Accredited official statistics

Port freight quarterly statistics: April to June 2024

Provisional quarterly statistics on freight handled by UK major ports for April to June 2024.

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From December 2023, we have discontinued PORT0501 from the quarterly port freight statistics due to low user engagement. PORT0501 presented tonnage and unit totals at the national level as indices. National level tonnage and unit totals will remain available in PORT0502.

We continue to welcome any feedback on any aspect of the port freight statistics.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards.

When comparing April to June 2024 with April to June 2023 through UK major ports: 

  • total freight tonnage decreased by 1% to 108.0 million tonnes

  • inward tonnage decreased by 1% to 72.4 million tonnes

  • outward tonnage decreased by 2% to 35.6 million tonnes

  • total volume of unitised traffic showed little change to 5.4 million units

  • inward units increased by 2% to 2.9 million units

  • outward units showed little change to 2.5 million units

When comparing the rolling year to June 2024 with June 2023 through UK major ports: 

  • total tonnage decreased by 5% to 418.1 million tonnes

  • total volume of unitised traffic increased by 2% to 20.9 million units

Detailed final annual statistics for 2024 will be published in July 2025. Annual trends can be explored using our maritime statistics dashboard.

Further information about these statistics is available, including:

Contact us

Maritime and shipping statistics

Email maritime.stats@dft.gov.uk

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

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Updates to this page

Published 12 September 2024

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