Merchant marine may be defined as all ships engaged in the carriage
of goods; or all commercial vessels (as opposed to all nonmilitary
ships), which excludes tugs, fishing vessels, offshore oil rigs,
etc. This entry contains information in four fields - total, ships
by type, foreign-owned, and registered in other countries.
Total includes the number of ships (1,000 GRT or over), total DWT
for those ships, and total GRT for those ships. DWT or dead weight
tonnage is the total weight of cargo, plus bunkers, stores, etc.,
that a ship can carry when immersed to the appropriate load line.
GRT or gross register tonnage is a figure obtained by measuring the
entire sheltered volume of a ship available for cargo and passengers
and converting it to tons on the basis of 100 cubic feet per ton;
there is no stable relationship between GRT and DWT.
Ships by type includes a listing of barge carriers, bulk cargo
ships, cargo ships, chemical tankers, combination bulk carriers,
combination ore/oil carriers, container ships, liquefied gas
tankers, livestock carriers, multifunctional large-load carriers,
petroleum tankers, passenger ships, passenger/cargo ships, railcar
carriers, refrigerated cargo ships, roll-on/roll-off cargo ships,
short-sea passenger ships, specialized tankers, and vehicle carriers.
Foreign-owned are ships that fly the flag of one country but belong
to owners in another.
Registered in other countries are ships that belong to owners in one
country but fly the flag of another.
Country Comparison to the World
Country
Merchant marine
Albania
total: 25
by type: bulk carrier 1, cargo 23, roll on/roll off 1
foreign-owned: 1 (Turkey 1)
registered in other countries: 4 (Antigua and Barbuda 1, Panama 3)
(2010)
Algeria
total: 35
by type: bulk carrier 6, cargo 8, chemical tanker 2, liquefied gas
9, passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 4, roll on/roll off 3
foreign-owned: 12 (UK 12) (2010)
Angola
total: 7
by type: cargo 1, passenger/cargo 2, petroleum tanker 3, roll
on/roll off 1
foreign-owned: 1 (Spain 1)
registered in other countries: 15 (Bahamas 5, Liberia 1, Malta 7,
former Netherlands Antilles 2) (2010)
Antigua and Barbuda
total: 1,219
by type: barge carrier 1, bulk carrier 53, cargo 703, carrier 6,
chemical tanker 4, container 412, liquefied gas 12, petroleum tanker
1, refrigerated cargo 9, roll on/roll off 16, vehicle carrier 2
foreign-owned: 1,186 (Albania 1, Colombia 1, Denmark 20, Estonia 20,
Germany 1050, Greece 5, Iceland 9, Isle of Man 2, Latvia 16,
Lithuania 4, Mexico 2, Netherlands 18, Norway 9, NZ 2, Poland 2,
Russia 3, Slovenia 1, Sweden 1, Switzerland 7, Turkey 7, US 6) (2010)
Argentina
total: 43
by type: bulk carrier 3, cargo 7, chemical tanker 4, container 1,
passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 23, refrigerated cargo 2
foreign-owned: 12 (Brazil 1, Chile 6, Spain 3, UK 2)
registered in other countries: 17 (Liberia 3, Panama 7, Paraguay 5,
Uruguay 2) (2010)
Australia
total: 45
by type: bulk carrier 10, cargo 8, liquefied gas 4, passenger 6,
passenger/cargo 6, petroleum tanker 6, roll on/roll off 5
foreign-owned: 20 (Canada 7, Germany 2, Netherlands 1, Norway 1,
Singapore 2, UK 5, US 2)
registered in other countries: 29 (Dominica 1, Fiji 2, Liberia 2,
Marshall Islands 1, Netherlands 1, NZ 1, Panama 5, Singapore 11,
Tonga 1, UK 1, US 1, Vanuatu 2) (2010)
Austria
total: 2
by type: cargo 2
registered in other countries: 4 (Cyprus 1, Malta 1, Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines 2) (2010)
Azerbaijan
total: 92
by type: cargo 27, passenger 2, passenger/cargo 9, petroleum tanker
48, roll on/roll off 3, specialized tanker 3
foreign-owned: 1 (Turkey 1)
registered in other countries: 2 (Malta 1, Panama 1) (2010)