Accredited official statistics

Port freight annual statistics 2022: Arrivals

Published 19 July 2023

Vessel arrivals statistics

Statistics on vessel arrivals are outside the scope of National Statistics and are based on data from a number of sources including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency CERS (Consolidated European Reporting System) system and shipping fleet data.

The Department for Transport (DfT) procure world shipping fleet data via open competition. In April 2022, the contract was awarded to Sea/ by Maritech for the first time. Therefore, the world fleet information as at December 2022 used for ship types in this release is based on data supplied by Sea/ while previous years are based on data provided by IHS. DfT conducted sensitivity checks between the 2 data sources and found that deadweight and gross tonnage were comparable. Therefore, this release makes year on year comparisons between the 2 data sources, however, these should be used with caution. More details about the changes to our data can be found in the notes and definitions.

These figures largely exclude domestic ferries such as to and from the Isle of Wight. The PORT06 tables cover all vessels arriving at all UK ports, whilst this page only covers arrivals at UK major ports.

Definitions

Gross Tonnage (GT) the measurement of the ship’s internal volume (for example, the space on the ship).

Deadweight Tonnage (DWT) the maximum weight, in tonnes, a ship can carry in terms of cargo, fuel and stores, before reaching its load line mark.

Vessel Arrivals at UK Major Ports

An estimated total of 86,600 cargo vessels arrived at UK major ports during 2022, 1.6% more than the 2021 level. Almost a fifth of these were at Dover, which alone handled 16,685 vessel arrivals in 2022, a 7% increase compared to 2021 (PORT0602).

Chart 22 is a stacked bar chart of the ports with the highest number of vessel arrivals, split by how many of these are roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels. This shows that the ports with the most arrivals tend to be those with regular ferry (Ro-Ro) services such as Dover, or those handling the most tonnage such as Grimsby and Immingham, London and Liverpool.

Chart 22: Top 10 UK major ports with most cargo vessel arrivals in thousands, 2022 (PORT0602)

Ro-Ro vessels accounted for almost 60% of all cargo vessel arrivals in major ports in 2022. In terms of deadweight tonnage (DWT) - a measure of cargo carrying capacity - container ships accounted for 25%, despite only being responsible for 8% of arrivals.

Chart 23 is a bar showing the proportions of arrivals, deadweight tonnage and gross tonnage for each vessel type. This shows that Ro-Ro vessels account for the large majority of vessel arrivals and have the highest deadweight tonnage and gross tonnage totals.

Chart 23: Cargo vessels arriving at UK major ports by ship type, 2022 (PORT0602)

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

The arrivals statistics included in this release are not National Statistics, but are Official Statistics. The port freight statistics, that accompany the arrival statistics, are National Statistics. This means they are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure they meet customer needs. These statistics were designated as National Statistics in February 2013. The continued designation was confirmed in December 2018.

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.

Related data sources

His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) publishes data on tonnage and value to a much more granular commodity level for goods traded internationally. Comparisons between port freight and this source, specifically for certain cargo categories, are explored further in our notes and definitions.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (formerly Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) publish the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) which covers the production and consumption of fuels and energy in the UK.

Information on freight moved by different modes, including a breakdown of domestic freight is available in Transport Statistics Great Britain.

Eurostat publish comparative port freight data for European Union countries, which can be used to compare UK ports to those in EU countries.

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Contact details

Maritime and shipping statistics

Email maritime.stats@dft.gov.uk

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