Maritime profile: Belgium

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR 2022

Population

GDP

Merchandise trade¹

11.656 Millions

579 241 Millions current US$

1 258 931 Millions current US$

Land area²

GDP growth

Transport services trade³

(j) 30 280 Km²

2.65 %

282 992 Millions current US$

MARITIME KEY FIGURES FOR 2022

Coast/area ratio²

Ship building⁴

Ship recycling⁴

2.5 m/km²

4 962 GT

Fleet - National flag⁵

Fleet - Ownership⁶

9 777 Thousands DWT

201 ships

29 212 Thousands DWT

Number of port calls⁹

Container port throughput⁷

Number of seafarers⁸

13 075 891 TEU

WORLD SHARES FOR 2022

INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE

+15.7 %

Merchandise exports growth rate in 2022

Total merchandise trade

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2022

Merchandise exports

334 400

407 692

396 841

635 245

Merchandise imports

318 700

391 177

375 530

623 686

Merchandise trade balance

15 700

16 515

21 311

11 559

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

+8.8 %

Transport services exports growth rate in 2022

Services exports by main category¹⁰

(as % of total services)

2005

2010

2015

2022

Transport

(e) 25.6

27.1

20.8

22.8

Travel

(e) 17.2

11.6

7.2

5.0

Other services

(e) 52.1

55.6

66.6

68.3

Total trade in transport services¹⁰

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2022

Transport services exports

(e) 15 152

26 700

22 701

31 739

Transport services imports

(e) 13 018

21 314

23 281

33 349

Transport services trade balance

(e) 2 135

5 386

-580

-1 610

NATIONAL FLEET

+1.5 %

Fleet growth rate in 2022

Carrying capacity by type of ship⁵

(Thousands DWT)

2005

2010

2015

2022

Total fleet

6 815.0

6 575.1

8 670.9

9 777.3

Oil tankers

3 601.0

2 168.7

4 381.7

6 053.2

Bulk carriers

2 242.0

2 730.8

2 745.4

2 093.7

General cargo

3.0

150.3

101.8

64.6

Container ships

311.0

131.0

0.0

105.3

Other types of ships

658.0

1 394.2

1 442.0

1 460.6

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

Liquid bulk carriers

Liquefied petroleum gas carriers

Liquefied natural gas carriers

Dry bulk carriers

Dry breakbulk carriers

Roll-on/ roll-off ships

Container ships

Passenger ships

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