Economic Impact
ABP is the UK’s leading ports operator, handling around a quarter of the UK’s seaborne trade in goods.
Our 21 ports around Britain include Immingham, the UK’s largest port by tonnage, and Southampton, the UK’s principal port for automotive trade and number one cruise port.
Together with our customers, our ports contribute £7.5 billion to the UK economy every year and support around 119,000 jobs across the country.
ABP’s ports play an important role in supporting businesses up and down the country, facilitating trade and providing access to international markets. These trade flows are crucial to UK manufacturers and industry and help to drive national and regional economic growth.
The Port of Southampton is the UK’s number one export port, handling £40 billion of exports for UK manufacturers every year.
The Humber is the UK’s busiest trading estuary with annual trade worth £75 billion, more than the Mersey, Tees and Tyne combined.
ABP’s ports are an integral part of often complex supply chains that stretch around the globe. By enabling the import of components or raw materials and export of finished products, our ports support industry and manufacturing jobs in local economies well beyond their immediate hinterland.
ABP’s ports are a vital part of supply chains serving key sectors such as automotive manufacturing, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and the food and beverages sector.
It is because of this essential role that the Port of Southampton supports 11,700 jobs in the automotive sector in the West Midlands; it’s why our ports on the Humber support 5,700 jobs in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, oil and petroleum in West Yorkshire and 12,500 jobs in the food and beverages sector in Greater Lincolnshire.