UK freight traffic in EU increased ahead of Brexit

The UK Department for Transport has published its Annual UK Port Freight statistics, which shows that overall total freight tonnages handled by UK ports declined by 3% in 2016, to 484mt. Despite this, there has been growth in unitised traffics and trade with European countries.

The Department of Transportation attributes the decline to a large reduction in demand for coal imports, which is a direct consequence of changes to UK Government energy policy in recent years.

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Specifically, in 2016:

    total tonnage decreased by 3% to 484.0 million tonnes

    coal handled showed the biggest decline of any cargo category more than halving to 12.0 million tonnes

    liquid bulk goods, which account for 40% of total tonnage, decreased by 2%

    crude oil handled has halved since 2000, to 87.1 million tonnes

    unitised traffic rose by 2% to 24.1 million units

    container units reached a record high of 5.9 million units

    overall roll-on roll-off traffic rose 1.4% to 18.2 million units

    the volume of import and export motor vehicles increased 1% to 4.5 million units

British Ports Association Chief Executive, Richard Ballantyne, said:

    “The DfT’s figures highlight the significance of unitised traffic to the UK economy and particularly ‘Roll-on Roll-off’ HGV vehicle trade with Europe. This underlines the importance of agreeing a post Brexit deal with the EU that preserves as many of the advantages of Customs Union membership and avoids the need for border interventions, congestion and delays at Ro-Ro ports, whilst also enabling UK ports to take advantage of new global trade deals.”

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