National statistics

Port freight quarterly statistics: October to December 2022

Published 8 March 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).

When comparing October to December 2022 with October to December 2021 through UK major ports:

• total freight tonnage decreased by 2% to 110.5 million tonnes

• inward tonnage decreased by 2% to 72.1 million tonnes

• outward tonnage decreased by 1% to 38.5 million tonnes

• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 1% to 4.8 million units

• inward units increased by 2% to 2.5 million units

• outward units remained stable at 2.2 million units

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

• total tonnage increased by 3% to 448.6 million tonnes

• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 10% to 20.2 million units

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

Although in the first 3 quarters of 2022 tonnage traffic continued to recover towards pre-pandemic levels, in quarter 4 (October to December) the gap between 2019 and 2022 increased to 8%. However, for unitised traffic the gap with quarter 4 (Q4) 2019 reduced to 13%, the second smallest absolute difference from the same quarter in 2019 since the pandemic began; only Q4 2020 was closer to pre-pandemic levels which was largely related to stockpiling ahead of the UK’s exit of the European Union (EU). Unitised traffic, including passenger vehicles, has followed the pre-pandemic seasonal pattern, falling 18% from the summer peak in quarter 3 (July to September).

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. In Q4 2022, for the second time, 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.

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.

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

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.

Liquid bulk tonnage through UK major ports has increased by 1% to 44.8 million tonnes when comparing Q4 2022 with Q4 2021. Medway saw a 0.8 million tonne (74%) increase in liquid bulk tonnage during this period, the largest increase of any major UK port. The port attributed this increase to an increase in LNG imports, matching the national trend in increased imports of LNG shown in the latest BEIS energy trends statistical release.

Dry Bulk

Definitions

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

In Q4 2022, dry bulk tonnage decreased by 11% to 21.8 million tonnes when compared with the same quarter in 2021. The 3 ports with the largest decreases in dry bulk were London, Liverpool, and Port Talbot with a combined decrease of 2.2 million tonnes, accounting for 80% of the total decline in dry bulk. Port Talbot attributed the decrease to a decline in imported ores and scrap.

Lo-Lo

Definitions

Lift-on/Lift-off (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.

Lo-Lo tonnage increased by 2% when comparing quarter 4 2022 with quarter 4 2021 through UK major ports. At Southampton and London, Lo-Lo tonnage rose by 0.8 and 0.3 million tonnes respectively. During the same period, Lo-Lo traffic at Liverpool fell by 0.8 million tonnes and 51,000 units, and Felixstowe saw a decline of 96,000 units. This quarter covers the periods of strike at Liverpool and Felixstowe which is likely to have affected total cargo handled at the 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 department’s cargo categorisation guidance.

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/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 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

Ro-Ro freight tonnage has increased by 7% to 23.0 million tonnes when comparing Q4 2022 with the same quarter in 2021. The ports contributing most to this increase since Q4 2021 were Liverpool, London and Larne who collectively saw an increase of 1.2 million tonnes.

Ro-Ro freight units have increased by 4% over the same period. This increase is largely driven by an increase of 64,000 units at Dover. Previous quarters have seen a decline in Ro-Ro freight units at Dover that may be related to a decline in demand for the landbridge as a route to and from the EU following the UK’s exit from the EU as full customs control started on 1 January 2022. See the Irish Maritime Development Office quarterly statistics for more information on landbridge traffic.

Ro-Ro Non-Freight

In Q4 2022, Ro-Ro non-freight units increased by 17% to 1.5 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, however units remain 25% below the same quarter in 2019. Sea passenger statistics are available in the sea passenger data collection. Dover had the largest increase of 155,000 units when compared with Q4 2021, which accounted for 71% of the total increase in Ro-Ro non-freight units. The 40% decrease in Ro-Ro non-freight units between Q3 2022 and Q4 2022, can be attributed to a return to pre-pandemic seasonal variation, as shown in the chart below.

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 and definitions section at the bottom of this page.

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 the department’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

The department’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 4 quarters of 2020 were lower than levels expected pre-pandemic, with the lowest point reached in the second quarter of 2020 (April to June). Both tonnage and units have seen a trend of recovery in 2021 and in 2022, however both remain below levels expected pre-pandemic.

Note on method:

For past years to 2020, the department’s annual 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 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.

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, 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.

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, contact Maritime Statistics.

Contact Maritime Forecasts if you have any questions about the department’s port freight forecasts.

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