This report argues that around £570 billion in trade passes through Britain’s sea ports and after Brexit this is likely to increase.

From this perspective the outlook for trade generally and for Britain’s ports in particular is positive outside the EU, when we will be free to make new trade deals with the rest of the world. For many years UK exports have been growing much faster to non-EU countries than to the EU and the share of our goods exports going to the EU has fallen from just over 60% to 49%. This report also suggests that predictions of long queues at customs are doom-mongering as only 1.5% to 2% of non-EU goods imports into the UK are subject to customs checks and 80% of these are on health grounds, such as food hygiene and quality standards.