Provisional Port Statistics 2006

The Department for Transport has today published National Statistics on freight traffic handled at UK ports in 2006.

These provisional port statistics for 2006 show that:

* Total freight traffic fell by 4.7 million tonnes (Mt) to 580.2 Mt in 2006, one per cent lower than in 2005.

* Inwards traffic rose by 7.9 Mt to 362.3 Mt, whilst outwards traffic fell by 12.6 Mt to 217.9 Mt.

* Since 1986 total traffic has risen by 114 Mt (24 per cent). Inwards traffic increased by 124 Mt (52 per cent) whilst outwards traffic fell by 10 Mt (4 per cent) during this period.

* Freight traffic through the 52 major UK ports totalled 565.2 Mt, down 4.9 Mt on 2005. This represented over 97 per cent of total UK port freight traffic in 2006.

* Grimsby and Immingham maintained its position as the UK's leading port in 2006 with 64.0 Mt (3.3 Mt higher than in 2005), followed by Tees and Hartlepool with 53.3 Mt (down 2.4 Mt) and London with 51.9 Mt (down 1.9 Mt).




* The top ten ports in 2006 in terms of tonnage were as follows:


Million tonnes
Grimsby and Immingham 64.0
Tees and Hartlepool 53.3
London 51.9
Southampton 40.5
Milford Haven 34.3
Liverpool 33.6
Forth 31.1
Felixstowe 24.4
Dover 23.8
Sullom Voe 19.4