§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What proportion of British (a) imports and (b) exports pass through British sea ports. [HL4443]
§ Lord Macdonald of TradestonThe last published estimates, based on analyses carried out by the former Department of Transport, are for 1996 when seaborne trade was estimated to account for 93 per cent of UK92WA imports and 97 per cent of UK exports in terms of tonnage. In terms of value, the equivalent share was 75 per cent for both imports and exports.
The estimates are derived from overseas trade statistics. However, changes in the arrangements for collecting statistics on intra-EU trade following the introduction of the single market in 1993 have made the mode of transport analyses unreliable and compilation of this information ceased after 1996.