Maritime and other transport

Data insights

International freight transport is the lifeblood of global trade, facilitating the movement of goods over land and across oceans and connecting economies worldwide. As the most cost-effective and efficient mode of transport for large-scale cargo, maritime transport plays a pivotal role in sustaining global commerce. This collection of thematic insights explores key aspects of international freight transport, providing a detailed look at its vital components.

Most ship recycling occurs in the Indian subcontinent; Economies’ roles in world shipping and merchant fleet supply vary

Building, ownership, registration and recycling of ships, main specialization, 2025

UN Trade and Development, UNCTADstat and Clarkson's research.

Top three economies in each segment are shown in the default selection. Building and recycling are estimated deliveries and demolitions during 2024. Registration and ownership figures refer to the beginning of the year 2025.

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At the start of 2025, the global merchant fleet comprised around 112 500 vessels (including cargo and non-cargo carrying ships) of at least 100 gross tons (GT), including 60 300 which were over 1 000 GT. 

Ownership is spread over the whole globe, with 41% of carrying capacity held by entities in Greece, China and Japan. Several economies play specific roles for the global fleet. Liberia, Panama, and the Marshall Islands host the largest ship registries.

While China and Japan are major shipowners, these economies (together with the Republic of Korea) play an even bigger role in ship building. Bangladesh and India alone accounted for 77% of ships recycled.

Data updated on 10 Jun 2025

World fleet capacity to carry goods growing steadily

World fleet by principal vessel type, millions of dead weight tons (dwt)

UN Trade and Development, UNCTADstat and Clarkson's research.

Commercial ships of 100 gross tonnage (GT) and above. Beginning-of-year figures. The data source changes in 2011.

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As of 1 January 2025, the world fleet's carrying capacity reached 2.44 billion dwt, an increase of 79 million dead weight tons (dwt) from the previous year. Oil tankers and bulk carriers made up 70% of total capacity. Fleet growth averaged 7.1% annually from 2005 to 2010 but slowed to 3.6% per year since 2011. The capacity to transport cargo has increased primarily for ships built for a given purpose: oil tankers, bulk carriers, and container ships.

Data updated on 10 Jun 2025

93% of world ship carrying capacity owned in Asia and Europe

Fleet market by region of beneficial ownership, millions of dead weight tons, 2025

UN Trade and Development, UNCTADstat and Clarkson's research.

Commercial ships of 1000 GT and above. Beginning-of-year figures. 

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Over half of the world’s tonnage is owned by Asian companies, with China (347 million dwt) and Japan (241 million dwt) holding significant shares. The individual economy with most ship capacity owned is Greece (398 million dwt). In total, European companies own 35% of the global carrying capacity, while 5% is owned in North America. Other geographical regions have small shares. Excluding China, only 30% of the beneficial ownership is in developing economies.

Data updated on 10 Jun 2025

Liberia the world's largest ship registry in terms of capacity

Ship carrying capacity in top five registries, millions of dead weight tons (dwt)

UN Trade and Development, UNCTADstat and Clarkson's research.

Commercial ships of 100 gross tonnage (GT) and above. Beginning-of-year figures. Ranked by values as of 1 January 2025. The data source changes in 2011.

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The flag a ship flies is often unrelated to the owner’s nationality. For example, at the start of 2025, 88% of Greek-owned tonnage and 84% of Japanese-owned tonnage were registered under foreign flags. 

Liberia (424 million dwt), Panama (371 million dwt) and the Marshall Islands (305 million dwt) led in ship registration. While Panama's register has remained stable, the Marshall Islands and Liberia have surged, with Liberia seeing rapid growth since 2018.

Data updated on 10 Jun 2025

Metadata

The unit dead weight tons (dwt) is used to indicate the cargo carrying capacity of a ship, while gross tons (GT) reflects its size. The latter is relevant to measure shipbuilding and recycling activity, while the former is used to capture the capacity to transport cargo.

The presented statistics on fleet registration (the flag of a ship), shipbuilding and recycling cover all commercial ships of 100 GT and more. The market shares for ownership only cover larger ships of 1 000 GT and above, as the true ownership is not always known for smaller vessels.

For in-depth analysis on the world shipping fleet and related topics see the Review of Maritime Transport.

Full metadata are available in our Data Centre for:

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