Accredited official statistics

Port freight quarterly statistics: January to March 2025

Published 5 June 2025

Overview of Quarterly Port Freight Statistics 

When comparing January to March 2025 with January to March 2024 through UK major ports: 

• total freight tonnage increased by 5% to 107.4 million tonnes 

• inward tonnage increased by 7% to 72.8 million tonnes 

• outward tonnage showed little change, increasing by just under 1%, to 34.6 million tonnes 

• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 3% to 4.8 million units 

• inward units increased by 3% to 2.6 million units 

• outward units increased by 2% to 2.2 million units 

When comparing the rolling year to March 2025 with March 2024 through UK major ports: 

• total tonnage increased by 2% to 425.9 million tonnes 

• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 2% to 21.3 million units 

Detailed final annual statistics for 2025 will be published in summer 2026. 

Chart 1: Quarterly port freight tonnage and units from 2019 (PORT0502)

Note, the 2021, 2022 and 2023 series have been removed from these charts for greater clarity as the trends are very similar to those seen in 2024. 

Chart 1 shows UK quarterly major port freight tonnage and units from 2019 to Q1 2025. 

Chart 1 also shows that in Q1 2025 (January to March), tonnage levels increased by 5% compared to Q1 2024. The gap between Q1 2019 and Q1 2025 has followed the trend of the last few quarters and has remained 10% lower.  

There is some evidence that tonnage is not likely to reach 2019 levels, following the United Kingdoms (UK) 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.  

Additionally, energy market dynamics have always impacted UK port tonnage. While Brexit created lasting changes in freight routes, energy composition is reshaping the nature and volume of freight traffic in fundamental ways. For example, several UK plants in sectors such as steel and oil refining, have either shut down or are transitioning to greener energy production. In September 2024, operations of both blast furnaces at Port Talbot ceased as they hope to invest in electric blast furnaces. Similarly, in September 2024, the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire, the UK’s last coal-fired power plant, ceased operations, in line with Government policy to move away from coal-fired power. As domestic production falls, so does the demand for raw imports and bulk exports - reducing tonnage throughput at UK ports. Wind energy (especially offshore), however, now contributes significantly to UK electricity generation. This shift reduces the need for imported fossil fuels, which historically contributed heavily to tonnage at UK ports .  

Chart 1 also shows that unitised port freight traffic, including passenger vehicles, has followed the seasonal pattern, and decreased by 5% since Q4 (October to December). However, unitised traffic is 5% higher than seen in Q1 2024. Seasonal unitised traffic trends largely reflect fluctuations in 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 trialling publishing estimates of cargo groups alongside the quarterly port freight statistics in PORT0503. 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 (July to September) 2022, where large amounts of data from a shipping agent are 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.Stats@dft.gov.uk. 

The agents and ports data might not always match due to missing agent data, or differences in how ports and agents categorise certain shipments. 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 2024 estimates will be finalised in July 2025, and 2025 estimates will be finalised in Summer 2026.

Chart 2: UK major port freight tonnage traffic by cargo group since 2019 (PORT0503)

Chart 2 shows UK quarterly major port tonnage from Q1 (January to March) 2019 to Q1 2025 with different lines for the different cargo group estimates. Liquid bulk is the largest category and is the largest contributor to the UK’s overall increase in tonnage traffic this quarter compared to Q1 2024. Container traffic has also seen a notable rise this quarter, rising to its highest level since pre-COVID-19. 

Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) freight and dry bulk often alternate as the second-largest group after liquid bulk; however, Ro-Ro freight has held the second spot consistently over the past 10 quarters. The trends of each cargo type are discussed in more detail below. 

Chart 3 shows how different cargo estimates have changed for the 3 UK major ports with the largest overall increases in tonnage handled from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025, and Chart 4 shows this for the 3 UK major ports with the largest overall decreases in tonnage handled.  

The figures in the charts in this release are timelier estimates. For high quality trend analysis of cargo groups, please use our 2024 port freight annual statistics when published in July 2025 and 2025 port freight annual statistics when published in Summer 2026.   

Chart 3: The top 3 UK major ports with the largest overall increases in tonnage handled from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025, segmented by cargo group (PORT0503)

Chart 4: The top 3 UK major ports with the largest overall decreases in tonnage handled from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025, segmented by cargo group (PORT0503)

Note: some ports do not handle all of the cargo groups in the key. Cargo groups that are not handled at the port will not appear on these charts.  

Liquid Bulk 

Chart 2 shows that liquid bulk tonnage through UK major ports has increased by 6% to 41 million tonnes when comparing Q1 2025 with Q1 2024. 

Chart 3 indicates that the growth in liquid bulk tonnage from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025 was primarily driven by Milford Haven, which recorded a 2.8 million tonnes increase (a 31% rise), the largest among UK ports. This surge is largely attributed to increased LNG traffic at the port during this quarter. Grimsby and Immingham also saw a notable rise, with liquid bulk tonnage increasing by 1 million tonnes (a 25% increase) over the same period. 

Dry Bulk 

When comparing Q1 2025 with Q1 2024, dry bulk tonnage decreased by 4% to 19 million tonnes. As shown in Chart 4, this decline was largely driven by Port Talbot, which saw a 1.2 million tonnes decrease (a 99% drop) due to the closure of its blast furnaces at the end of September 2024.  

Medway also saw a substantial decline in dry bulk comparting Q1 2025 to Q1 2024, decreasing by 0.5 million tonnes (-40%). 

Containers 

Container tonnage increased by 13% to 18.2 million tonnes in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024. As highlighted in Chart 3, London was the main contributor to this growth, with a 0.8 million tonnes rise (a 16% increase), the largest increase among major UK ports, bringing its total to 5.6 million tonnes for dry bulk. 

When measured in units, container traffic rose by 9% compared to Q1 2024. Chart 5 shows this was primarily driven by a 73,000-unit (24%) increase at London and a 29,000-unit (6%) increase at Felixstowe. 

Ro-Ro Freight 

Ro-Ro freight tonnage rose by 4% to 23.6 million tonnes in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024. As shown in Chart 3, this growth was driven by increases at London (up 0.5 million tonnes, a 27% rise) and Grimsby and Immingham (up 0.3 million tonnes, a 7% rise). P&O Ferries increased its capacity by 60% at the beginning of March on the London (Tilbury) – Rotterdam route with the addition of a second vessel. 

Ro-Ro unitised traffic also grew by 6% over the same period. Chart 5 indicates this was largely supported by increases at London, Belfast, and Felixstowe. 

Ro-Ro Non Freight 

In Q1 2025, Ro-Ro non-freight units fell by 8% to 1.3 million units compared to Q1 2024. Chart 6 highlights notable declines at Tyne, Dover and Holyhead. Tyne has continued to report reduction in import/export motor vehicle throughput this quarter, while Holyhead was impacted by a 2-week closure at the start of the year, affecting operational activity. 

Since Q4 2024, Ro-Ro non freight unitised traffic saw a decline of 16% which can be attributed to seasonal variation as shown in Chart 7. 

Chart 5: The top 3 UK ports with the largest overall increases in units handled from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025, segmented by cargo group (PORT0503)

Chart 6: The top 3 UK major ports with the largest overall decreases in units handled from Q1 2024 to Q1 2025, segmented by cargo group (PORT0503)

Chart 7: UK major port freight unitised traffic by cargo group since 2019 (PORT0503)

Defintions

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.

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