The Department for Transport (DfT) says the country's 52 major ports handled 582 million tonnes of freight traffic - down two million on 2006 - although there was a 5% rise in container and roll-on, roll-off (RO-RO) traffic. Dover, the leading RO-RO port, handled 2.4 million road goods vehicles and unaccompanied trailer units, a 2% rise on 2006. Felixstowe handled 10% more containers (2.1 million) than the previous year.
AB Ports, which operates 21 ports in the UK, refuses to comment on the figures a spokesman says the DfT figures "just show their statistics". And a spokeswoman for Southampton Container Terminal would only comment on its own throughput figures, which show that the number of TEUs (20ft Equivalent Units) handled by the port actually increased by 26% to 1.9m last year.
But Southampton-based Pentalver Transport says the picture is one of "doom and gloom". Boss Brian Tattersall says: "It's just my opinion, but I think it will be like this for the next 12 months. We were told to expect substantial growth in volumes this year instead, we have seen a 10-15% reduction. There's been no Christmas peak."
He adds: "When you are on the shop floor like we are, you can just see it. Guys who are earning modest salaries are really struggling. People haven't got any money to go into shops and buy things flooding in from China."