National statistics

Port freight quarterly statistics: April to June 2023

Published 6 September 2023

About this release

We are providing our statistics releases in HTML format and we would like to hear your comments. If you have any feedback on our use of this format or on this release, contact maritime statistics (see contact details).

Definitions can be revealed by hovering over words and can be found in the definitions section at the end of this release.

Overview of port freight quarterly statistics

When comparing April to June 2023 with April to June 2022 through UK major ports:

• total freight tonnage decreased by 4% to 110.3 million tonnes

• inward tonnage decreased by 4% to 74 million tonnes

• outward tonnage decreased by 2% to 36.3 million tonnes

• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 5% to 5.4 million units

• inward units increased by 6% to 2.9 million units

• outward units increased by 4% to 2.5 million units

When comparing the rolling year to June 2023 with June 2022 through UK major ports:

• total tonnage decreased by 2% to 442.6 million tonnes

• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 6% to 20.5 million units

Detailed final annual statistics for 2023 will be published in summer 2024.

Chart 1: Quarterly port freight tonnage and units from 2019

Note, the 2021 series has been removed from these charts to make them easier to read.

Chart 1 shows that in quarter 2 (April to June) 2023, the gap to the equivalent quarter in 2019 for tonnage traffic shrank slightly, to 6%, but remains below 2022 figures. There is some evidence that tonnage is not likely to reach 2019 levels, following the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) exit from the European Union (EU), with the OBR Brexit analysis assuming that UK-EU trade will be around 15% lower in the long run than if the UK had remained in the EU. The OBR’s latest evidence on the impact of Brexit on UK trade, published in March 2022, also finds that the UK appears to have become a less trade intensive economy, with trade as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) falling 12% since 2019, the largest fall of any G7 country.

Chart 1 also shows that unitised port freight traffic, including passenger vehicles, has followed the seasonal pattern, rising 20% from the winter lull in quarter 1 (January to March) 2023. The gap to the equivalent quarter in 2019 has also shrunk since last quarter to just 9% below Q2 2019, the lowest percentage difference since the pandemic, reflecting increasing sea passenger volumes. Sea passenger statistics are available in the sea passenger data collection.

Port freight trends by cargo type estimates

Method and coverage

We are planning to discontinue table PORT0501 from the quarterly port freight statistics from quarter 3 (July to September) 2023 onwards due to low user engagement. PORT0501 presents tonnage and unit totals at the national level as indices. National level tonnage and unit totals will remain available in PORT0502. Please let us know if you use PORT0501 and would be negatively affected by its removal by contacting us at maritime statistics.

Cargo group trends published in PORT0503 are experimental estimates. The estimates are based on total tonnage and units provided by the port which are validated to a high standard and published as provisional national statistics in PORT0502. These totals are then split by cargo group based on data provided by shipping agents. If no shipping agent data is received for a port, then no estimates can be created. Since Q3 2022, where large amounts of data from a shipping agent is missing in the current quarter, a value has been imputed from the equivalent quarter in the previous year to allow for more accurate national trend analysis. This method is still under development and any feedback from users is welcome at maritime statistics.

The agents and ports data might not always match due to missing agent data, or differences in how ports and agents categorise a certain shipment. During the annual validations process the Department carries out extensive matching between these two data sources and queries the data providers to finalise the annual dataset. During quarterly validations, only high-level matching is conducted. Therefore, PORT0502 should always be used for accurate trend analysis.

As with all the quarterly figures, these estimates are provisional until finalised with the annual publication in the following calendar year, for example 2023 estimates will be finalised in summer 2024.

Chart 2: UK port freight tonnage traffic by cargo group since 2019

Liquid Bulk

Chart 2 shows that liquid bulk tonnage through UK major ports has decreased by 2% to 43.4 million tonnes when comparing quarter 2 (April to June) 2023 with Q2 2022. Milford Haven saw the largest decrease of any major UK port, with a 0.9 million tonne (10%) drop. Tees and Hartlepool saw a 0.8 million tonne increase (26%) in liquid bulk tonnage during this period, the largest increase in liquid bulk of any major UK port. However, this increase on last year is largely due to a substantial dip in crude oil exports seen at Tees and Hartlepool in Q2 2022.

The figures in this chart are timelier estimates, for high quality trend analysis of cargo groups, please use our 2022 port freight annual statistics

Chart 3: The top 3 UK ports with the largest overall increases and decreases in tonnage handled from Q2 2022 to Q2 2023, segmented by cargo group

Dry Bulk

In quarter 2 (April to June) 2023, dry bulk tonnage decreased by 9% to 22.1 million tonnes when compared with the same quarter in 2022, largely driving the overall decrease in tonnage traffic at major UK ports. As shown in Chart 3, The ports of Grimsby and Immingham and Liverpool collectively contributed 1.3 million tonnes (60%) of the total decline in dry bulk.

