Accredited official statistics

Port Freight Quarterly October to December 2025

Published 12 March 2026

Overview of quarterly port freight statistics

When comparing October to December 2025 with October to December 2024 through UK major ports (PORT0502):

• total freight tonnage decreased by 4% to 103.2 million tonnes

• inward tonnage decreased by 3% to 70.3 million tonnes

• outward tonnage decreased by 7% to 32.9 million tonnes

• total volume of unitised traffic decreased by 1% to 4.9 million units

• inward units decreased by 1% to 2.7 million units

• outward units decreased by 2% to 2.3 million units

When comparing the rolling year to December 2025 with December 2024 through UK major ports (PORT0502):

• total tonnage showed little change, decreasing less than 1% to 420.8 million tonnes

• total volume of unitised traffic increased by 1% to 21.4 million units

As with all the quarterly figures, these estimates are provisional until finalised with the annual publication in the following calendar year, for example 2025 estimates will be finalised in July 2026. Please also note that percentage changes mentioned in this release are calculated prior to rounding.

Chart 1: Quarterly port freight tonnage and units in 2024 and 2025 (PORT0502)

Chart 1 displays UK quarterly major port freight tonnage and units in 2024 and 2025.

Chart 1 shows that in Q4 2025 (October to December), tonnage levels decreased by 4% compared to Q4 2024. 

Shifts in the UK’s energy mix impact port tonnage. The closure and transition of major industrial sites, such as Port Talbot’s blast furnaces and the last coal‑fired plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar has cut demand for raw material imports and bulk exports. Growing offshore wind capacity is increasing imports of turbine components while reducing fossil‑fuel‑related volumes. Grangemouth port also reported that it is refocusing its operations toward imports, contributing to a decline in tonnage this quarter.

Chart 1 also shows that unitised port freight traffic, including passenger vehicles, has followed the seasonal pattern, and decreased by 20% following the summer peak in Q3 (July to September).  

Unitised traffic in Q4 2025 remained broadly stable compared to Q4 2024, with a decline of 1%. 

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

The following commentary is based on statistics in PORT0503, these estimates are based on total tonnage and units provided by the port which are validated to a high standard and published as accredited official statistics in PORT0502. These totals are then split by cargo groups 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.

Chart 2: UK major port freight tonnage traffic by cargo group since 2022 (PORT0503)

The figures in this chart are timelier estimates, for high quality trend analysis of cargo groups, please use our 2025 port freight annual statistics when published in July 2026.

Chart 2 shows UK quarterly major port tonnage from 2022 to 2025 with different lines for the different cargo group estimates. Liquid bulk remains the largest category, accounting for 35% of all major port tonnage in Q4 2025. However, liquid bulk has steadily been declining since the beginning of 2024 and decreased by 6% in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024, largely driven by the closure of Finnart Oil Terminal at Clyde. By contrast, container traffic has seen a notable rise since Q4 2024 (up 19% to Q4 2025).  

Dry bulk has overtaken Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) freight as the second largest cargo category for the first time since Q3 2022. Meanwhile, container traffic is rapidly closing the gap following its recent surge - largely due to the opening of the London’s fourth berth at London Gateway - despite a slight decline compared to Q3 2025. The trends for each cargo type are explored in more detail below. 

Chart 3 shows how different cargo estimates have changed for the 3 UK major ports with the largest overall decrease in tonnage handled from Q4 2024 to Q4 2025, and Chart 4 shows this for the 3 UK major ports with the largest overall increase in tonnage handled.

Chart 3: The top 3 UK major ports with the largest overall decreases in tonnage handled from Q4 2024 to Q4 2025, segmented by cargo group (PORT0503)

Chart 4: The top 3 UK major ports with the largest overall increases in tonnage handled from Q4 2024 to Q4 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.

Furthermore, some cargo groups round to 0.0 due to their small values, but they are not truly null. As the underlying data is non‑zero, they still show up in the chart.

