Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
BTS Home > Publications > National Transportation Statistics > 2008
Printable Version

Table 1-23: Number and Size of the U.S. Flag Merchant Fleet and Its Share of the World Fleet

(Oceangoing ships of 1,000 gross tons and over)

Excel | CSV

  1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
World fleet 17,317 18,329 19,980 22,872 24,867 25,555 23,596 23,943 23,753 24,331 25,092 23,943 23,753 24,331 25,092 25,608 26,858 27,557 27,825 28,259 28,318 28,296 28,761 28,650 29,035 28,956 31,477
U.S. fleet 2,926 2,376 1,579 857 864 737 636 619 603 565 543 619 603 565 543 509 495 477 470 463 454 443 426 418 412 391 347
U.S. share of the world fleet 17% 13% 8% 4% 3% 3% 3% 3% 3% 2% 2% 3% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%
Freighters, Total 2,138 1,747 1,076 511 471 417 367 359 349 322 308 359 349 322 308 295 292 288 289 284 286 283 276 209 205 123 96
DWT (thousands) 21,877 18,127 11,733 7,051 6,885 7,353 7,265 7,156 7,211 7,040 6,866 7,156 7,211 7,040 6,866 6,517 6,419 6,458 6,732 6,696 6,680 6,635 6,404 5,092 5,043 1,674 1,379
General cargoa N N N 356 259 209 166 165 182 169 152 165 182 169 152 142 146 142 140 137 136 132 126 123 121 123 96
DWT (thousands) N N N 4,640 3,329 2,980 2,605 2,592 2,973 2,913 2,677 2,592 2,973 2,913 2,677 2,472 2,467 2,420 2,400 2,404 2,362 2,162 1,838 1,810 1,784 1,674 1,379
Containership N N N 109 121 104 92 92 83 87 86 92 83 87 86 81 83 85 91 89 90 91 90 86 84 90 76
DWT (thousands) N N N 1,773 2,289 2,651 2,856 2,856 2,722 2,812 2,802 2,856 2,722 2,812 2,802 2,600 2,639 2,743 3,096 3,056 3,058 3,200 3,292 3,282 3,259 3,660 3,102
Partial containerships N N N 37 68 63 59 52 30 3 3 52 30 3 3 3 1 1 N N N N N N N N N
DWT (thousands) N N N 510 940 904 836 741 456 57 57 741 456 57 57 57 17 17 N N N N N N N N N
RO/RO N N N 9 23 41 50 50 54 63 67 50 54 63 67 69 62 60 58 58 60 60 60 65 65 42 49
DWT (thousands) N N N 128 327 818 968 967 1,060 1,258 1,330 967 1,060 1,258 1,330 1,388 1,296 1,278 1,236 1,236 1,260 1,273 1,273 1,431 1,431 848 976
Tankers, Total 422 341 294 267 308 258 233 226 220 210 200 226 220 210 200 181 173 161 154 154 142 130 120 109 104 100 89
DWT (thousands) 7,815 7,561 7,739 9,711 16,152 15,534 15,641 14,993 14,180 13,048 11,945 14,993 14,180 13,048 1,055 11,028 10,378 9,696 9,289 9,373 8,447 7,532 6,552 5,792 5,640 5,228 4,974
Petroleum/chemicalb ships N N N N N 244 219 212 206 196 186 212 206 196 186 167 159 148 145 146 142 130 120 109 104 100 89
DWT (thousands) N N N N N 14,574 14,681 14,033 13,279 12,143 11,040 14,033 13,279 12,143 11,040 10,123 9,473 8,857 8,737 8,845 8,447 7,532 6,552 5,792 5,640 5,228 4,974
Liquefied petroleum/natural gas ships N N N N N 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 13 9 8 N N N N N N N
DWT (thousands) N N N N N 960 960 960 901 905 905 960 901 905 905 905 905 839 552 528 N N N N N N N
Combination/passenger and cargo, Total 309 227 171 60 65 37 10 10 11 12 13 10 11 12 13 13 15 14 12 11 11 13 12 15 18 15 19
DWT (thousands) 2,070 1,488 1,107 388 446 299 91 92 97 104 115 92 97 104 115 115 139 136 116 99 99 105 100 91 108 82 107
Bulk carriers, Total 57 61 38 19 20 25 26 24 23 21 22 24 23 21 22 20 15 14 15 14 15 17 18 20 20 21 18
DWT (thousands) 805 1,107 767 544 607 1,152 1,270 1,014 991 949 1,042 1,014 991 949 1,042 925 575 321 604 579 604 706 797 837 837 670 543

KEY: DWT = deadweight tons; N = data do not exist; RO/RO = roll-on/roll-off vessels.

a Includes barge carriers.

b Includes integrated tug/barges.

NOTES

Excludes nonmerchant type and/or U.S. Navy-owned vessels currently in the National Defense Reserve Fleet.

Excludes ships operating exclusively on the Great Lakes and inland waterways and special types such as: channel ships, icebreakers, cable ships, and merchant ships owned by military forces. All data are as of December 31 of year shown. 2004 data is as of July 1, 2004.

SOURCES

1960-2000: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Merchant Fleets of the World (Washington, DC: Annual issues), and unpublished revisions.

2001-2006: U.S. Department of Transportatin, Maritime Administration, personal communication, Dec 6, 2007
Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) • U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT)
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE • Washington, DC 20590 • 800-853-1351 • E-mail RITA

Accessibility | Disclaimer | Fast Lane | FedStats | Freedom of Information Act | No FEAR Act | OIG Hotline | Privacy Policy | RSS | USA.gov | White House | Wireless

Plug-ins: PDF Reader | Flash Player | Excel Viewer | PowerPoint Viewer | Word Viewer | WinZip

RITA's privacy policies and procedures do not necessarily apply to external web sites. We suggest contacting these sites directly for information on their data collection and distribution policies.