Lo-Lo

Lo-Lo tonnage in Q2 2023 saw little change when compared with Q2 2022, falling by less than a percent to 15.9 million tonnes. When comparing Q2 2023 with Q1 2023, however, Lo-Lo tonnage saw an increase of 10%. Q1 2023 saw the lowest container tonnage traffic since the pandemic, likely driven by low demand for finished goods as a result of high inflation and a rising cost of living. The rise in container traffic in Q2 2023 may be due to rising consumer confidence, which hit a 17-month high in June 2023 according to the GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index. Lo-Lo unitised traffic saw a similar increase of 9% when compared with Q1 2023 and a 5% increase when compared with Q2 2022.

Chart 4: The top 3 UK ports with the largest overall increases and decreases in units handled from Q2 2022 to Q2 2023, segmented by cargo group

Ro-Ro

Ro-Ro Freight

Ro-Ro freight tonnage has decreased by 2% to 23.7 million tonnes when comparing Q2 2023 with the same quarter in 2022. Grimsby and Immingham port contributed most to this decrease, with a 0.6 million tonne (15%) fall since Q2 2022. Ro-Ro freight units have increased by 2% (44,000 units) over the same period. This increase was driven by a rise of 119,000 units at Dover as shown in Chart 4.

Ro-Ro Non-Freight

In Q2 2023, Ro-Ro non-freight units increased by 7% to 2.0 million when compared with the same quarter in 2022. The largest increases came from Dover and Grimsby and Immingham which saw rises of 55,000 and 45,000 units respectively when compared with Q2 2022. The increase in units at Dover was attributed to a growth in tourist volumes driving up passenger vehicle numbers following the end of covid-related restrictions for travel. However, nationally, non-freight units still remain 23% below the same quarter in 2019. Sea passenger statistics are available in the sea passenger data collection. The 53% increase in Ro-Ro non-freight units between Q1 2023 and Q2 2023, can be attributed to seasonal variation, as shown in Chart 5 below.

The figures in this chart are timelier estimates, for high quality trend analysis of cargo groups, please use our 2022 port freight annual statistics

Chart 5: UK port freight unitised traffic by cargo group since 2019

Further information

Further information about these statistics is available, including:

• background information on quarterly port freight statistics;

• notes and definitions for all port freight statistics.

Please contact Maritime Forecasts if you have any questions about DfT port freight forecasts.

Definitions

Unitised goods: Goods which are lifted on or off the vessel in large (20 foot or longer) shipping containers or rolled on or off in 1 of a variety of self-propelled or towed units are said to be unitised cargoes. For these cargo types, the number of units as well as the weight of goods is recorded. The exception is passenger cars, which don’t carry cargo and therefore we collect only the number of units

Tonnage: Gross weight in tonnes, including crates and other packaging. The tare weights of containers, road goods vehicles, trailers and other items of transport equipment (the unloaded weight of the vehicle or equipment itself) are excluded

Liquid bulk: Consists of any liquid or liquid gas that is transported in a tank

Liquified natural gas (LNG): 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

Dry bulk: Carried in the main cargo hold of bulk carrier vessels, for example coal, ores and scrap metal

Lift-on/Lift-of (Lo-Lo): Consists of container traffic. 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

Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro): 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). Detailed information is available in this category flowchart

Ro-Ro freight traffic: All Ro-Ro units that carry cargo, both accompanied and unaccompanied, it 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

Ro-Ro non-freight traffic: All other Roll-on/Roll-off traffic that does not carry cargo, such as passenger vehicles, import/export vehicles and unaccompanied caravans. Passenger vehicles are counted in units but do not have a tonnage as they are carrying no cargo, therefore Ro-Ro non-freight tonnage is mostly import/export vehicles

Accompanied: Road goods vehicles carrying freight accompanied by the driver on the sea crossing

Unaccompanied: 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

Instructions for printing and saving

Depending on which browser you use and the type of device you use (such as a mobile or laptop) these instructions may vary.

Tablets and mobile devices normally have the option to “find in text” and “print or save” in their sharing or quick options menu of their browser, but this will vary by device model.

How to search

Select Ctrl and F on a Windows laptop or Command and F on a Mac

This will open a search box in the top right-hand corner of the page. Type the word you are looking for in the search bar and press enter.

Your browser will highlight the word, usually in yellow, wherever it appears on the page. Press enter to move to the next place it appears.

Contact us

Maritime and shipping statistics

Email maritime.stats@dft.gov.uk

Maritime statistics enquiries 020 7944 4847

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

To hear more about DfT statistical publications as they are released, follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) at DfTstats.