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

Direct employment in 'Large Seaports'

Key figures for port handling operations

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.

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.

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)

Top 15 container ports (million TEU)12

The maritime shipping fleet

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

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

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.

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).

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.

• Maritime and river transport
• Port activities
• Maritime and inland port services
• Direct employment in 'Large Seaports'
• Key figures for port handling operations
• Traffic through French ports
• Container traffic in Europe
• International container traffic
• The maritime shipping fleet
• French merchant fleet
• World merchant fleet
• Inland shipping