BPA's statistics review shows three-month port traffic was up 7.3% to 111.8 million tonnes
The BPA Statistical Dashboard is a monthly rundown of key statistics and indicators of port performance and the overall UK economy
New port traffic statistics for Q1 2022 were published in June and included revisions to the provisional 2021 numbers previously issued by DfT. The Dashboard is fully updated with these changes which were primarily tonnage increases over the earlier data.
In Q1 2022 total UK port throughput at 111.8m tonnes was 7.3% higher than Q1 2021. However, the latest quarter remains 6.8% below Q1 2019 with both inward and outward trades remaining below their 2019 Q1 pre-pandemic benchmark
Compared to Q1 2019, inward trade volumes were down at half of the UK’s top 10 ports in Q1 2022 with inward volume increases limited to three ports – London (+4%), Milford Haven (+38%) and the terminals/wharves on the Rivers Hull and Humber (+2%).
UK outward trade volumes were down by 9.9% compared to the same quarter of 2019, and by 9.4% for the top 10 ports. Ports showing positive volume growth in outward trade volumes since Q1 2019 were Grimsby & Immingham, Milford Haven, London and Belfast
In Q1 2022 LoLo unit volumes have increased by 9.9% compared to the Q1 2019 benchmark, but quarterly growth was weaker at 3.7% compared to Q1 2021
RoRo freight volumes (excludes trade and passenger cars) were 7.3% down compared to Q1 2019, but quarter-on-quarter growth was stronger at 11.9% compared to Q1 2021 in the RoRo sector. The international RoRo freight trends in Q1 were provided in last month’s report and showed strong growth in accompanied freight (+17%) and slightly lower growth of unaccompanied at 10.5%
DfT also published provisional quarterly data for the major commodity groups and these are summarised in rows 36 to 41 of the Dashboard. For Dry Bulk cargoes across all UK major ports, and after a strong finish to 2021 (+15%), the volume of imports/inward coastal trades declined by -10.4% in 2022 Q1. Outward trades in this commodity group also declined but at a lower rate (-5.2%) compared to Q1 2021.
Liquid bulks continue to account for the largest sector of UK ports’ throughput and inward trade (including coastal shipping of crude oil) grew at nearly 30% in Q1 but export trade remained flat in the quarter compared to Q1 2021.
General cargo volumes (primarily break bulks) saw a decline of both inward (-2%) and outward (-8.5%) trade in this quarter.
2022 international sea passenger traffic continued to recover strongly with a quadrupling in April of numbers on Irish Sea routes to/from Eire, and doubling on Channel crossings.
In May 2022, Le Shuttle Freight transported 137.3k trucks, an increase of 22% compared to May 2021. Across the first five months of 2022 unit volumes on Le Shuttle increased by 20.8% compared to the same period in 2021. However, in comparison with pre-pandemic 2019 unit volumes on Channel Tunnel services are down by 6.7% for the Jan to May period.
Monthly construction output decreased by 0.4% in volume terms in April 2022; this is the first monthly decline seen since October 2021. The decrease in monthly construction output in April 2022 came from a fall in repair and maintenance (2.4%), which was offset slightly by a rise in new work (0.9%); the fall is partly a by-product of the growth (3.0%) in March 2022 of construction repair work demand caused by storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin in February 2022.
Coal (row 26). In the three months to April 2022 imports of coal rose to 1.1 million tonnes, 15 per cent higher compared to the same period last year.
LNG (row 27). Because of its significant regasification infrastructure for LNG, UK has been playing a key role in supplying gas to Europe as it looks to move away from Russian gas. This has seen UK imports of LNG increase by almost a fifth in the three months to April 2022 compared to the same period in the previous year. Exports have quadrupled compared to last year; with exports in April 2022 at record monthly highs.
