News story: £10 billion Immingham and Grimsby ports can be gateways to prosperity

The Chief Secretary used a visit to Immingham Port to unveil new figures that showed more than £10.6 billion of goods were cleared through Grimsby and Immingham Ports in 2017, with goods entering and leaving Lincolnshire from all over the world.

The figures show that exports from Grimsby and Immingham ports to the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America were at an all-time high.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Elizabeth Truss said:

We’ve already seen exports from Grimsby and Immingham top £1 billion in the first three months of 2018.

And it’s important that local businesses take advantage of the opportunities available to them and expand their exports. It’s good for business, good for jobs and good for people working and living in the area.

It’s impressive to hear that there are over 87,000 more businesses across all of Yorkshire and Humberside than in 2010.

I’ve heard from some local businesses today about their deep desire to trade with the rest of the world and, having also just returned from Latin America, I know they want to trade with us.

Latest figures show that:

• goods exports from Yorkshire and Humberside in 2017 were worth £16.8 billion, up on 2016 when exports valued £14.7 billion

• exports to Asia topped £2 billion, up from £1.6 billion the year before

• machinery and transport goods remain the biggest source of exports from the region

The government is delivering for Yorkshire and the Humber with the unemployment rate falling by over 5 per cent since 2010, more than any other region in the UK.

Employment in the area is now close to an all time high, with 2.59 million people in work.