17 Indian shipping industry statistics, trends and analysis 2022

In this article, we have compiled a list of most important Indian shipping industry statistics to provide an overall view of India’s shipping sector. All of the data is sourced from reliable government websites. Without further ado, let’s dive into them.

#1. The length of the Indian coastline is about 7,500 km. (Ministry of External Affairs)

#2. As of February 2022, India’s merchant marine fleet has 1493 vessels in foreign going and coastal operations. The combined Gross Tonnage of these vessels is approximately 13 million. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#3. As of March 2021, the number of vessels was 1491 with 1027 vessels in coastal trade and 464 vessels in overseas trade. The vessel count has increased from 1210 in 2014-2015. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#4. The total gross tonnage for coastal vessels is 15,60,021 and overseas vessels is 1,14,34,863. The total gross tonnage with both combined is 1,29,94,884. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#5. The global downward trend in shipping has negatively impacted the Indian shipping industry with the share of Indian shipyards falling below 1% globally. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#6. The Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways has identified a potential of 340 MTPA (metric tonnes per annum) cargo movement through coastal shipping. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#7. The majority of Indian vessels are around 20 years old which affects the competitiveness of Indian vessels in the international market. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#8. From 74.97 MTPA in 2014-2015, the amount of coastal cargo has increased to 133 MTPA (77% increase) in 2021-2022. In 2018-2019, the amount was 105 MTPA. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#9. The GST on bunker fuels has been reduced from 18% to 5% for Indian flag vessels. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#10. The Government of India has provided coastal vessels with a discount of 40% over foreign-going vessels to encourage modal shifts.  (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#11. India has 12 major ports. The coastal cargo traffic handled by these major ports in India in decreasing order as of 2020-21 are:

• Paradip (30,746)
• Mumbai (23,742)
• Visakhapatnam (16,483)
• Deendayal (15,151)
• Kamarajar (11,186)
• Cochin (11,100)
• New Mangalore (10,670)
• V. O. Chidambaram (10,654)
• SMP Kolkata/Haldia (5649)
• Chennai (5587)
• Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust – JNPT (4705)
• Mormugao (1375)

All figures are in thousand tonnes and subject to change in the future.  (Basic Port Statistics of lndia, 2019-20 & Update of lndian Port Sector – 31.03.2021)

#12. India has a total of 28 shipyards of which 20 are in the private sector. The Indian Government owns the remaining 8 of which 2 are under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; 4 are under the Ministry of Defence and 2 are with state governments. Of the 20 private sector ports, 7 are currently non-functional. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#13. The Indian shipbuilding market accounts for less than 1% of the global market and faces stiff competition from other Asian countries such as Japan, China and South Korea. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#14. Currently, the shipping industry in India is responsible for 95% of India’s overseas trade by volume. 92% of these goods are carried through foreign-flagged vessels which are vessels registered in countries other than India. (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#15. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) ranks India 19th globally in dead weight tonnage. At this position, India accounts for about 1.25% of the global dead-weight tonnage as per the UNCTAD’s report. (The Review of Maritime Transport 2021, UNCTAD)

#16. India ranks 18th globally as the leading flag of registration by dead weight tonnage (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways)

#17. India ranks 44/160 on the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) in 2018. LPI is a benchmarking tool developed by the World Bank to identify the performance of trade logistics. Shipping is considered in LPI rankings as a sub-sector. India’s position was 35/160 in 2016. (The World Bank)

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