Related to this change in the energy supply landscape, pipeline imports of Natural Gas decreased by 15 per cent, largely due to substantial falls in Dutch and Belgian imports as interconnectors were used to export rather than import, converse to a year earlier. Whilst overall gas imports fell, imports of LNG were up 18 per cent on the same period last year. In April, imports of LNG outstripped natural gas imports from Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium by 30 per cent.
Oil and oil products (rows 28 to 30). Indigenous production of primary oils was down 2.7 per cent in the three months to April 2022 compared to the same period in the previous year. Production remains down compared to pre-pandemic levels despite increases following an extensive summer maintenance schedule. Refinery receipts were up 42 per cent in the three months to April 2022 compared to the same period in the previous year and receipts in March were at their highest level within the last two years, and approaching pre-pandemic levels for the three month period.
Imports of crude oil and NGLs increased by 52 per cent in the three months to April 2022 compared to the same period in the previous year with crude imports in March at their highest monthly level since the start of 2019.
Renewables (rows 31 to 35). Q1 2022 numbers have just been published by BEIS. Generation from renewables was up by 3.3 TWh (9.3 per cent) on 2021 quarter 1 and renewables share of electricity generation was 45.5 per cent, the highest percentage share since 2020 quarter 1.
Renewable capacity increased by 6.5 per cent (3.1 GW). More than half of the new capacity was installed during the latest quarter (1.6 GW), the bulk of this (1.4 GW) came from two large offshore wind farms - the first phase of Hornsea Two (462 MW) in England and East Moray (950 MW) in Scotland.
Onshore wind generation increased by 18 per cent and offshore wind by 13 per cent on 2021 Q1. Generation was aided by the new capacity, increasing by 3.3 per cent since the end of 2021 Q1 for onshore wind. Offshore wind capacity increased by nearly 22 per cent, however, most of the new capacity came online within February and March so the effects on generation have not yet been fully seen. As a result, the load factor (measure of how much was generated compared to maximum possible generation) for offshore wind was down marginally on last year but remains much higher than for onshore wind. In addition, average wind speeds were up by around 8 per cent on the same quarter of 2021. Wind speeds at sea can differ greatly to those seen on land.
Solar PV generation boosted by sunlight hours and new capacity. There was a modest increase of 0.3 GW in Solar PV capacity (2.2 per cent). However, generation increased by 21 per cent as a result of average hours of sunlight increasing, this was the sunniest quarter 1 since 2003.
Bioenergy and waste combustion, which are less affected by seasonal changes, recorded a 4.5 per cent fall in generation this quarter, this is partly due to an outage at a major biomass plant and also due to lower overall demand for electricity (down by 1.6 per cent on Quarter 1 2021).
Annual and quarterly volume trends in Dry Bulks, Liquid Bulks and other General Cargo are summarised in rows 36 to 41 and are split between inward and outward trade from UK ports. Commentary in section 2 above.
Updated statistics and commentary from the MMO through to May 2022 have been published.
The total quantity of landings into UK ports (by UK and foreign vessels) in May 2022 is up 6 per cent compared to 2021. Value landed is also up, by 15 per cent, compared to 2021. The impact on rates per tonne are in rows 50 to 53 of the Dashboard.
This month MMO highlighted that landings of species groups typically fluctuate over the year due to seasonality of UK stocks. Landings in May 2022 comprised mostly of Demersal species (45 per cent). This was driven by higher landings of Haddock which are typically caught more in the summer months due to the weather being more suitable for boat activity. Demersal species comprised the majority of the value landed (58 per cent), this is because demersal species typically fetch a higher price.
When compared to May 2021 the value of shellfish landings are up 8 per cent.
This month, the number of trips has again decreased, by 4 per cent overall across the UK fleet, Scottish vessel acitivity showed the highest decrease with the number of trips down by 29 per cent.
The BPA Statistical Dashboard is a monthly rundown of key statistics and indicators of port performance and the overall UK economy kindly prepared by Stephen Taylor of Port Centric Logistics and Partners.