The Humber now plays host to the Europe's fourth-busiest port complex, new figures have revealed.
A report released by the Office for National Statistics shows Immingham was the UK's biggest shipping hub last year.
Although its 62.6 million-tonne volume dwarfs the 12.2 million tonnes at Hull and Goole, the East Yorkshire side of the estuary is growing quickly and the two ports saw an eight per cent increase last year.
Humber director John Fitzgerald said: "It's a real success story of growth for the Humber.
"The Humber is now the fourth-biggest port operation in Europe – we've jumped over that Champions League spot and we're still growing.
"Whatever the business is, the ports can handle it."
Estuary shipping supports 23,000 jobs in the region and an additional 10,000 across the UK, Mr Fitzgerald said.
Although net importers, the complexes, owned by Associated British Ports (ABP), are sending a wide range of goods abroad.
The director put the imbalance down to the vast amount of raw material consumed by Yorkshire's energy and manufacturing sectors.
He said: "We're still symptomatic of the balance of UK trade.
"We're still predominately importers but that's because a lot of the feedstocks, such as iron, oil and coal, push the numbers up.
"We're exporting a lot of things as well, from chemicals to general cargo, to waste – as well as powering the UK, the energy estuary is powering Europe."
It might seem strange but British waste is in high demand on the continent.
Thor Shipping took over a terminal in King George Dock after former operator TransAtlantic pulled out earlier this year and spotted an opportunity in refuse-derived fuel.
It is taking the green energy product, which is burnt by power plants instead of coal, from the Humber to a furnace in Västerås, Sweden.
Mr Fitzgerald has also seen a growth in container traffic on both banks of the estuary.
He said: "We're seeing growth across a number of commodities – one of the interesting ones is the container business.
"We've really seen significant growth in what are effectively retail products in the containers, and we've seen it in Hull and at the Immingham terminal.
"The other thing we've seen is growth in the foundation industries, such as steel, aggregate, timber and cement, which is a real sign we're coming out of recession."
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