Port freight
Sunderland · January to March 2026
Sunderland moved 237,331 tonnes of freight in January to March 2026 — the 38th-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.
237,331
tonnes
Freight through Sunderland, both directions, January to March 2026
Provisional — the publisher will revise this quarter
That is 0.2% of all freight through UK major ports in January to March 2026.
Its busiest quarter on our record was July to September 2021, at 297,589 tonnes — 20% above where it is now. The record starts in January to March 2009.
The busiest UK major ports in January to March 2026
- … 27 ports between
- 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
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
| Quarter | Tonnage | Rank among ports |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q1 | 237,331 tonnes | 38th |
| 2025 Q4 | 188,946 tonnes | 40th |
| 2025 Q3 | 239,457 tonnes | 39th |
| 2025 Q2 | 215,552 tonnes | 39th |
| 2025 Q1 | 230,964 tonnes | 40th |
| 2024 Q4 | 150,655 tonnes | 43rd |
| 2024 Q3 | 221,058 tonnes | 40th |
| 2024 Q2 | 134,831 tonnes | 46th |
| 2024 Q1 | 234,646 tonnes | 39th |
| 2023 Q4 | 133,161 tonnes | 44th |
| 2023 Q3 | 181,456 tonnes | 41st |
| 2023 Q2 | 134,594 tonnes | 44th |
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.