Liquid Bulk

Liquid bulk tonnage through UK major ports has decreased by 6% to 35.8 million tonnes in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024.

Chart 3 shows that this decline was largely driven by Grimsby and Immingham with 1.9 million tonnes decrease (a 43% drop) and Clyde with 1.5 million tonnes decrease (a 100% drop). The full closure of the Finnart Oil Terminal at Clyde has now eliminated its liquid bulk activity entirely, with all future Scottish volumes reported to be redirected to Grangemouth. 

Although Milford Haven recorded a 3 million tonnes increase in liquid bulk (a 40% rise) in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024, this growth was offset by declines elsewhere, including a 0.7 million tonnes fall at Rivers Hull and Humber, resulting in an overall reduction in liquid bulk tonnage.

Dry Bulk

Dry bulk tonnage rose by 7% to 21.0 million tonnes in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024. As shown in Chart 3, this is largely attributed to a 1.1 million tonnes increase at Grimsby and Immingham (a 46% rise), the largest among UK major ports, returning Grimsby and Immingham to tonnage levels seen in 2022 (this is despite liquid bulk declines at this port).

Containers

Chart 5 shows how different cargo estimates have changed for the 3 UK major ports with the largest overall decreases in units handled from Q4 2024 to Q4 2025, and Chart 6 shows this for the 3 UK major ports with the largest overall increases in units handled.

Chart 5: The top 3 UK major ports with the largest overall decreases in units handled from Q4 2024 to Q4 2025, segmented by cargo group (PORT0503)

Chart 6: The top 3 UK ports with the largest overall increases in units handled from Q4 2024 to Q4 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.

Furthermore, some cargo groups round to 0.0 due to their small values, but they are not truly null. As the underlying data is non‑zero, they still show up in the chart.

Container tonnage rose by 19% to 19.0 million tonnes in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024. As shown in Chart 4, this growth was driven primarily by London, which recorded a 2.1 million tonnes increase - a 52% rise - the largest among UK major ports. The port continues to benefit from the opening of its fourth berth at London Gateway at the end of 2024. 

When measured in units, container traffic grew by 13% in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024. Chart 6 shows that this was largely driven by London, which recorded a 191,000-unit increase (a 65% rise) between Q4 2025 and Q4 2024.

Ro-Ro Freight

Ro-Ro freight tonnage decreased by 2% to 20.9 million tonnes in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024. The decline was driven by small reductions across several UK major ports, with around 0.3 million tonnes decrease at a number of ports, including Grimsby and Immingham, London and Harwich.

When measured in units, Ro-Ro freight traffic increased by 3% in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024. This was largely attributed to Dover, which saw an 88,000-unit increase, as shown in Chart 6. 

An increase in freight carrying unitised Ro-Ro, but a decrease in tonnage, may suggest there is more reported vehicle and trailer traffic at UK ports, but that these are carrying less cargo on average.

Ro-Ro Non-Freight

Ro-Ro non-freight units fell by 4% to 1.5 million units in Q4 2025 compared with Q4 2024. This was largely driven by London, which recorded a decrease of 61,000 units - a 47% drop - the largest among UK major ports (see Chart 6), with Harwich and Bristol also seeing smaller reductions, as shown in Chart 5.  

Since Q3 2025, Ro-Ro non freight unitised traffic saw a decline of 38% which can be attributed to seasonal variation as shown in Chart 7.

Chart 7: UK major port freight unitised traffic by cargo group since 2022 (PORT0503)

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 the department only collect the number of units for.

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): 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.

Background information  

The tables give further detail of the key results presented in this statistical release. They are available from port and domestic waterborne freight statistics.

These notes provide further information such as definitions and a list of UK ports is available in the accompanying port list. 

The background quality report provides further information on how the data is collected, quality assured and comparisons with relevant data sources. 

Details of Ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release can be found on the pre-release access list.

About these statistics 

These statistics are labelled as official statistics in development. Official statistics in development (previously Experimental Statistics) are official statistics that are undergoing a development; they may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

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