National statistics

Port freight quarterly statistics: July to September 2022

Published 7 December 2022

About this release

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When comparing July to September 2022 with July to September 2021 through UK major ports:

• total freight tonnage increased by 1% to 111.6 million tonnes

• inward tonnage increased by 4% to 74.2 million tonnes

• outward tonnage decreased by 3% to 37.4 million tonnes

• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 16% to 5.8 million units

• inward units increased by 16% to 3.1 million units

• outward units increased by 15% to 2.7 million units

When comparing the rolling year to September 2022 with September 2021 through UK major ports:

• total tonnage increased by 3% to 450.0 million tonnes

• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 8% to 20.2 million units

Detailed final annual statistics for 2022 will be published in summer 2023.

Following increases in each quarter of 2021, tonnage traffic through UK major ports has continued to recover towards pre-pandemic levels. In quarter 3 (Q3, July to September) 2022, tonnage traffic was just 2% (2.6 million tonnes) below the same quarter in 2019, the smallest absolute difference since the pandemic began. Unitised traffic, including passenger vehicles, has followed the pre-pandemic seasonal pattern, rising by 13% between quarter 2 (Q2, April to June) 2022 and Q3 2022 but it remains substantially below pre-pandemic levels, 15% lower than in Q3 2019.

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. For the first time in Q3 2022, where large amounts of data from a shipping agent is missing in the current quarter, a value has been imputed from 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 2 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 2022 estimates will be finalised in summer 2023.

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.

When comparing Q3 2022 with Q3 2021 through UK major ports, Liquid Bulk tonnage has increased by 7% to 42.5 million tonnes. This is likely due to increased imports of LNG and oil products as shown in the latest BEIS energy trends statistical release. Milford Haven saw a 2.4 million tonne (37%) increase in liquid bulk tonnage during this period, the largest of any major UK port, with Rivers Hull and Humber seeing the second largest increase of 0.8 million tonnes (43%).

The 2022 figures in this chart are timelier estimates, for high quality trend analysis of cargo groups, use our 2021 port freight annual statistics.

Lo-Lo

Definitions

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.

When comparing Q3 2022 with Q3 2021 through UK major ports, Lo-Lo tonnage has increased by 2%. At Southampton and London, Lo-Lo tonnage rose by 0.4 and 0.6 million tonnes respectively. During the same period, Lo-Lo traffic at Liverpool fell by 0.3 million tonnes and 19,000 units, and at Felixstowe Lo-Lo traffic decreased by 88,000 units, the largest absolute decline of all UK ports. This quarter covers the period of strike action at Felixstowe and Liverpool which is likely to have affected total cargo handled at both ports.

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). Detailed information is available in the cargo categorisation flowchart.

Ro-Ro freight traffic covers 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 covers all other Ro-Ro traffic that does not carry cargo, such as passenger vehicles, import and export vehicles and unaccompanied caravans.

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.

Ro-Ro Freight

When comparing Q3 2022 with the same quarter in 2021, Ro-Ro freight tonnage has increased by 2% to 24.1 million tonnes. The ports contributing most to this increase since Q3 2021 were Belfast, London and Liverpool who collectively saw an increase of 1.3 million tonnes.

The increase of 0.6 million tonnes at Belfast during this period (which accounted for 29% of the total Ro-Ro freight increase at all UK ports) may be explained by the changing behaviour of haulage companies in Northern Ireland. According to the Irish Maritime Development Office, Ro-Ro services at Republic of Ireland ports have historically been utilised by many Northern Irish hauliers wishing to access markets in the midlands and southeast of England. During 2021, haulage companies based in Northern Ireland transferred some traffic away from Ro-Ro services in Republic of Ireland in order to avoid the new customs requirements involved between Ireland and UK ports and this trend is likely to have continued into 2022. This is likely to have increased the amount of Ro-Ro freight tonnage traffic handled at major Northern Irish ports including Belfast.

