Collection

Maritime and shipping statistics

Information and statistics on the maritime sector.

Published 7 January 2013
Last updated 28 March 2018 — see all updates

From:: Department for Transport

Department for Transport produces the maritime statistics for:

domestic waterborne freight
ports
sea passengers
shipping fleets
seafarers

An overview of maritime and shipping statistics can be seen within the maritime chapter of the latest Transport statistics Great Britain publication.

Domestic waterborne freight

Statistics on freight traffic moved within the United Kingdom by water transport. This covers inland waters traffic, traffic carried around the UK coast, one-port traffic to and from offshore installations and sea dredging.

Produced from a combination of the sources for our ‘port freight statistics’ and an independent survey of inland waterway operators. Statistics are updated annually.

The department is currently reviewing the methods used to produce the domestic waterborne freight statistics series. The changes made will impact the next statistical publication in December 2017.

The notes to users document sets out proposed changes to the existing statistics, where we would be interested to hear views of users.

Ports

Statistics on freight handled by UK sea ports.

Provisional statistics on freight handled by major UK ports are published quarterly and final annual statistics are published annually in August. The statistics are based mainly on returns from port operators and shipping lines and agents.

We are consulting on changes to the quarterly and annual port freight table structure, please see the consultation documents which set out the proposed changes. We welcome any comments by 6 April 2018. You can contact us by email or fill out our short survey.

Sea passengers

Statistics relating to international and domestic passenger traffic handled at UK ports. Data are published annually, except for international short sea (ferry) passenger totals which are updated monthly in table SPAS0107.

Shipping fleets

Statistics relating to UK and world shipping fleets.

Statistics are produced annually, based mainly on DfT analysis of world fleet data provided commercially by IHS Global. Since they are derived from a commercial source, the statistics are not considered to be National Statistics, but they are considered to be of good quality.

Seafarers

Annual statistics relating to the estimated number of UK seafarers, including some statistics on non-UK seafarers, qualified to serve on UK registered vessels, and indicative projections of the future number of UK certificated officers.

Statistics are updated annually and based on a combination of administrative sources and industry surveys.

Technical information

National statistics

All of the statistics published, apart from shipping fleet statistics, are National Statistics. The maritime and shipping statistics were assessed by the UK Statistics Authority and confirmed as National Statistics in February 2013.

Since the shipping fleet statistics are derived from a commercial source outside of the Department for Transport’s control, the statistics are not classed as National Statistics. The department’s view is that all statistics which are not designated as National Statistics are robust and have been produced to a suitable standard.

Pre-release access list

The post holders given access to these statistics up to 24 hours prior to release are available in the pre-release access list for maritime and shipping statistics.

Contact us

We continuously review the content of these statistics to ensure they are meeting users’ needs. We welcome any feedback on these statistics.