Maritime profile: China

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR 2021

Population

GDP

Merchandise trade¹

1 425.893 Millions

17 298 593 Millions current US$

6 052 469 Millions current US$

Land area²

GDP growth

Transport services trade³

(o) 9 388 210 Km²

8.11 %

(e) 833 510 Millions current US$

MARITIME KEY FIGURES FOR 2021

Coast/area ratio²

Ship building⁴

Ship recycling⁴

3.2 m/km²

26 863 204 GT

140 112 GT

Fleet - National flag⁵

Fleet - Ownership⁶

108 481 Thousands DWT

6 937 ships

246 738 Thousands DWT

Container port throughput⁷

Number of seafarers⁸

Number of port calls⁹

245 103 781 TEU

134 294

260 464

WORLD SHARES FOR 2021

INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE

+29.9 %

Merchandise exports growth rate in 2021

Total merchandise trade

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2021

Merchandise exports

761 953

1 577 754

2 273 468

3 363 835

Merchandise imports

659 953

1 396 247

1 679 566

2 688 634

Merchandise trade balance

102 000

181 507

593 902

675 202

Export structure by product group in 2021

(as % of total exports)

Top 5 partners in 2021

(exports, millions of US$)

INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN TRANSPORT SERVICES

+120.9 %

Transport services exports growth rate in 2021

Services exports by main category¹⁰

(as % of total services)

2005

2010

2015

2021

Transport

19.7

19.2

17.7

(e) 32.5

Travel

37.3

25.7

20.6

3.0

Other services

26.0

(e) 41.0

50.8

57.5

Total trade in transport services¹⁰

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2021

Transport services exports

15 427

34 211

38 594

(e) 127 280

Transport services imports

28 454

63 257

85 340

(e) 147 865

Transport services trade balance

-13 027

-29 046

-46 745

(e) -20 585

NATIONAL FLEET

+5.0 %

Fleet growth rate in 2021

Carrying capacity by type of ship⁵

(Thousands DWT)

2005

2010

2015

2021

Total fleet

29 793.0

45 157.3

78 363.8

108 481.3

Oil tankers

6 057.0

9 264.0

11 627.1

18 296.5

Bulk carriers

13 340.0

23 030.6

49 769.4

64 096.2

General cargo

6 527.0

6 042.8

4 616.4

6 931.8

Container ships

2 968.0

5 267.8

6 798.2

10 809.9

Other types of ships

901.0

1 552.2

5 552.8

8 346.9

Fleet by type of ship⁵

(Number of ships)

LINER SHIPPING CONNECTIVITY

Bilateral connectivity index - Top 10 partners in Q1 2021¹¹

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

Liner shipping connectivity index¹¹

Maximum 2006=100 for China

PORT CALLS AND PERFORMANCE

Port calls, time spent in ports, vessel age and size in 2021⁹

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

260 464

1.15

13

31 075

45 243

4 401

237 200

Liquid bulk carriers

44 797

1.15

12

19 543

34 011

..

170 618

Liquefied petroleum gas carriers

9 014

1.04

14

9 412

10 249

..

61 000

Liquefied natural gas carriers

1 328

1.19

9

96 008

76 438

..

168 189

Dry bulk carriers

65 524

2.04

14

40 869

74 396

..

204 014

Dry breakbulk carriers

29 249

1.50

17

10 165

14 306

..

91 649

Roll-on/ roll-off ships

6 796

..

12

32 386

11 260

..

76 420

Container ships

70 506

0.73

13

47 249

..

4 401

237 200

Passenger ships

33 250

..

14

14 420

..

85 861

Port liner shipping connectivity index - Top 5 ports in 2021¹¹

Maximum 2006=100 for China, Hong Kong SAR

Source: Detailed data sources are available in the documentation of the corresponding tables in the Data Center (http://stats.unctad.org/data_center). 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 2020.
	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.
	o	Estimated. Data refers to 2020.


	Symbols for missing values:
	0	Zero means that the amount is nil or negligible
	..	Not available or not separately reported
	_	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.

UNCTAD strives for the highest level of accuracy and is committed to promptly correcting any errors on its part. It does not guarantee or make any express or implied representations regarding the accuracy, reliability, correctness, fitness for use for a particular purpose, or otherwise, whatsoever, of any of the tables in UNCTADstat.

Generation date: 20 October 2022