Container market

Important changes in the UK and international container market support the economic case for new deep sea container capacity at Bristol:

• increased demand for container volume and dramatic increases in the size of vessels mean that by 2015 some 40% of traffic in Northern European will use the largest vessels.  The planned deep water terminal will accommodate these vessels as well as future Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCS).
• the distance between ports and the final destinations of containers shows that, on average, Bristol is closer to a large part of the UK container market than other ports in the South and East.
• while inland transport costs are increasing sharply due to congestion, fuel and taxation charges, the cost of ocean freight continues to fall in real terms and ship journey lengths are less significant in the total shipment cost.

This relative increase in the cost of inland freight, combined with the location of container destinations, gives Bristol Port a significant competitive advantage in the UK domestic market.  See Bristol Port's publication Real Cost and Emissons Savings and also the Container traffic emissions section for information on evironmental factors.

A new terminal at Bristol would be competitive in the regional transshipment market for North and West Europe.  The Port can also benefit from the trend to fewer, larger companies which own  container operations and influence trading and distribution decisions.