European shipping ensures food and energy security for Europe

By Marek Grzybowski

European ship and port terminal operators, logisticians and maritime agents ensure food and energy security in Europe. However, the share of European fleets in global maritime trade is systematically decreasing. The fleet controlled by shipowners based in Europe, taking into account the EU-27 and Norway, accounts for 33.6% of the world’s gross tonnage (GT). The European shipping industry provides over 220,000 jobs and in 2021 the sales value exceeded EUR 183.4 billion – according to the report “Economic value of the European shipping sector – March 2025”, which was prepared by CE Delft on behalf of the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA).

The research conducted by CE Delft experts does not only hide dry numbers about the number of ships, gross tonnage or capacity. At the same time, it is information about the extent to which European fleets provide EU countries with food security, control the supply of energy resources, enable uninterrupted operation of factories, guarantee supplies to the consumer market, and maintain ties between European economies and world markets. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the Polish fleet.

The research covered activities related to maritime and coastal transport of goods and passengers, rental and leasing of transport equipment, as well as services securing the construction of water projects, such as offshore. In addition to providing direct employment, this activity has created over 1.3 million jobs worldwide. The added value generated by the sectors studied reached EUR 56.9 billion, and additionally increased revenues from indirect activities in the amount of EUR 127.8 billion – calculated analysts from CE Delft.

4,100 shipping companies in Europe

The European shipping industry has only one fifth of the ships operating in the sectors studied, but is responsible for over one third of the world’s fleet capacity. At the end of 2024, European shipowners had 33.6% of global gross tonnage (GT). The structure and shares in global tonnage vary significantly. European ferries, container ships, dredgers and tankers have larger shares than average. The same applies to the global share in terms of number of ships. Several segments stand out. Container ships, LNG carriers, ferries, cruise ships, bulk carriers and dredgers are all above average.

The European fleet has been growing steadily in terms of gross tonnage in recent years. It grew by 8% between 2018 and 2024. However, Asian fleets have developed much more dynamically. Thus, in recent years, the European fleet has grown by around 1% per year, while during the same period the world fleet as a whole has grown more than twice as fast annually, significantly exceeding the 3% growth rate and even reaching 4.4%. Therefore, the share of the European fleet in the gross tonnage of the world fleet has fallen from 38.5% in 2018 to 33.6% in 2024.

– This is because regions such as East and Southeast Asia have grown at a faster pace and as a result have increased their market share – explains Dagmar Nelissen from CE Delft. In the period 2020-2021, the number of employees in European shipping decreased by around 5% and by around 16% compared to 2018.

There are over 4,100 shipping companies operating in the EU and Norway. The vast majority of shipping companies in the EU are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with 90% of them having fewer than ten ships. In November 2024, European shipowners had a fleet of 22,318 ships with a total capacity of 556 The European fleet represented almost 34% of the world fleet in terms of GT and had around 20% of the number of ships.

Asia faster than Europe

While the European fleet grew by 8% in GT between 2018 and 2024, the world fleet grew by 17% in number of ships and by 24% in total GT during the same period. As a result, the share of the European fleet in the world fleet decreased every year between 2018 and 2024 in terms of both number of ships and GT.

The share of the European controlled fleet and the entire fleet of the Americas in the global fleet has been steadily declining from 2018 to 2024, according to Clarksons Research’s World Fleet Monitor. On the other hand, the fleets of shipowners based in the Asia-Pacific region, South and Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa have been growing steadily. The share of the European fleet in the global fleet has fallen from 38.5% in 2018 to 33.6% in 2024. At the same time, the share of the fleet in the Asia-Pacific region has increased from 40.8% in 2018 to 44.6% in 2024, according to information compiled by Clarksons Research analysts.

The total deadweight tonnage (dwt) of the fleet controlled by EU and Norwegian operators is around 33% of the global total, which in November 2024 amounted to 2,417 million dwt for ships of 100 GT and above. According to Clarksons’ World Fleet Monitor, bulk carriers, tankers and container ships were the largest groups in terms of deadweight tonnage at the disposal of the listed shipowners.

In the global bulk carrier fleet, 30% of tonnage is controlled by EU shipowners. 35% of tankers are under European control in terms of gross tonnage. For container ships, 44% are under European control in terms of gross tonnage. European shipowners also controlled a third or more of the world’s GT in LNG carriers, ferries, dredgers and refrigerated vessels in the autumn of 2024.

Container ships, bulk carriers, tankers
A high share of European control in terms of gross tonnage was also recorded for general cargo ships (31%), offshore ships (25%), vehicle carriers (29%) and chemical tankers (28%). European shipowners operate almost 4,000 bulk carriers, which accounts for 28% of the world’s dry bulk fleet.

European shipowners also own a large number of tankers, container ships, general cargo ships, ferries and tugboats. 38% of the world’s container ships are under European control. EU and Norwegian shipowners operate 34% of LNG carriers, including those carrying liquefied natural gas from the United States to Poland.
Western European shipowners control 29% of the world’s ferry and cruise ship fleet. Around a quarter of the world’s dredger and car carrier fleet is also operated by Western European shipowners. In most segments, Europe has already lost its advantage and Asian fleets have taken over.

Data from the World Fleet Register clearly shows that European shipowners, with a 34.7% share, control the largest share of the world tanker fleet in terms of GT. They are closely followed by shipowners from Asia and the Pacific. European shipowners have a clear advantage in the general cargo market with a 42% share.

This is because they control the largest share of container ships, slightly ahead of shipowners from Asia and the Pacific. One third of the world’s bulk and specialist ships by gross tonnage are operated by European operators. However, they are not able to match the Asia and the Pacific operators, who control almost 58% of the world’s bulk carriers and 47% of the specialist ship stock.

Western European shipowners maintain a strong position in several segments of maritime transport. However, they are systematically losing their share in the sea freight business, which still constitutes a significant piece of the transport pie, estimated at 80% of the goods transported. The European fleet is growing much slower than the Asian fleets. This trend seems to be permanent and unfortunately irreversible.