Port freight hangs on

Maritime Statistics 2008, published in September by the British Government, show that UK ports handled 562m tons of freight last year, only 3% down on 2007. Liquid bulk traffic accounted for 43% of the total, dry bulk was 23.5% while containers and ro-ro accounted for 29%. Grimsby & Immingham was again the leading port by tonnage, followed by London, Tees and Hartlepool, Southampton and Forth. The UK’ s leading ro-ro port, Dover, handled 2.3m goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailers last year.