When comparing Q3 2022 with Q3 2021, Ro-Ro freight units have decreased by 8%, in contrast to the trend seen in tonnage. This could be due to a decrease in empty vehicles or an increase in tonnage carried per vehicle. The exact nature of this trend cannot be examined until the data is finalised in our annual release in summer 2023. The overall net decrease of 169,000 Ro-Ro freight units is largely driven by a decrease of 102,000 Ro-Ro freight units at Dover. This decrease at Dover may 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 as full customs control started on 1 January 2022. See Irish Maritime Development Office quarterly statistics for more information on landbridge traffic.

Ro-Ro Non-Freight

In Q3 2022, Ro-Ro non-freight units increased by 52% to 2.5 million when compared with the same quarter in 2021. This increase in units was driven by a rise in passenger vehicles following the end of coronavirus-related restrictions for travel but units remain 27% below 2019. Sea passenger statistics are available in the sea passenger data collection. The ports with the largest increases in Ro-Ro non-freight units were Dover, Portsmouth, and Holyhead with a combined increase of 0.6 million units. The 40% increase in Ro-Ro non-freight units between Q2 2022 and Q3 2022, can be attributed to seasonal variation, as shown in the chart below.

The 31% increase in Ro-Ro non-freight tonnage between Q3 2022 and Q3 2021 can largely be attributed to increased imports of motor vehicles (passenger vehicles do not count as tonnage).

The 2022 figures in this chart are timelier estimates, for high quality trend analysis of cargo groups, use our 2021 port freight annual statistics.

Factors affecting port freight: coronavirus (COVID-19)

These statistics cover a period of government measures introduced to limit the impact and transmission of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. A quarterly timeline of measures that are relevant to port freight traffic is shown in the Further information section of this report.

Coronavirus has had a wide impact on UK society and economic activity since March 2020, with travel restrictions impacting unitised traffic particularly, especially passenger vehicles. Sea passenger volumes over this period are published in DfT’s sea passenger data collection and a detailed COVID-19 timeline is available in the monthly table SPAS0107. The section below aims to provide an exploratory picture of the impact of coronavirus on port freight traffic since 2020.

Quarterly traffic compared to forecasts

DfT’s port freight traffic forecasts were published in 2019 and therefore provide a pre-pandemic estimation of how port freight traffic was expected to evolve.

The different scenarios shown in the port forecasts were based on key economic drivers, namely OBR GDP forecasts, ONS population projections, fuel projections from the OGA, National Grid and BEIS, and EIA Brent price forecasts. These forecasts presented low, central, and high scenarios from 2017 up to 2050.

The impact of coronavirus on port freight can be estimated by comparing traffic statistics since 2020 to the port freight forecasts (adjusted as described in the below note on method). The comparison below shows that all four quarters of 2020 were lower than levels expected pre-pandemic, with the lowest point reached in Q2 2020. Both tonnage and units have seen a trend of recovery in 2021 and in 2022 so far, however both remain below levels expected pre-pandemic.

Note on method:

For past years to 2020, the annual DfT port freight traffic forecasts were adjusted so that the central scenario is in line with published annual port freight figures. Annual figures from 2020 were scaled up based on the average adjustments made to the previous years. The low and high scenarios were then adjusted to keep the same yearly ratio to the central scenario. This is to adjust for the difference observed between actuals and forecasts for the years where the data has become available since forecasts were calculated.

The annual forecasts were broken down into quarters based on the quarterly trend observed in published port freight data in each year for 2017 to 2019. For 2020 onwards, an average quarterly trend over previous years was used to apportion the annual forecast. This is so that the comparison of quarters impacted by coronavirus can be made to the proportion of the annual forecasts we would have expected these quarters to represent.

Passenger vehicle numbers were not included in the port freight forecasts but are included in the quarterly port freight data. Published annual figures for passenger vehicles were added to the forecasts for 2017 to 2019. As a pre-pandemic forecast for 2020 onwards, 2019 passenger vehicles volumes were used. This is because the recent trend for passenger vehicles has been relatively stable (absolute volumes varying between 5.9 and 5.5 million units since 2012).

