1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter provides information about foreign and domestic freight traffic at Scottish ports and inland waterways by type of freight. There are also statistics on passengers and vehicles carried by Caledonian MacBrayne, P&O Orkney and Shetland and Orkney ferries.

1.2 Due to the inclusion of three new tables in this chapter, the table numbers are not consistent with those in previous editions of "Scottish Transport Statistics". The new tables are:-

Table 10.3 Foreign and domestic freight traffic by port (major ports only)

Table 10.5 All traffic at major ports by mode of appearance and bulk commodity

Table 10.10 Vehicle and passenger traffic between Scotland and Northern Ireland

2. Main Points

2.1 Waterborne freight through Scottish ports fell by around 1% in 1996 to 125 million tonnes, about the same amount as in 1986. Over the past ten years, the total fell to about 94 million tonnes in 1989, and remained around that level for a few years before rising back to roughly 124 million tonnes in 1994. Over half of the total is exports, and about a third is domestic traffic going outwards. (Table 10.1)

2.2 Seven major ports account for over 90% of the total traffic: The two largest are Forth (around 46 million tonnes in 1996) and Sullom Voe (38 million tonnes). Bulk fuel accounts for over three quarters of the cargo. (Table 10.2)

2.3 About 11.1 million tonnes of freight were carried on inland waterways in 1996. Over the past ten years the total has remained between 10 and 12 million tonnes. (Table 10.7)

2.4 In 1997 the number of passengers carried on shipping services within Scotland(eg excluding Northern Irish services) increased slightly over the previous year by 1% to 5.6 million. Over the same period the number of vehicles carried remained unchanged at just under 1.2 million. The longer-term trends are affected by the reduction in traffic that followed the opening of the Skye Bridge in 1995.
(Table 10.11)

2.5 Caledonian MacBrayne ferries carried 91% of passengers and 88% of vehicle crossings on all shipping services in Scotland, but accounted for only 70% of the total revenue from users. Overall, passenger traffic on Caledonian MacBrayne increased slightly in 1997 over the previous year. (Table 10.11)

2.6 Passengers carried by P&O Orkney and Shetland Services in 1997 were 4% higher than in 1996, though the number of passengers has been around the same level since 1989. Cars and commercial vehicles carried in 1997 were also 4% higher at 75,600, and 58% higher than in 1987. (Table 10.11)

2.7 Orkney Ferries passengers carried increased by 1% in 1997 over the previous year, to continue the increase on this route, now 261% higher than in 1987. Vehicles carried increased by 2% over the previous year. (Table 10.11)

2.8 Caledonian MacBrayne's busiest route in terms of passengers in 1997 was Wemyss Bay-Rothesay, with 685,700 passengers, a 1% decrease on the previous year, but a 15% increase on 1987. Wemyss Bay-Rothesay was also the busiest route for car traffic in 1997 with 115,100 car crossings, 3% lower than the previous year. The same route was also the third busiest commercial vehicle and bus traffic route with 10,800 such vehicles carried, a decrease of 1% on the previous year. (Table 10.12)

3. Notes and Definitions

3.1 Foreign traffic: traffic between ports in the United Kingdom and other countries.

3.2 Coastwise traffic: traffic between ports of the United Kingdom.

3.3 One port traffic: comprises dredged sand, gravel etc landed at a port for commercial purposes, traffic to and from offshore installations and materials shipped for dumping at sea.

3.4 Domestic traffic: coastwise traffic plus one port traffic.

3.5 Container and roll-on traffic: includes all traffic carried on special container and roll-on vessels, as well as the container traffic carried on conventional services.

3.6 "Units" comprise containers, road goods vehicles (including unaccompanied trailers) and any railway wagons and barges carried on ships which are designed for their carriage.

3.7 Other traffic on roll-on services (ie "non-unit" traffic on roll-on services) includes cars, lorries, caravans, tractors and so forth which are being imported or exported, and goods carried on trailers which are limited to ship or port use only.

3.8 Inland waterways: waterways bounded by the furthest point downstream which is less than both 3 km wide at low tide and 5 km wide at high tide (spring).

4. Sources

4.1 Most of the data in this section is supplied by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). The Scottish Office obtains shipping service information from Caledonian MacBrayne, P&O Scottish Ferries and Orkney Ferries.

4.2 Traffic at Scottish Ports (Tables 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6)

4.2.1 Annual traffic returns are made by port authorities and undertakings to DETR. The statistics are obtained, for the most part, from the records made by each port authority of the dues levied on goods passing through the port area. In some cases, port authorities have supplemented their own records with figures supplied by shipowners, shippers, and others.

4.2.2 With effect from 1995, the smaller ports (largely those with less than 2 million tonnes of traffic) are not required to supply full detailed statistics, but just their total traffic. Full details of freight traffic are collected only for those ports with cargo volumes of at least 2 million tonnes (and for a few ports with less traffic) in the previous year: these are called the 'major' ports. For the 1996 survey, the 'major' ports were: Aberdeen, Clyde, Cromarty Firth, Forth, Glensanda (on Loch Linnhe, SouthWest of Fort William, which exports "crude minerals"), Orkney, and Sullom Voe.

4.3 Inland Waterways (Tables 10.7, 10.8 and 10.9)

4.3.1 Statistics of inland waterways are compiled by MDS-Transmodal Ltd under contract to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

4.4 Shipping Services (Tables 10.10, 10.11 and 10.12)

4.4.1 The Scottish Office obtains shipping service information from DETR (Northern Ireland services), Caledonian MacBrayne, P&O Scottish Ferries and Orkney Ferries.

5. Further Information

5.1 Further information on GB water transport statistics can be found in the annual DETR publications "Port Statistics", "Waterborne Freight in the UK" and "Transport Statistics Great Britain". From 1998, "Port Statistics" will combine with "Merchant Fleet Statistics" to become "Maritime Statistics".

5.2 For further information on water transport statistics contact Mr Bill Foreman, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (tel: 0171 890 3087).

5.3 For further information on shipping services in Scotland contact Mr Ian Robertson, The Scottish Office Transport Division (tel: 0131 244 0842)

List of Tables/Figures