National statistics

Port freight quarterly statistics: July to September 2023

Published 6 December 2023

About this release

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Overview of Quarterly Port Freight Statistics 

When comparing July to September 2023 with July to September 2022 through UK major ports:

• total freight tonnage decreased by 8% to 103.6 million tonnes
• inward tonnage decreased by 7% to 69.2 million tonnes
• outward tonnage decreased by 9% to 34.4 million tonnes
• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 3% to 6 million units
• inward units increased by 4% to 3.2 million units
• outward units increased by 2% to 2.8 million units

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

• total tonnage decreased by 4% to 434.2 million tonnes
• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 2% to 20.7 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 Q3 (July to September) 2023, the gap to the equivalent quarter in 2019 for tonnage traffic has widened, to 9%, and tonnage is now 1% below Q3 2020 figures. 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. 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, and increased by 11% since quarter 2, to its regular summer peak in quarter 3. The gap to the equivalent quarter in 2019 has increased slightly since last quarter (to 12% below Q3 2019), although unitised traffic for Q3 2023 is still greater than in Q3 2022. 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 

From this quarter (July to September 2023), we have discontinued PORT0501 from the quarterly port freight statistics due to low user engagement. PORT0501 presented tonnage and unit totals at the national level as indices. National level tonnage and unit totals will remain available in PORT0502.

We have developed estimates by cargo group published 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 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.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 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 2023 estimates will be finalised in summer 2024.

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

Chart 2 is a line chart that shows UK quarterly major port tonnage from Q1 (January to March) 2019 to Q3 2023 with different lines for the different cargo group estimates. The relative levels of different cargo groups are generally stable over this period though Ro-Ro Freight and Dry Bulk frequently change places as the second largest group behind Liquid Bulk. This quarter RoRo Freight was the second largest.

Liquid Bulk

Chart 2 shows that liquid bulk tonnage through UK major ports has decreased by 5.9 million tonnes (13%) to 38.1 million tonnes when comparing Q3 2023 with Q3 2022. This decline in liquid bulk is the main driver of the UK’s overall decrease in tonnage traffic seen this quarter from Q3 2022, accounting for 73% of the decline.

Chart 3 shows that Milford Haven saw a 2 million tonne decrease (-23%) in liquid bulk tonnage during this period, the largest decrease in liquid bulk of any major UK port, falling to 6.8 million tonnes. The ports of Forth, Liverpool, Medway and Rivers Hull and Humber also saw decreases of over 0.5 million tonnes each in liquid bulk. One port cited economic factors and a downturn in North Sea crude oil production as the reason for the national decrease in liquid bulk tonnage traffic.

It has been reported that there has been a decline in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports across Europe throughout Q3, with LNG being diverted to China to support a power demand caused by extreme heat. 

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 decreases in tonnage handled from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023, segmented by cargo group

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.

Dry Bulk

When comparing Q3 2023 with Q3 2022, dry bulk tonnage decreased by 10% to 21.8 million tonnes. As shown in Chart 3, Liverpool saw a 0.5 million tonne decrease (-29%) in dry bulk tonnage during this period, the largest decrease in dry bulk of any major UK port, falling to 1.2 million tonnes.

Containers 

Container tonnage in Q3 2023 has showed little change at 15.7 million tonnes, a decline of less than 1% compared to the same quarter in 2022.

Container unitised traffic saw a 7% increase when compared with Q3 2022. Unitised container traffic may have increased whilst container tonnage has stayed the same because of either a higher number of empty containers being moved or less cargo being carried per container.

Ro-Ro

Chart 4: The top 3 UK ports with the largest overall increases in tonnage handled from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023, segmented by cargo group

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.

Ro-Ro Freight

When comparing Q3 2023 with Q3 2022, Ro-Ro freight tonnage increased by 1% to 23.3 million tonnes. Chart 4 shows that the 3 ports with the largest increase in tonnage traffic since Q3 2022 all saw substantial increases in Ro-Ro freight tonnage.

Dover saw a 0.3 million tonne increase (8%), compared to Q3 2022, in Ro-Ro freight tonnage during this period, the largest increase in Ro-Ro freight of any major UK port, rising to 4.7 million tonnes. This was followed closely by London who also saw a 0.3 million tonne increase, 20% up from Q3 2022. Grimsby and Immingham saw a 0.5 million tonne decrease (-12% from Q3 2022) in Ro-Ro freight tonnage during this period.

Ro-Ro freight unitised traffic saw a 5% increase when compared with Q3 2022. This increase was mostly driven by an increase of 77,000 Ro-Ro freight units at Dover, as shown in Chart 5, accounting for 87% of the increase in UK’s total unitised Ro-Ro freight traffic.

Chart 5: The top 3 UK ports with the largest overall increases in units handled from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023, segmented by cargo group

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.

Ro-Ro Non-Freight

Chart 5 shows how different cargo group estimates have changed since Q3 2022 at Dover, Bristol and Poole. All 3 ports saw substantial increases in RoRo Non-Freight Units.

Comparing Q3 2023 to Q3 2022, Ro-Ro non-freight units decreased by 1% to 3 million units.

Since Q2 2023, Ro-Ro non freight unitised traffic saw an increase of 28% which can be attributed to seasonal variation as shown in Chart 6. The seasonal variation is also seen in the Sea passenger statistics, available in the sea passenger data collection.

Chart 6 shows UK quarterly major port units from Q1 (January to March) 2019 to Q3 2023 with different lines for the different cargo group estimates. The relative levels of RoRo Freight and Containers are generally stable over this period whilst Ro-Ro Non-Freight follows a seasonal trend. 

Chart 6: 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 MaritimeForecasts@dft.gov.uk 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 do not 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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