Public Figures

Britain’s official statistics

Port freight

Portsmouth · January to March 2026

Portsmouth moved 772,866 tonnes of freight in January to March 2026 — the 23rd-busiest of the 53 UK major ports that quarter, on provisional figures.

Read from the Department for Transport’s PORT0502 table, in the vintage we archived on 11 August 2026.

772,866

tonnes

Freight through Portsmouth, both directions, January to March 2026

Provisional — the publisher will revise this quarter

That is 0.7% of all freight through UK major ports in January to March 2026.

Its busiest quarter on our record was January to March 2016, at 1.1m tonnes — 28% above where it is now. The record starts in January to March 2009.

The busiest UK major ports in January to March 2026

  1. 1stLondon13.1m tonnes
  2. 2ndMilford Haven12.9m tonnes
  3. 3rdGrimsby and Immingham10.5m tonnes
  4. 4thSouthampton8.1m tonnes
  5. 5thLiverpool8.0m tonnes
  6. 6thTees and Hartlepool5.7m tonnes
  7. 7thFelixstowe5.3m tonnes
  8. 8thDover5.1m tonnes
  9. 9thBelfast4.7m tonnes
  10. 10thForth4.1m tonnes
  11. 12 ports between
    23rdPortsmouth772,866 tonnes
  12. out of 53 UK major ports reporting that quarter

Tonnage in both directions, as published. “Major port” is the publisher’s own unit, and some of them are more than one place: Grimsby and Immingham are counted together, as are Tees and Hartlepool.

Every quarter on record

2009 Q1657,018 tonnes1.1m tonnes across 69 readings on record2026 Q1

One cell per quarter from 2009 Q1 to 2026 Q1, shaded from this port’s own quietest quarter to its busiest. Quarters the publisher marked as not applicable are left blank rather than read as zero.

The last three years, quarter by quarter

QuarterTonnageRank among ports
2026 Q1772,866 tonnes23rd
2025 Q4684,668 tonnes24th
2025 Q3702,873 tonnes24th
2025 Q2841,998 tonnes26th
2025 Q1824,133 tonnes27th
2024 Q4756,777 tonnes28th
2024 Q3698,177 tonnes28th
2024 Q2761,212 tonnes29th
2024 Q1731,322 tonnes28th
2023 Q4672,986 tonnes28th
2023 Q3657,018 tonnes27th
2023 Q2809,462 tonnes27th

How these figures are read

Figures are tonnage in both directions, in thousand tonnes as published and shown here in tonnes. The publisher’s own four-quarter totals and percentage-change columns are not used: every comparison on this page is calculated from the quarters themselves.

The publisher marks this quarter provisional. Provisional quarters are revised, and when they are, the change is logged in our corrections log.