes, a ship can carry in terms of cargo, fuel and stores, before reaching its load line mark.

Vessel arrivals at UK major ports

An estimated total of 85,200 cargo vessels arrived at UK major ports during 2021, 3.6% more than the 2020 level. Almost a fifth of these were at Dover, which alone handled 15,600 vessel arrivals in 2021, up from 13,800 thousand (PORT0602).

The ports with the highest number of vessel arrivals tend to be those with regular ferry (Ro-Ro) services. Ports with the highest number of other cargo vessels included those handling the most tonnage, which are Grimsby and Immingham, London and Liverpool.

Top 10 UK major ports with most cargo vessel arrivals in thousands, 2021 (PORT0602).

Chart 7: Top 10 UK major ports with most cargo vessel arrivals in thousands, 2021 (PORT0602)

Chart 8: Cargo vessels arriving at UK major ports by ship type, 2021 (PORT0602)

Note to chart: some vessel types are not included in this chart and therefore percentages do not sum to 100.

Ro-Ro vessels accounted for 50% of all cargo vessel arrivals in major ports in 2021. In terms of deadweight tonnage (DWT), a measure of cargo carrying capacity, container ships accounted for 25%, despite only being responsible for 7% of arrivals.

Between 2010 and 2019, the number of cargo vessels arriving at UK major ports fell, whereas the total DWT and GT arriving remained broadly stable, reflecting an increase in average vessel size, particularly for container ships. However in 2020, there was a fall in vessel arrivals substantial enough to lead to a drop in DWT and GT as well. This can be attributed to measures to prevent the spread of covid-19 affecting the industry. The picture was mixed in 2021, as the number of cargo vessel arrivals and gross tonnage both increased 4% while deadweight tonnage declined a further 3%. This is consistent with the partial recovery of freight tonnage seen in the rest of the port freight statistics.

Background Information

The tables give further detail of the key results presented in this statistical release. They are available from port and domestic waterborne freight statistics.

These notes provide further information such as definitions and a list of UK ports is available. The background quality report provides further information on how the data is collected, quality assured and comparisons with relevant data sources.

The port freight statistics are National Statistics. This means they are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure they meet customer needs. These statistics were designated as National Statistics in February 2013. The continued designation was confirmed in December 2018. The arrivals statistics included in this release are not National Statistics.

Related data sources

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publishes data on tonnage and value to a much more granular commodity level for goods moved between the UK and countries outside the EU by sea. Comparisons between port freight and these sources, specifically for certain cargo categories, are explored further in our notes and definitions.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy publish the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) which covers the production and consumption of fuels and energy in the UK.

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