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

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

	1960	1965	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	(R) 2004	(R) 2005	(R) 2006	(R) 2007	2008
World fleet	17,317	18,329	19,980	22,872	24,867	25,555	23,596	23,943	23,753	24,331	25,092	25,608	26,858	27,557	(R) 27,828	28,259	28,318	(R) 25,847	(R) 26,782	(R) 27,694	28,988	30,071	31,507	33,035	34,750
U.S. fleet	2,926	2,376	1,579	857	864	737	636	619	603	565	543	509	495	477	470	463	454	443	426	418	423	366	344	275	272
U.S. Percentage of the world fleet	16.9	13.0	7.9	3.7	3.5	2.9	2.7	2.6	2.5	2.3	2.2	2.0	1.8	1.7	(R) 1.7	1.6	1.6	(R) 1.7	(R) 1.6	(R) 1.5	1.5	1.2	1.1	0.8	0.8
Freighters, total	2,138	1,747	1,076	511	471	417	367	359	349	322	308	295	292	288	289	284	286	283	276	274	276	235	219	128	133
DWT (thousands)	21,877	18,127	11,733	7,051	6,885	7,353	7,265	7,156	7,211	7,040	6,866	6,517	6,419	6,458	6,732	6,696	6,680	6,635	(R) 6,402	(R) 6,521	6,817	5,769	5,417	4,099	4,122
General cargoa	N	N	N	356	259	209	166	165	182	169	152	142	146	142	140	137	136	132	126	123	119	123	97	25	25
DWT (thousands)a	N	N	N	4,640	3,329	2,980	2,605	2,592	2,973	2,913	2,677	2,472	2,467	2,420	2,400	2,404	2,362	2,162	(R) 1,838	(R) 1,810	1,755	1,805	1,389	280	285
Containership	N	N	N	109	121	104	92	92	83	87	86	81	83	85	91	89	90	91	90	86	92	81	76	82	77
DWT (thousands)	N	N	N	1,773	2,289	2,651	2,856	2,856	2,722	2,812	2,802	2,600	2,639	2,743	3,096	3,056	3,058	3,200	(R) 3,290	(R) 3,281	3,631	3,318	3,102	3,426	3,240
Partial containerships	N	N	N	37	68	63	59	52	30	3	3	3	1	1	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
DWT (thousands)	N	N	N	510	940	904	836	741	456	57	57	57	17	17	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
RO/Ro	N	N	N	9	23	41	50	50	54	63	67	69	62	60	58	58	60	60	60	65	65	31	46	21	31
DWT (thousands)	N	N	N	128	327	818	968	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	646	926	393	598
Tankers, total	422	341	294	267	308	258	233	226	220	210	200	181	173	161	154	154	142	130	120	109	108	94	89	62	57
DWT (thousands)	7,815	7,561	7,739	9,711	16,152	15,534	15,641	14,993	14,180	13,048	11,945	11,028	10,378	9,696	9,289	9,373	8,447	7,532	(R) 6,531	(R) 5,771	6,035	5,098	4,974	3,842	3,864
Petroleum/chemicalb ships	N	N	N	N	N	244	219	212	206	196	186	167	159	148	145	146	142	130	U	U	U	U	U	U	U
DWT (thousands)b	N	N	N	N	N	14,574	14,681	14,033	13,279	12,143	11,040	10,123	9,473	8,857	8,737	8,845	8,447	7,532	U	U	U	U	U	U	U
Liquefied petroleum/natural gas ships	N	N	N	N	N	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	13	9	8	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
DWT (thousands)	N	N	N	N	N	960	960	960	901	905	905	905	905	839	552	528	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
Combination/passenger and cargo, total	309	227	171	60	65	37	10	10	11	12	13	13	15	14	12	11	11	13	12	15	18	19	18	14	11
DWT (thousands)	2,070	1,488	1,107	388	446	299	91	92	97	104	115	115	139	136	116	99	99	105	(R) 100	(R) 91	108	100	98	46	9
Bulk carriers, total	57	61	38	19	20	25	26	24	23	21	22	20	15	14	15	14	15	17	18	20	21	18	18	71	71
DWT (thousands)	805	1,107	767	544	607	1,152	1,270	1,014	991	949	1,042	925	575	321	604	579	604	706	(R) 797	(R) 837	889	543	543	2,340	2,242

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

^a Includes barge carriers.

^b Includes integrated tug/barges.

NOTES

Excludes non-merchant 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.

1960-2006 data includes private and government owned vessels of 1,000 gross tons and over. Beginning in 2007, data are reported only for privately-owned vessels of 1,000 gross tons and over.

All data are year-end data, except that 2004 data for Freigher are as of July 1, 2004..

SOURCES

World fleet:

1994: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Merchant Fleets of the World (Washington, DC: Annual issues), and unpublished revisions.

All other years: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, personal communication as of June 2010.

All other categories:

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

2001-08: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, personal communication as of Janurary 2008 and June 2010.