Maritime profile: Japan

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR 2024

Population

GDP

Merchandise trade¹

123.753 Millions

4 016 164 Millions current US$

1 450 507 Millions current US$

Land area²

GDP growth

Transport services trade³

(p) 364 500 Km²

0.10 %

(e) 474 705 Millions current US$

MARITIME KEY FIGURES FOR 2024

Coast/area ratio²

Ship building⁴

Ship recycling⁴

79.6 m/km²

9 002 442 GT

0.000 GT

Fleet - National flag⁵

Fleet - Ownership⁶

42 637 Thousands DWT

5 166 ships

240 840 Thousands DWT

Number of port calls⁹

Container port throughput⁷

Number of seafarers⁸

21 498 446 TEU

(o) 25 458

293 963

WORLD SHARES FOR 2024

INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE

-1.4 %

Merchandise exports growth rate in 2024

Total merchandise trade

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2024

Merchandise exports

594 941

769 774

624 921

707 009

Merchandise imports

515 866

694 059

648 117

743 498

Merchandise trade balance

79 074

75 715

-23 196

-36 489

Export structure by product group in 2024

(as % of total exports)

Top 5 partners in 2024

(exports, millions of US$)

INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN TRANSPORT SERVICES

+3.9 %

Transport services exports growth rate in 2024

Services exports by main category¹⁰

(as % of total services)

2005

2010

2015

2024

Transport

35.1

31.4

21.8

(e) 13.8

Travel

12.2

9.8

15.4

(e) 24.0

Other services

52.4

58.3

62.3

(e) 60.6

Total trade in transport services¹⁰

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2024

Transport services exports

35 789

42 234

35 393

(e) 31 498

Transport services imports

40 345

46 447

41 036

(e) 36 271

Transport services trade balance

-4 556

-4 213

-5 643

(e) -4 772

NATIONAL FLEET

+2.3 %

Fleet growth rate in 2024

Carrying capacity by type of ship⁵

(Thousands DWT)

2005

2010

2015

2024

Total fleet

16 013.0

17 707.2

31 027.2

42 637.2

Oil tankers

5 504.0

5 028.5

6 697.1

9 488.3

Bulk carriers

6 757.0

6 607.9

17 609.9

22 141.2

General cargo

2 133.0

2 491.2

2 789.3

3 148.7

Container ships

474.0

123.9

124.3

3 194.1

Other types of ships

1 145.0

3 455.7

3 806.6

4 664.9

Fleet by type of ship⁵

(Number of ships)

LINER SHIPPING CONNECTIVITY

Bilateral connectivity index - Top 10 partners in Q1 2006¹¹

Can only take values between 0 (minimum) and 1 (maximum)

Liner shipping connectivity index¹¹

Average Q1 2023=100

PORT CALLS AND PERFORMANCE

Port calls, time spent in ports, vessel age and size in 2023⁹

Number of arrivals

Median time
in port (days)

Avg age
of vessels

Avg size (GT)
of vessels

Avg cargo
carrying
capacity (DWT)
per vessel

Avg container
carrying
capacity (TEU)
per container ship

Maximum size (GT) of vessels

All ships

293 963

0.41

10 439

15 001

1 614

236 500

Liquid bulk carriers

41 715

0.32

8 289

14 024

169 919

Liquefied petroleum gas carriers

6 137

0.37

6 955

7 612

54 634

Liquefied natural gas carriers

1 901

1.01

65 790

47 780

163 922

Dry bulk carriers

30 523

0.90

17 113

29 548

161 294

Dry breakbulk carriers

23 912

1.14

6 878

9 140

66 870

Roll-on/ roll-off ships

36 766

16 926

7 350

77 644

Container ships

38 360

0.35

16 602

1 614

236 500

Passenger ships

114 649

5 313

171 598

Port liner shipping connectivity index - Top 5 ports in 2024¹¹

Average Q1 2023=100

Source: Detailed data sources are available in the documentation of the corresponding tables in the Data Center (https://unctadstat.unctad.org/datacentre/). A link to these tables is provided in each section of the profile.


	Notes:
	1	Sum of exports and imports.
	2	Land area refers to the total area of a country excluding area under inland water bodies. It differs from the country area, that includes area under inland water bodies, but excludes offshore territorial waters. Coastline length based on data calculated in 2000 from the World Vector Shoreline database at 1:250,000 scale.
	3	Sum of exports and imports. Statistics presented correspond to the 6th edition of the IMF Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, 2009 (BPM6, 2009).
	4	Propelled seagoing merchant vessels of 100 GT and above. Source: Clarksons Research (https://www.clarksons.com/services/research/).
	5	Propelled seagoing merchant vessels of 100 GT and above, on 1 January. Source: Clarksons Research (https://www.clarksons.com/services/research/).
	6	Propelled seagoing merchant vessels of 1000 GT and above, on 1 January. Source: Clarksons Research (https://www.clarksons.com/services/research/).
	7	UNCTAD Secretariat, derived from various sources including Dynamar B.V. Publications, terminal operators and port authorities. Refers to year 2023.
	8	Refers to year 2021. Source: BIMCO-ICS Manpower Report 2015 and BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report, 2021 edition.
	9	Refers to year 2023. UNCTAD Secretariat, based on data provided by MarineTraffic (http://marinetraffic.com). Ships of 1000 GT and above.
	10	Statistics presented correspond to the 6th edition of the IMF Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, 2009 (BPM6, 2009).
	11	UNCTAD Secretariat, generated from data provided by MDS Transmodal (https://www.mdst.co.uk).
	e	Estimated.
	o	Estimated by BIMCO/ICS to be the same figure as in 2015.
	p	Estimated. Data refers to 2020.


	Symbols for missing values:
	0	Zero means that the amount is nil or negligible
	..	No value reported or collected
	_	Not applicable
	...	Not available, including no quotation
	#	Non-relevant calculation
	-	Not publishable
	***	Negative accumulation of flows; Value included in regional and global totals

Abbreviations & acronyms:

DWT:

Dead weight tons

LNG:

Liquefied natural gas

LPG:

Liquefied petroleum gas

GDP:

Gross domestic product

GT:

Gross tons

TEU:

Twenty foot equivalent unit

Disclaimer:

The designations employed and the presentation of the material on UNCTADstat do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Where the designations "economy" or "country or area" appear in texts or tables, they cover regions, countries, territories, cities or areas.
The designations "developing", "transition" and "developed" are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular economy in the development process.

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Generation date: 02 December 2025