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Major Merchant Fleets of the World

Maritime Administration, U.S. Dept of Commerce.

Fleets of oceangoing steam and motor ships totaling 1,000 gross tons or more as of Jan. 1996. 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 any military force. Gross tonnage is a volume measurement; each cargo gross ton represents 100 cubic ft of enclosed space. Deadweight (Dwt) tonnage is carrying capacity of a ship in long tons (2,240 lb). Tonnage figures may not add, because of rounding. (tonnage in thousands)

Webmaster's note: The United States is shown at the top of the list, but it isn't anywhere near the top in rank -- but it once was. The other major fleet nations are listed in alphabetical order. Countries with fleets significantly larger than ours are underlined. Those of particular note are in bold type and underlined. China's rise as a maritime power is particularly noteworthy. In addition to increasing its presence on the high seas, it is actually taking our place in what was once the American Canal Zone in Panama.

	Total			General cargo			Bulk carriers			Tankers
	No. of ships	Gross tons	Dwt tons	No. of ships	Gross tons	Dwt tons	No. of ships	Gross tons	Dwt tons	No. of ships	Gross tons	Dwt tons
All countries(1)	25,608	444,909	695,698	10,991	71,050	88,029	5,474	148,905	260,528	6,080	166,801	293,668
United States Private Government	509 319 190	13,318 10,600 2,718	18,585 15,052 3,533	145 33 112	1,927 639 1,288	2,529 794 1,735	20 20 --	533 533 --	925 925 --	181 153 28	6,283 5,792 491	11,028 10,142 886
Antigua&Barbuda Australia Bahamas Bermuda	357 66 930 65	1,632 2,351 22,739 2,993	2,120 3,336 35,689 4,754	258 4 419 13	847 45 4,544 168	1,100 59 5,722 151	8 29 140 9	103 1,010 4,440 247	165 1,683 7,741 436	11 24 243 32	27 1,117 11,165 2,411	40 1,413 20,747 4,009
Brazil Bulgaria China Cyprus	198 108 1,454 1,473	4,881 1,108 15,286 24,076	8,332 1,595 23,311 39,683	34 45 768 611	176 258 4,818 4,565	248 330 6,799 6,365	60 33 337 566	2,096 501 6,487 12,943	3,709 781 10,877 22,669	83 16 216 161	2,249 222 2,299 4,710	3,973 356 3,738 8,726
Denmark France Germany Greece	333 65 404 952	4,835 1,564 4,961 28,615	7,001 2,583 6,170 51,758	166 11 192 146	508 121 900 1,185	622 175 1,102 1,767	12 2 8 461	507 11 235 12,868	941 17 393 22,889	82 33 38 275	1,857 1,137 318 13,555	3,278 2,127 509 26,201
Hong Kong India Indonesia Iran	239 299 432 119	8,697 6,591 1,906 2,763	14,947 11,076 2,948 4,856	47 70 282 42	696 553 901 456	842 782 1,393 622	131 134 17 47	6,389 3,168 208 1,024	11,849 5,303 321 1,700	21 87 112 27	711 2,775 699 1,278	1,263 4,875 1,117 2,527
Isle of Man Italy Japan Korea, South	85 389 762 417	2,026 5,470 15,705 6,098	3,270 8,071 23,478 9,700	20 61 154 149	201 207 914 616	226 281 721 728	10 37 189 124	415 1,533 5,372 3,661	774 2,829 9,916 6,658	29 220 305 87	1,015 2,476 7,310 492	1,910 4,043 11,250 888
Kuwait Liberia Malaysia Malta	45 1,584 254 1,006	2,016 59,328 3,064 16,939	3,228 97,015 4,540 28,542	14 263 100 396	277 3,808 415 2,719	364 3,823 647 3,780	-- 464 39 315	-- 16,488 980 6,748	-- 28,736 1,752 11,668	28 648 83 244	1,652 33,595 1,276 6,779	2,772 59,950 1,690 12,458
Marshall Islands Netherlands Norway Panama	78 406 630 3,692	3,067 3,909 18,352 70,246	5,101 4,544 29,385 107,030	23 282 173 1,507	151 1,349 2,051 11,189	163 1,752 2,259 12,051	31 6 115 924	719 168 4,006 26,804	1,213 262 7,124 46,645	10 66 285 826	1,503 1,101 10,785 22,772	3,005 1,397 19,149 39,712
Philippines Poland Romania Russia	516 131 220 1,426	8,185 2,149 2,257 8,990	13,127 3,194 3,477 11,847	198 50 161 1,090	1,482 501 956 4,640	1,666 569 1,341 5,215	224 69 39 83	6,186 1,452 853 1,775	10,876 2,400 1,412 2,859	60 5 10 190	158 105 375 2,019	245 186 670 3,197
Saint Vincent Saudi Arabia Singapore Sweden	640 65 655 184	5,787 1,034 13,032 2,311	9,155 1,316 20,132 2,171	395 20 163 61	2,000 282 1,873 478	2,778 355 1,955 335	113 1 111 9	2,356 12 3,562 42	4,036 20 6,224 61	89 30 280 64	1,152 344 5,562 637	2,067 571 9,777 1,068
Taiwan Thailand Turkey Ukraine	202 251 475 428	5,898 1,538 5,754 3,707	9,092 2,403 9,733 4,807	44 148 227 312	165 909 802 2,312	244 1,372 1,269 2,894	53 28 160 39	2,429 388 3,878 826	4,526 651 6,776 1,387	19 67 68 31	957 176 868 93	1,657 299 1,563 127
United Kingdom Vanuatu	148 112	3,140 1,728	3,493 2,149	30 51	85 487	111 386	7 39	69 861	109 1,436	63 15	1,306 155	2,042 228

(1) Includes combination passenger & cargo ships and other type of vessels not listed separately.

Ranking by number of ships, according to the above Information.

		No. Ships	Gross Tons	DWT
Rank	Countries	25,608	444,909	695,698
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21	Panama Liberia Cyprus China Russia Malta Greece Bahamas Japan Singapore Saint-Vincent Norway Philippines U.S.A. Total Turkey Ukraine Korea-South Netherlands Germany Italy Denmark	3,692 1,584 1,473 1,454 1,426 1,006 952 930 762 655 640 630 516 509 475 428 417 406 404 389 333	70,246 59,328 24,076 15,286 8,990 16,939 28,615 22,739 15,705 13,032 5,787 18,352 8,185 13,318 5,754 3,707 6,098 3,909 4,961 5,470 4,835	107,030 97,015 39,683 23,311 11,847 28,542 51,758 35,689 23,478 20,132 9,155 29,385 13,127 18,585 9,733 4,807 9,700 4,544 6,170 8,071 7,001
22	U.S.A. Private	319	10,600	15,052

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