Maritime profile: China

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR 2022

Population

GDP

Merchandise trade¹

1 425.887 Millions

18 076 132 Millions current US$

6 309 674 Millions current US$

Land area²

GDP growth

Transport services trade³

(j) 9 388 210 Km²

3.00 %

889 109 Millions current US$

MARITIME KEY FIGURES FOR 2022

Coast/area ratio²

Ship building⁴

Ship recycling⁴

3.2 m/km²

25 893 611 GT

178 522 GT

Fleet - National flag⁵

Fleet - Ownership⁶

117 966 Thousands DWT

7 939 ships

279 926 Thousands DWT

Number of port calls⁹

Container port throughput⁷

Number of seafarers⁸

262 605 700 TEU

236 429

WORLD SHARES FOR 2022

INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE

+7.0 %

Merchandise exports growth rate in 2022

Total merchandise trade

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2022

Merchandise exports

761 953

1 577 754

2 273 468

3 593 523

Merchandise imports

659 953

1 396 247

1 679 566

2 716 151

Merchandise trade balance

102 000

181 507

593 902

877 372

Export structure by product group in 2022

(as % of total exports)

Top 5 partners in 2022

(exports, millions of US$)

INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN TRANSPORT SERVICES

+16.9 %

Transport services exports growth rate in 2022

Services exports by main category¹⁰

(as % of total services)

2005

2010

2015

2022

Transport

19.7

19.2

17.7

35.1

Travel

37.3

25.7

20.6

2.3

Other services

26.0

(e) 41.0

50.8

55.9

Total trade in transport services¹⁰

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2022

Transport services exports

15 427

34 211

38 594

148 761

Transport services imports

28 454

63 257

85 340

168 829

Transport services trade balance

-13 027

-29 046

-46 745

-20 069

NATIONAL FLEET

+6.3 %

Fleet growth rate in 2022

Carrying capacity by type of ship⁵

(Thousands DWT)

2005

2010

2015

2022

Total fleet

29 793.0

45 157.3

78 363.8

117 966.2

Oil tankers

6 057.0

9 264.0

11 627.1

19 559.1

Bulk carriers

13 340.0

23 030.6

49 769.4

69 826.2

General cargo

6 527.0

6 042.8

4 616.4

8 252.6

Container ships

2 968.0

5 267.8

6 798.2

11 009.1

Other types of ships

901.0

1 552.2

5 552.8

9 319.2

Fleet by type of ship⁵

(Number of ships)

LINER SHIPPING CONNECTIVITY

Bilateral connectivity index - Top 10 partners in Q1 2022¹¹

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 2022⁹

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

236 429

1.13

33 353

46 196

4 482

236 673

Liquid bulk carriers

43 275

1.14

20 028

34 873

170 618

Liquefied petroleum gas carriers

8 115

1.04

9 933

10 782

60 784

Liquefied natural gas carriers

1 040

1.22

101 181

81 446

168 189

Dry bulk carriers

58 244

2.07

42 843

78 283

204 014

Dry breakbulk carriers

26 070

1.57

10 696

14 947

91 649

Roll-on/ roll-off ships

8 882

29 355

10 285

76 420

Container ships

70 377

0.74

47 751

4 482

236 673

Passenger ships

20 426

21 416

77 499

Port liner shipping connectivity index - Top 5 ports in 2022¹¹

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 2021.
	8	Refers to year 2022. Source: BIMCO-ICS Manpower Report 2015 and BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report, 2022 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.
	j	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: 21 September 2023