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merchant marine

The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea | 2006 | © The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

merchant marine, a collective name to describe the merchant ships on the official registers of any one nation, though in Britain it is known as the merchant navy after King George V granted it this title in 1922. There are many different types of merchant ships (see Table 1 overleaf) and in 2003 the world fleet of powered seagoing merchant ships of not less than 100 tonnes gross was 89,899 ships of 605.2 million gross tonnage with an average age of 21 years. The world's cargo-carrying fleet was 46,918 ships of 846.6 million deadweight tonnage. Table 2 shows, in descending order of gross tonnage, the twenty largest merchant fleets in the world by registration. Those marked with an asterisk are flags of convenience fleets. Table 3 shows the world's fleets by nationality of owner, 1,000 tonnes gross and above, which reveals that Greece and Japan have the two largest, with 16% and 13% respectively.

Table 1. Category of Cargo Ships over 100 GT

Shiptype Category

No.

Dwt

GT

Age

Bulk Dry

5,046

280,854,469

155,947,831

14

Crude Oil Tanker

1,810

247,805,236

134,497,497

11

Container

3,055

90,475,579

78,435,684

10

General Cargo

16,253

72,308,173

51,214,559

23

Oil Products Tanker

5,136

40,642,726

24,775,362

23

Chemical

2,828

36,400,153

22,490,309

14

Ro‐ro Cargo

1,921

14,110,728

29,130,165

18

Bulk Dry/Oil

174

12,110,343

6,975,916

18

LPG Tanker

1,027

11,247,554

9,573,232

16

LNG Tanker

153

9,700,062

13,195,145

14

Other Bulk Dry

1,112

9,206,584

6,889,594

19

Refrigerated Cargo

1,272

6,849,261

6,375,829

19

Self‐discharging Bulk Dry

168

5,507,994

3,257,346

28

Passenger/Ro‐ro Cargo

2,737

4,152,782

15,133,063

22

Other Dry Cargo

250

2,054,561

1,913,920

26

Passenger (cruise)

432

1,399,001

10,650,564

22

Other Liquids

371

950,733

685,288

25

Passenger Ship

2,833

544,570

1,431,536

21

Passenger/General Cargo

340

328,096

628,316

33

Total cargo carrying

46,918

846,648,605

573,201,156

20

Table 2. Gross tonnage and average age of vessels by country of registration

Registration

Totals

Cargo‐carrying ships

Ships of miscellaneous activities

No.

GT

Age

No.

GT

Dwt

Age

No.

GT

Age

*Panama

6,302

125,721,658

17

5,349

123,220,617

183,974,112

16

953

2,501,041

26

*Liberia

1,553

52,434,624

12

1,462

51,004,525

79,787,483

11

91

1,430,099

24

*Bahamas

1,297

34,751,748

15

1,127

33,226,958

45,473,151

15

170

1,524,790

20

Greece

1,558

32,203,117

22

1,325

32,130,644

54,519,431

21

233

72,473

32

*Malta

1,301

25,134,314

18

1,262

24,976,614

40,797,336

18

39

157,700

25

Singapore

1,761

23,240,945

11

1,056

22,807,969

35,998,380

12

705

432,976

9

*Cyprus

1,198

22,054,166

16

1,077

21,786,083

35,167,103

16

121

268,083

18

Hong Kong

901

20,507,453

12

846

20,483,481

34,456,489

12

55

23,972

10

China

3,376

18,427,955

22

2,374

17,554,128

26,257,775

22

1,002

873,827

21

*Marshall Is.

515

17,628,157

12

421

17,279,579

28,872,911

10

94

348,578

21

Norway (NIS)

705

16,996,583

16

608

16,660,889

23,979,689

16

97

335,694

13

Japan

7,151

13,561,521

13

4,137

12,457,304

15,993,791

12

3,014

1,104,217

15

UK

1,594

10,843,724

20

599

9,922,751

9,796,872

16

995

920,973

22

Russia

4,950

10,430,783

23

1,876

6,204,336

7,758,333

24

3,074

4,226,447

22

USA

6,185

10,408,896

24

467

8,358,332

11,052,013

26

5,718

2,050,564

24

Italy

1,504

10,245,809

22

871

9,955,275

10,403,001

19

633

290,534

25

Denmark (DIS)

425

7,246,602

17

330

7,078,157

8,840,014

16

95

168,445

21

India

1,028

6,960,567

18

429

6,537,456

10,999,548

17

599

423,111

19

Korea (South)

2,604

6,757,400

23

1,058

6,177,143

9,933,496

19

1,546

580,257

26

Isle of Man

302

6,416,425

10

243

6,017,856

9,883,089

10

59

398,569

12

Table 3. World's fleet by nationality of owner, 2003

Nationality

Totals

Cargo‐carrying ships

Ships of miscellaneous activities

No.

GT

Age

No.

GT

Dwt

Age

No.

GT

Age

Source of these tables Lloyd's Register–Fairplay Ltd, World Fleet Statistics 2003.

Greece

3,025

91,094,974

18

2,971

90,589,597

152,264,476

18

54

505,377

20

Japan

2,948

77,069,940

9

2,846

76,422,886

109,216,733

8

102

647,054

15

Norway

1,653

36,687,450

16

1,300

35,169,329

49,962,180

16

353

1,518,121

14

Germany

2,464

36,414,972

9

2,432

36,313,835

48,873,612

9

32

101,137

18

USA

1,549

34,505,581

18

890

31,395,892

42,620,674

19

659

3,109,689

17

China

2,416

30,611,974

20

2,175

29,883,768

46,734,721

20

241

728,206

20

Hong Kong, China

485

17,504,409

12

483

17,502,067

30,625,070

12

2

2,342

38

Korea (South)

865

16,823,726

15

793

16,665,331

25,062,978

14

72

158,395

24

China (Taiwan)

537

15,306,608

13

528

15,291,421

22,866,377

12

9

15,187

22

UK

793

15,247,093

14

603

14,522,121

18,921,620

13

190

724,972

15

Singapore

758

14,420,979

15

702

14,164,910

23,303,778

15

56

256,069

13

Russia

2,539

13,910,948

22

1,667

10,621,084

15,206,876

22

872

3,289,864

22

Denmark

686

12,815,017

12

574

12,347,043

15,868,511

12

112

467,974

14

Italy

656

10,690,165

15

590

10,302,046

12,082,959

15

66

388,119

23

India

394

7,363,160

17

291

7,079,110

12,021,659

16

103

284,050

18

Malaysia

335

7,290,745

14

306

7,210,512

9,668,090

14

29

80,233

17

Switzerland

278

6,706,956

17

271

6,526,805

8,209,505

16

7

180,151

25

Saudi Arabia

126

6,689,528

17

104

6,655,385

12,055,663

18

22

34,143

15

Turkey

576

5,574,578

18

575

5,573,414

8,687,038

18

1

1,164

24

Sweden

319

5,536,052

16

298

5,402,118

5,753,467

15

21

133,934

22



See also international maritime organization; master; mate; ship; ticket; tramp ship.

Bibliography

Hope, R. , A New History of British Shipping (1990).
—— Poor Jack: The Perilous History of the Merchant Seaman (2003).

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