Maritime and river transport

Maritime and river transport includes the activity of the fleet and commercial maritime and inland ports. The activity of the fleet includes the transport of goods and passengers. The activities of maritime and inland ports include the exploitation and general organisation of ports, port services to vessels and goods. Military harbours are excluded.

Port activities

Maritime and inland port services

1. NAF code 63.2C: operation of maritime and inland ports (including harbour establishments), activities of ship consignees, ship maintenance and overhaul services (not including repair), pilotage, towage, boatage, rescue at sea, salvage of vessels and signalling by lighthouses and beacons. From 2008 on, the scope changed (NAF code 52.22Z: service activities incidental to water transport): servicing and maintenance fall under ship repair.
2. Salaried and non-salaried employees, annual mean in full time equivalents.
Sources: 2001-2007 SOES/Annual business inquiries, 2008-2010 Insee/Esane

Direct employment in 'Large Seaports'

1. Including Maritime Affairs administration
2. Pilotage, towage, boatage, handling, shipping companies, shipping agencies, consignment, brokerage, transit.
3. Provisional data
Source: Transport Ministry, annual inquiries into maritime harbours, maritime affairs administration and customs data

Key figures for port handling operations

1. Code 63.1A (NAF 2003) until 2007. Code 52.24A (NAF 2008) from 2008.
2. Nb of salaried employees as of 31/12. Estimate for 2008.
Sources: 2000-2007 INSEE/SUSE, 2008-2010 Insee/Esane

Traffic through French ports

Comments

  • The economic slowdown mainly impacted bulk traffic, but recovery is sizeable for dry bulk traffic.
  • The general cargo traffic was less significantly impacted. At world scale, container traffic remained dynamic and somewhat mitigated the negative impact of the economic situation on this category.
Source: Transport Ministry

Container traffic in Europe

Container traffic tonnage was hit by the economic slowdown, but the ranking of ports was not upset. North European ports remained dominating. On the West Mediterranean, the Spanish ports were the most dynamic.

Sources: UNCTAD/RMT, Eurostat

International container traffic

  • The contraction of the global economy became especially significant in 2009. After two decades of steady growth with annual rates nearing 10%, the container traffic volumes dropped in 2009 by around 9%, with Asia-Europe trade recording a 9.5% drop. The 2009 depression was followed by a recovery in 2010, with differences between world regions. The maritime container traffic growth was estimated at 11.5% in 2010 by UNCTAD.
  • At world scale, Chinese ports are increasingly dominating. Singapore is world number 1 for container traffic. The first non-Chinese port is Korean (Busan, world number 5). Rotterdam is number 10.

Container traffic through world ports (index 100 en 1995)

Sources: IMF, UNCTAD/RMT

Top 15 container ports (million TEU)12

1. No 2000 data for ports outside top 15 in 2000.
2. Data on Singapore do not include those on the harbour of Jurong.
Source: UNCTAD/RMT

The maritime shipping fleet

1. Freight and passengers. 2001-2007: NAF (2003) codes 61.1A and 61.1B. 2008-2010: NAF (2008) codes 50.10Z and 50.20Z. 2008 estimates based on turnover indices and sector accounting indicators.
2. na: not available, s: statistical secret
3. Number of salaried employees as of 31/12.
Sources: INSEE/SUSE, INSEE/ESANE

Comments

  • At world level, the contraction in the western economies and in international trade conincided with a growing number of bulk carriers and container ships entering the fleet. Shipowners attempted to solve part of the problem by operating a larger number of ships for liner services and by slow steaming; by decommissioning a larger number of ageing ships; and by temporary lay-up.
  • The 2010 recovery was sizeable for container traffic and slower for liquid bulk and crude oil.
  • Traffic to and from France was in line with international trends; it saw a contraction in 2009 and a recovery in 2010 in particular for general cargo and dry bulk shipping.

French merchant fleet

Merchant fleet flying French flag1

1. Over 100 GT vessels outfitted for passenger or goods transport on deep or short sea.
Source: Transport Ministry

Comments

  • The number of over 100GT vessels flying French flag slightly decreased from mid-2009 to the end of 2011, but the overall capacity remained at the same level. So the mean capacity per unit slightly increased.
  • The average age of the fleet was of 8.7 years on 1/1/2012 against 6.8 years on 1/7/2009. This ageing trend compares to the average age of the world merchant fleet at the start of 2012: 17.5 years.
  • Including small (under 100 GT) vessels, the fleet flying French flag comprises 5,400 vessels overall. Next table 'Other service vessels' shows a sample of them.

Other service vessels flying French flag

Source: French Shipowner Association

World merchant fleet

  • In a period of economic slowdown in Europe, the US and Japan, the world merchant fleet kept on recording a steady capacity increase, despite overcapacities appearing especially on the bulk transport market.
  • The share of containerships in the total capacity kept on steadily increasing.
Sources: UNCTAD, IHS Fairplay

Inland shipping

Inland shipping is the transport of goods and passengers by navigable waterways. Navigable waterways are defined as rivers, lakes and canals on which vessels with a carrying capacity of 50 tonnes or more can sail normally when laden (source: Eurostat).

1. NAF (2003) code 61.2Z for 2001-2007. NAF (2008) codes 50.30Z and 50.40Z for 2008-2010.
2. Estimates for 2008.
3. Nb of salaried employees as of 31/12 for 2001-2007. Nb of remunerated jobs during year 2008. 2009 estimates.
Sources: INSEE/SUSE, INSEE/ESANE

Comments

  • Inland waterway freight traffic recorded a slow growth of around 15% over the past decade from 2000 with a pronounced business cyclicity. The container traffic tonnage was modest but doubled over the same period as it recorded a steady enough growth.
  • The market share of shipowners flying foreign flags remains rather stable at around 35%.
  • The Seine navigable network accounted for 49% of the inland river freight traffic in 2009, in tonnes-km.
  • In Europe, 2009 saw a traffic contraction. The 2010 recovery was very marked in Northern Europe and Romania, more than in France.
  • As regards future developments, the Seine-North Europe canal project involves three countries and is the most important inland waterway project in France today. The 'Ile-de-France/Escaut/Amsterdam' link project is planned for 2017 with the objective of transfering part of the road traffic toward waterways and to contribute to dealing with the environmental footprint of transport.
Source: VNF French inland waterway agency, Transport Satellite Accounts
Source: Eurostat