Maritime Statistics 2005

The report contains figures giving detailed information on port traffic, and UK and world fleet statistics.

Freight traffic at UK ports rose by 2 per cent in 2005 to 586 million tonnes (Mt) compared with the previous year.
Inwards traffic rose by 12 Mt (an increase of 3 per cent) to 354 Mt and outwards traffic by 1 Mt to 231 Mt (less than one half per cent).
Bulk traffic, in terms of tonnage, rose by 7 Mt, up 2 per cent, while container and roll on roll off (ro-ro) traffic increased by 5 Mt, up 3 per cent.
Containers increased by 150 thousand units, up 3 per cent and road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailers increased by 155 thousand units, up 2 per cent.
Leading ports by tonnage in 2005 (2004 positions in brackets) were:

Dover, the leading ro-ro port, recorded 2 million road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailer unit movements, 3 per cent more than the previous year. Felixstowe, the leading container port, handled 1.7 million containers, one per cent more than last year.

International sea passenger journeys fell by 7 per cent to 24.7 million compared with the previous year.
Accompanied passenger car traffic fell by 8 per cent to 6.3 million.
The number of ship arrivals were down by 3 per cent to 146 thousand.

The UK registered trading fleet increased by 11 ships during 2005 to 608, while tonnage increased from 10.5 million deadweight tonnes to 11.6 million deadweight tonnes, 10 per cent up on the previous year.
The UK registered trading fleet included 129 tankers, 137 ro-ro vessels, 144 container vessels and 38 passenger vessels. Container vessels accounted for half of all deadweight tonnage.
The trading fleet of ships owned by UK companies increased to 17.1 million deadweight tonnes> by the end of 2005, up 5 per cent on the previous year.
Of the 688 trading vessels owned by UK companies, 169 were tankers, accounting for 36 per cent of the deadweight tonnage of UK owned trading vessels. Of the other 519 vessels 137 were ro-ro vessels, 75 container ships and 49 passenger vessels.
World tonnage of trading vessels increased by 3 per cent in 2005 to 956 million deadweight tonnes.

The container figure given (an increase of 150 thousand units in 2005) is after adjustment so that the year on year change (up 3 per cent) is made on a comparable basis. The reason for the lack of comparability between 2004 and 2005 in container traffic is explained in Maritime Statistics 2005, Notes to Tables Section 2.
Port traffic statistics are derived from quarterly returns by shipping lines or their agents of traffic loaded or unloaded at UK's major ports. Port authorities and other port undertakings at ports 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.
Maritime Statistics 2005 (ISBN 13 978-0-11-552787-6 and 10 0-11-552787-7)is available from The Stationery Office priced £36, or free from the Transport Statistics website at www.dft.gov.uk. For further information about the publication telephone 020 7944 4131 or e-mail maritime.stats@dft.gov.uk
The next edition of Maritime Statistics will be published in October 2007.>