Accredited official statistics
Port freight statistics: 2014 final figures
Freight handled by UK ports statistics during 2014.
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Details
In 2014:
- total traffic for all UK ports was broadly stable in 2014 at 503.2 million tonnages
- major ports handled 98% of all UK port traffic
- liquid bulk goods formed a majority share of UK major port traffic (38%), although liquid bulk tonnage fell by 5%, as a result of the continued decline in crude oil imports and exports seen since 2000
- unitised traffic handled at major ports rose by 6%, with 22.8 million units coming in and out of the UK. This increase follows a year on year increase of 3% in 2013
- the number of main freight units handled by major ports rose for the second consecutive year to 12.8 million units. Within this, Lo-Lo main freight units rose by 14% compared to 2013 to 5.6 million units and imported motor vehicles handled at UK major ports increased by 15% to 2.6 million units
- Grimsby and Immingham remained the UK’s busiest port in terms of tonnage and handled 12% of all UK port freight (59.4 million tonnes). Grimsby and Immingham port also experienced the largest increase in Lo-Lo units (51% increase compared to 2013). This followed investment in new systems to reduce turnaround times
A factsheet has been published containing further analyses of port freight statistics in 2014.
Contacts
Maritime and shipping statistics
Email maritime.stats@dft.gov.uk
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Updates to this page
Published 26 August 2015