Maritime profile: China

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR 2023

Population

GDP

Merchandise trade¹

1 422.585 Millions

17 794 782 Millions current US$

5 935 985 Millions current US$

Land area²

GDP growth

Transport services trade³

(p) 9 388 210 Km²

5.25 %

933 116 Millions current US$

MARITIME KEY FIGURES FOR 2023

Coast/area ratio²

Ship building⁴

Ship recycling⁴

3.2 m/km²

32 859 862 GT

4 885 GT

Fleet - National flag⁵

Fleet - Ownership⁶

127 487 Thousands DWT

9 222 ships

294 948 Thousands DWT

Number of port calls⁹

Container port throughput⁷

Number of seafarers⁸

279 793 800 TEU

134 294

263 460

WORLD SHARES FOR 2023

INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE

-4.7 %

Merchandise exports growth rate in 2023

Total merchandise trade

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2023

Merchandise exports

761 953

1 577 754

2 273 468

3 379 044

Merchandise imports

659 953

1 396 247

1 679 566

2 556 941

Merchandise trade balance

102 000

181 507

593 902

822 102

Export structure by product group in 2023

(as % of total exports)

Top 5 partners in 2023

(exports, millions of US$)

INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN TRANSPORT SERVICES

-39.9 %

Transport services exports growth rate in 2023

Services exports by main category¹⁰

(as % of total services)

2005

2010

2015

2023

Transport

19.7

19.2

17.7

22.8

Travel

37.3

25.7

20.6

3.8

Other services

26.0

(e) 41.0

50.8

Total trade in transport services¹⁰

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2023

Transport services exports

15 427

34 211

38 594

87 072

Transport services imports

28 454

63 257

85 340

171 252

Transport services trade balance

-13 027

-29 046

-46 745

-84 180

NATIONAL FLEET

+5.8 %

Fleet growth rate in 2023

Carrying capacity by type of ship⁵

(Thousands DWT)

2005

2010

2015

2023

Total fleet

29 793.0

45 157.3

78 363.8

127 487.3

Oil tankers

6 057.0

9 264.0

11 627.1

20 559.6

Bulk carriers

13 340.0

23 030.6

49 769.4

74 737.5

General cargo

6 527.0

6 042.8

4 616.4

8 999.0

Container ships

2 968.0

5 267.8

6 798.2

12 034.4

Other types of ships

901.0

1 552.2

5 552.8

11 156.8

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

263 460

1.05

33 683

46 551

4 561

237 000

Liquid bulk carriers

45 417

1.11

21 119

37 036

170 618

Liquefied petroleum gas carriers

9 063

1.02

10 025

10 878

60 784

Liquefied natural gas carriers

1 325

1.16

96 307

76 569

168 189

Dry bulk carriers

61 737

2.01

43 030

78 610

204 014

Dry breakbulk carriers

28 286

1.32

11 160

15 617

149 944

Roll-on/ roll-off ships

10 707

27 181

9 672

89 797

Container ships

80 095

0.60

48 856

4 561

237 000

Passenger ships

26 830

19 392

171 598

Port liner shipping connectivity index - Top 5 ports in 2023¹¹

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.
	8	Refers to year 2021. Source: BIMCO-ICS Manpower Report 2015 and BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report, 2021 edition.
	9	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.
	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

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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: 15 April 2025