The above methodology ensures that the baseline used for 2020 onwards to assess the impact of coronavirus on these quarterly statistics has a comparable scope and reflects known trends since the forecasts were produced.

Further information and 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.

Timeline of measures that are relevant to freight traffic:

First quarter: January to March 2020

March 2020:

Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised against all non-essential international travel. UK lockdown applied.

Second quarter: April to June 2020

Lockdown restrictions started to ease and continued to be gradually reduced throughout the next quarter.

June 2020:

Requirement to self-isolate introduced for persons travelling to the UK from outside the Common Travel Area.

Third quarter: July to September 2020

July 2020:

Introduction of travel corridors, allowing travel into the UK from countries on an exempt list without the need to self-isolate.

August 2020:

Belgium, France and Netherlands removed from the exempt list.

Fourth quarter: October to December 2020

October 2020:

New 3-tier system of restrictions for England introduced.

November 2020:

England lockdown applied.

December 2020:

Reduction of the self-isolation period for travellers returning from non-travel corridor countries, from 14 to 10 days. Introduction of test to release to shorten the self-isolation period for international arrivals and varying Christmas travel guidelines across the UK.

Stricter tier 4 restrictions brought in for the South-East, after the discovery of a new variant. In response to this new variant, restrictions were brought in by other countries, that all individuals including freight drivers needed a negative COVID-19 test.

Passenger and accompanied freight travel to France was stopped completely for 2 days, accompanied freight travel was only allowed following this ban with the driver receiving a negative test within the last 72 hours.

First quarter: January to March 2021

National lockdown comes into force on 5 January for the duration of the first quarter of 2021. The UK advised against all international travel unless it is for a permitted exempt reason, with all travel corridors being suspended. Pre-departure testing requirements for all inbound passengers to England were introduced, with passengers having to take a test up to 3 days before departure and provide evidence of a negative result before they travel. All inbound international passengers required to take 2 mandatory COVID-19 tests on day 2 and 8 of their quarantine with those arriving from red list countries required to quarantine in managed quarantine facilities.

Second quarter: April to June 2021

Non-essential international travel resumed from Monday 17 May 2021, with the introduction of the country traffic light system (red, amber and green lists).

Third quarter: July to September 2021

From 2 August 2021, passengers arriving from amber list countries, and territories, who are fully vaccinated residents in the UK, Europe and US are no longer required to isolate on arrival but must complete mandatory COVID-19 test on or before day 2 after their arrival. Norway and other European countries added to the Government’s Green list for travel on 8 August 2021.

Fourth Quarter: October to December 2021

October:

A new system of travel with countries identified as on “red list” and “rest of world” was implemented. Fully vaccinated travellers returning to England from “rest of world” countries (such as non “red list” countries) can replace day 2 PCR tests with lateral flow tests.

November:

In response to the omicron variant, fully vaccinated travellers returning to England from “rest of world” countries must self-isolate and take a PCR test before the end of day 2 after they arrive in England.

December:

All people aged 12 years and over must also take a PCR or lateral flow test before they travel to England from abroad. Similar rules also came in for travel to the rest of the UK.

In response to the Omicron variant being widespread in the UK, all but essential travel from the UK to France was banned by the French Government.

First Quarter: January to March 2022

January:

People who qualify as fully vaccinated for travel to England no longer need a pre-departure COVID-19 test or quarantine on arrival. Similar easings were also made in Scotland. France allows fully vaccinated travellers to enter France without a compelling reason and fully vaccinated travellers to France are not required to self-isolate on arrival.

February:

Fully vaccinated passengers no longer need to take a COVID-19 test when arriving in the UK. France announces that fully vaccinated travellers from the United Kingdom are no longer required to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test.

March:

All remaining UK travel restrictions end.

Further information about these statistics is available, including:

• background information on quarterly port freight statistics

• notes and definitions for all port freight statistics

We are trialling this compact HTML format for our quarterly Port Freight releases, and we would like to hear your comments. If you have any feedback on our use of this format, or any questions about this release, please email Maritime Statistics.

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

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