FELIXSTOWE container port, owned by Hong Kong's Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), has retained its ranking as the biggest container port in Britain in 2010, according to British government figures.
While HPH does not release Felixstowe volumes, Department for Transport's container figures indicated its volume was up 12 per cent to 3.4 million TEU in 2010, reports London's International Freighting Weekly. Southampton came in second with 945,000 containers, up 12.5 per cent.
Felixstowe will officially open its new berths 8 and 9, ready to accommodate 18,000-TEU ships.
London's total terminal operations along the Thames, handled 48 million tonnes, a rise of 2.6 million. Welsh energy port Milford Haven was the third largest hub by volume, at 43 million tonnes, up 3.7 million tonnes. Southampton was in fourth place, at 39 million tonnes, a rise of 1.8 million tonnes, said the report. Throughput at major British ports was up, but still below the 2005 high water mark.
UK ports handled 512 million tonnes in 2010, a two per cent increase over 2009, but still 12 per cent below the 2005 high, according to government statistics.
