Both the impacts of Brexit and the pandemic have had a negative effect on UK port throughput in the first quarter of 2021.

Statistics released by the Department for Transport show that total freight tonnage fell 9% year on year between January and March to 103.9m tonnes.

Total imports were down 8% to 67.2m tonnes and exports down 11% to 36.6m tonnes.

Despite signs that more freight is shifting modes towards shortsea containerisation to avoid driver shortages and other disruptions, volumes of unitised cargo, which includes ro-ro volumes under DfT calculations, also fell during the quarter.

The total volume of unitised traffic fell by 13% to 4.2m units during the first three months, with imports down 17% to 2.2m units. Outbound volumes fell by a smaller margin of 8% to 2m units.

“This is the first time the industry as a whole has been able to see the aggregate impact of Brexit on port volumes,” said British Ports Association policy manager Phoebe Warneford-Thomson.

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