Maritime statistics 2006

This report contains figures giving detailed information on ports traffic, and, UK and world fleet statistics. The complete PDF is available from this page. Excel versions of the reports' are available from the Ports, Shipping and Passengers pages.

Port freight traffic in 2006

UK ports handled 584 million tonnes (Mt) of freight traffic in 2006, one million tonnes lower than in 2005.
Inwards traffic rose by 11 Mt to 365 Mt (3 per cent higher) whilst outwards traffic fell by 12 Mt to 219 Mt (5 per cent lower).
Bulk traffic fell by 5 Mt (one per cent lower than in 2005) whilst container and roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) traffic increased by 5 Mt (3 per cent higher).
Container traffic increased by 129 thousand units (3 per cent higher). Road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailers increased by 380 thousand units (6 per cent higher).

Leading ports by tonnage in 2006 (positions unchanged from 2005) were:

Grimsby & Immingham	64.0 Mt
Tees & Hartlepool	53.3 Mt
London	51.9 Mt
Southampton	40.6 Mt
Milford Haven	34.3 Mt

Dover, the leading ro-ro port, handled 2.3 million road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailer units (14 per cent higher than in 2005). Felixstowe, the leading container port, handled 1.9 million containers (3.0 million TEU), representing a nine per cent increase on last year.

Other port statistics in 2006

International sea passenger journeys fell by one per cent to 24.5 million passengers.
Accompanied passenger car traffic rose by one per cent to 6.4 million vehicles.
The number of ship arrivals fell by 4 per cent to 141 thousand.

Merchant fleet statistics at end 2006

The UK registered trading fleet increased by 21 to 629 ships during 2006. Overall deadweight tonnage totalled 12.3 million tonnes (7 per cent higher than in 2005).
The UK registered trading fleet included 135 tankers, 132 ro-ro vessels, 153 container vessels and 37 passenger vessels.
The trading fleet owned by UK companies increased by five per cent to 17.9 million deadweight tonnes.
Of the 709 trading vessels owned by UK companies, 173 were tankers accounting for 34 per cent of total deadweight tonnage. There were also 133 ro-ro, 91 container and 47 passenger vessels. The number of container vessels increased by a fifth during 2006.
World tonnage of trading vessels totalled 1,019 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.

2. Maritime Statistics 2006 (ISBN 978-0-11-552906-1) is available from The Stationery Office priced £38, 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. During 2007, DfT statisticians, in consultation with users inside and outside Government, have carried out a National Statistics Review of Maritime Statistics. The report of the review will be submitted to the National Statistician for approval, and will then in due course be published by the Office for National Statistics,

4. Provisional port statistics for 2007 will be published in the spring of 2008, followed by the next edition of Maritime Statistics later in the year.

5. “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.