Maritime statistics 2007

This report contains figures giving detailed information on ports traffic, and, UK and world fleet statistics. The complete PDF is available from this page as well as Excel versions of the tables.       

Port freight traffic in 2007

• UK ports handled 582 million tonnes (Mt) of freight traffic in 2007, just under two million tonnes lower than in 2006, but 23 million tonnes more than in 1997. 
• Inwards traffic fell by 7 Mt (2 per cent) compared with 2006, to 358 Mt, whilst outwards traffic rose by 5 Mt (2 per cent) to 224 Mt. Over the ten years since 1997, inward traffic has increased by 21 per cent and outward traffic has decreased by 15 per cent. 
• Liquid bulk traffic accounted for 43 per cent of the total, dry bulks 23 per cent, container and roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) traffic 29 per cent and other cargo 5 per cent.
• Liquid bulk traffic was 1 per cent lower than in 2006, and 12 per cent down on 1997. Dry bulk traffic was 6 per cent lower than in 2006, but 16 per cent up on 1997. Container and ro-ro traffic was 5 per cent higher than in 2006, and 29 per cent up on 1997. 
• Leading ports by tonnage in 2007 were:
  
  

  Grimsby & Immingham	66.3 Mt
  London	52.7 Mt
  Tees and Hartlepool	49.8 Mt
  Southampton	43.8 Mt
  Forth	36.7 Mt

  
  (Forth replaces Milford Haven at number five and London moves above Tees and Hartlepool).
• Dover, the leading ro-ro port, handled 2.4 million road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailer units (2 per cent higher than in 2006). Felixstowe, the leading container port, handled 2.1 million containers (3.0 million TEU), a 10 per cent increase on 2006.

Other port statistics in 2007

• International sea passenger journeys rose by one per cent to 24.8 million passengers.
• Accompanied passenger car traffic rose by five per cent to 6.7 million vehicles.
• The number of ship arrivals fell by one per cent to 140 thousand.

Merchant fleet statistics at end 2007

• The UK registered trading fleet increased by 17 to 646 ships during 2007. Overall deadweight tonnage totalled 13.0 million tonnes (5 per cent up on 2006, and 439 per cent up on 1997).
• The UK registered trading fleet included 134 tankers, 133 ro-ro vessels, 165 container vessels and 38 passenger vessels.
• The trading fleet owned by UK companies increased by 10 per cent to 19.6 million deadweight tonnes during 2007, 85 per cent higher than in 1997. 
• Of the 738 trading vessels owned by UK companies, 168 were tankers accounting for one third of deadweight tonnage. There were also 138 ro-ro, 101 container and 52 passenger vessels.
• World tonnage of trading vessels totalled 1,092 million deadweight tonnes.

Notes

1. Port traffic statistics are derived from quarterly returns by shipping lines and agents of traffic handled at UK major ports. Port authorities and other port undertakings also supply summary information on tonnage and units. Merchant fleet statistics are supplied by Lloyd’s Register-Fairplay, giving details of vessels of 100 gt and over, and are outside the scope of National Statistics.

2. Maritime Statistics 2007 (ISBN 978-0-11-553023-4) is available from The Stationery Office priced £45, or free from the Transport Statistics website at www.dft.gov.uk. For further information about the publication telephone 020 7944 4131 or email maritime.stats@dft.gsi.gov.uk

3. Provisional port statistics for 2008 will be published in the Spring 2009.

4. “Trading Vessels” here are those recorded as commercial cargo or passenger ships by Lloyds Register Fairplay. TEU stands for “twenty-foot equivalent unit”, an industry standard measure of container-carrying capacity. Deadweight tonnage is a measure of the carrying capacity of a ship.

Publication details

Published on 18 September 2008 by Transport Statistics.

Copies are available from: TSO Online Bookshop TSO for £45, or download a free PDF version using the link on the right of this page under downloads.

E-mail maritime.stats@dft.gov.uk for queries concerning this report.

For information about the release of this product see National Statistics Online.