The significant economic contribution of ABP’s three East Anglian ports has been confirmed as together they reported handling more than half, or 56 per cent of total UK barley exports in July this year.

The Port of Ipswich has confirmed its place as the UK’s number one port for agricultural products, handling 40 per cent of UK barley exports, with 46,173 out of a total UK export tonnage of 113,000 tonnes passing through its facilities.

This was followed by King’s Lynn, which handled 10,002 tonnes and Lowestoft which processed 7,000 tonnes. Ipswich’s status as the UK’s number one export port for agricultural products was also confirmed in September by the 2016 GB Port Freight statistics released by the Department for Transport (DfT), a record it has now held since 2005.  

The Port of King's Lynn is a one stop shop for the agricultural sector with its on-site graintesting laboratory, while Lowestoft is a renewable energy hub and is a key player in the development of the East Anglian offshore wind industry. 

 The three ports combined handled more than 2 million tonnes of agribulks and 170,000 tonnes of timber in 2016 and play a key role in connecting businesses in the region to ports across the North Sea and beyond.  

Andrew Harston, ABP’s Short Sea Ports Director, said: “This is a proud moment as the continued investment programme at our East Anglian ports combined with our close collaboration with customers and location has yielded excellent results, placing us in the top position in the UK grain sector.  

 “We are determined to build on this success and continue growing our capacity for additional cargo flows in the agribulk sector so that we can keep Britain trading.”