Table 1-24: Number and Size of the U.S. Flag Merchant Fleet and Its Share of the World Fleet
(Oceangoing Self-Propelled, Cargo-Carrying Vessels of 1,000 Gross Tons and Above)
| 1960 | 1965 | 1970 | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 27,828 | 28,259 | 28,318 | 25,847 | 26,782 | 27,694 | 28,988 | 30,071 | 31,507 | 33,035 | 34,750 | 34,966 | 33,586 | 34,987 | 36,000 | 36,307 | 38,496 | 40,931 | 41,674 |
| U.S. fleet | 2,926 | 2,376 | 1,579 | 857 | 864 | 737 | 636 | 619 | 603 | 565 | 543 | 509 | 495 | 477 | 470 | 463 | 282 | 274 | 261 | 246 | 233 | 231 | 229 | 220 | 225 | 217 | 221 | 214 | 198 | 187 | 179 | 170 | 169 |
| 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 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Freighters, total | 2,138 | 1,747 | 1,076 | 511 | 471 | 417 | 367 | 359 | 349 | 322 | 308 | 295 | 292 | 288 | 289 | 284 | 142 | 140 | 139 | 136 | 140 | 141 | 142 | 133 | 140 | 137 | 138 | 138 | 139 | 131 | 122 | 112 | 108 |
| 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 | 4,406 | 4,334 | 4,247 | 4,240 | 4,323 | 4,605 | 4,432 | 4,126 | 4,435 | 4,310 | 4,584 | 4,528 | 4,528 | 4,288 | 4,140 | 3,976 | 3,754 |
| General Cargo | N | N | N | 356 | 259 | 209 | 166 | 165 | 182 | 169 | 152 | 142 | 146 | 142 | 140 | 137 | 22 | 23 | 20 | 18 | 22 | 17 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 16 | 17 |
| DWT (thousands) | 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 | 555 | 563 | 411 | 296 | 335 | 284 | 297 | 297 | 250 | 229 | 174 | 191 | 224 | 239 | 231 | 161 | 179 |
| Container | N | N | N | 109 | 121 | 104 | 92 | 92 | 83 | 87 | 86 | 81 | 83 | 85 | 91 | 89 | 81 | 77 | 79 | 78 | 75 | 81 | 73 | 70 | 78 | 76 | 80 | 79 | 80 | 75 | 69 | 67 | 63 |
| 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 | 3,004 | 2,932 | 3,019 | 3,124 | 3,104 | 3,428 | 3,106 | 2,952 | 3,306 | 3,219 | 3,596 | 3,537 | 3,554 | 3,357 | 3,257 | 3,230 | 2,998 |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 39 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 43 | 43 | 49 | 43 | 43 | 42 | 40 | 39 | 37 | 34 | 32 | 29 | 28 |
| 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 | 847 | 839 | 817 | 820 | 884 | 893 | 1,029 | 877 | 879 | 862 | 814 | 799 | 751 | 692 | 652 | 585 | 577 |
| Tankers, total | 422 | 341 | 294 | 267 | 308 | 258 | 233 | 226 | 220 | 210 | 200 | 181 | 173 | 161 | 154 | 154 | 117 | 111 | 96 | 84 | 67 | 63 | 63 | 63 | 61 | 59 | 62 | 60 | 49 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 53 |
| 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 | 6,854 | 6,385 | 5,379 | 4,558 | 3,655 | 3,655 | 3,984 | 4,001 | 4,028 | 3,966 | 4,104 | 4,016 | 3,326 | 3,340 | 3,386 | 3,504 | 3,768 |
| Petroleum/chemical ships | N | N | N | N | N | 244 | 219 | 212 | 206 | 196 | 186 | 167 | 159 | 148 | 145 | 146 | 117 | 111 | 96 | 84 | 67 | 63 | 63 | 63 | 61 | 59 | 62 | 60 | 49 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 53 |
| 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 | 6,854 | 6,385 | 5,379 | 4,558 | 3,655 | 3,655 | 3,984 | 4,001 | 4,028 | 3,966 | 4,104 | 4,016 | 3,326 | 3,340 | 3,386 | 3,504 | 3,768 |
| 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 | 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 | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| ITB, total | 309 | 227 | 171 | 60 | 65 | 37 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| DWT (thousands) | 2,070 | 1,488 | 1,107 | 388 | 446 | 299 | 91 | 92 | 97 | 104 | 115 | 115 | 139 | 136 | 116 | 99 | 462 | 462 | 462 | 462 | 462 | 462 | 462 | 462 | 462 | 324 | 324 | 99 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Dry Bulk, total | 57 | 61 | 38 | 19 | 20 | 25 | 26 | 24 | 23 | 21 | 22 | 20 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| DWT (thousands) | 805 | 1,107 | 767 | 544 | 607 | 1,152 | 1,270 | 1,014 | 991 | 949 | 1,042 | 925 | 575 | 321 | 604 | 579 | 685 | 685 | 823 | 823 | 823 | 875 | 533 | 533 | 533 | 533 | 533 | 533 | 388 | 260 | 260 | 260 | 260 |
KEY: DWT = deadweight tons; N = data do not exist; RO/RO = roll-on/roll-off vessels.
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.
All yearly counts are from January of that year.
MARAD has recently reverted back to regarding the merchant fleet as vessels of 1,000 gross tons and greater. They will no longer publish the fleet using “10,000 DWT and greater” as a criterion. Therefore, this report is not comparable with the previous' issues.
The vessel categories used for this report include the following types:
Tankers: Petroleum Tankers, Chemical Carriers, LNG Carriers, LNG/LPG Carriers, LPG Carriers.
Container: Fully Cellular Containerships.
Dry Bulk: Bulk Vessels, Bulk Containerships, Cement Carriers, Wood Chip Carriers, Ore/Bulk/Oil Carriers, Bulk/Oil Carriers.
Ro-Ro: Ro-Ro Vessels, Ro-Ro/Containerships, Vehicle Carriers.
General Cargo: General Cargo Carriers, Partial Containerships, Refrigerated Ships.
ITB: Integrated Tug/Barge
SOURCES
World fleet:
1994: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Merchant Fleets of the World (Washington, DC: Annual issues), and unpublished revisions.
1995-2009: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, personal communication as of June 2010 and September 2011.
2010-13: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Maritime Statistics, Top 25 Flag of Registry, available at: http://www.marad.dot.gov/library_landing_page/data_and_statistics/Data_and_Statistics.htm#Cruise%20Statistics as of Feb. 24, 2015.
2014: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, personal communication, August 16, 2016.
2015-16: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Fleet Statistics, available at: https://www.marad.dot.gov/resources/data-statistics/ as of Aug. 15, 2016.
All other categories:
1960-99: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Merchant Fleets of the World (Washington, DC: Annual issues), and unpublished revisions.
2000-16: U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Maritime Statistics, 2000-2016 U.S. -Flag Privately-Owned Fleet Summary, available at: http://www.marad.dot.gov/library_landing_page/data_and_statistics/Data_and_Statistics.htm#Cruise%20Statistics as of May 11, 2016.