Merchant Fleet by Country (2026)

Merchant fleet size by country measures the deadweight tonnage of commercial ships registered under each country's flag. It reflects the scale of the fleet sailing under a national flag rather than the volume of cargo it carries, and many shipping companies register under open registries, so the largest fleets are often found in small economies. The statistics are based on the UNCTADstat database, and values refer to the beginning of 2026. The dataset covers 196 countries and territories, and 195 of them report figures for the beginning of 2026.

Countries With the Largest Merchant Fleet in 2026

Liberia recorded the largest fleet at the beginning of 2026 with 446,506 thousand dwt. Panama followed with 349,621, ahead of the Marshall Islands (317,667) and Singapore (186,000). Hong Kong (175,884) and China (142,003) complete the top six, with Malta (114,157) not far behind. The Bahamas (71,327), Greece (51,670), and Japan (47,081) round out the top ten.

Merchant Fleet by Country (2026)

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#	Country	Latest Data (thousand dwt)	Year
1	Liberia LR	446,506	2026
2	Panama PA	349,621	2026
3	Marshall Islands MH	317,667	2026
4	Singapore SG	186,000	2026
5	Hong Kong HK	175,884	2026
6	China CN	142,003	2026
7	Malta MT	114,157	2026
8	Bahamas BS	71,327	2026
9	Greece GR	51,670	2026
10	Japan JP	47,081	2026
11	Portugal PT	39,261	2026
12	Indonesia ID	36,358	2026
13	Cyprus CY	35,156	2026
14	Denmark DK	25,395	2026
15	South Korea KR	23,746	2026
16	Norway NO	20,846	2026
17	Iran IR	20,190	2026
18	Isle of Man IM	19,950	2026
19	Russia RU	19,605	2026
20	Saudi Arabia SA	19,510	2026
21	India IN	19,037	2026
22	Barbados BB	14,527	2026
23	Cameroon CM	14,475	2026
24	United States US	13,448	2026
25	Sierra Leone SL	13,420	2026
26	Belgium BE	12,307	2026
27	France FR	10,818	2026
28	Vietnam VN	9,928	2026
29	United Kingdom GB	9,827	2026
30	Malaysia MY	9,278	2026
31	Antigua and Barbuda AG	8,977	2026
32	Germany DE	8,703	2026
33	Comoros KM	8,614	2026
34	Bermuda BM	7,465	2026
35	Curaçao CW	7,456	2026
36	Nigeria NG	7,304	2026
37	Gambia GM	7,273	2026
38	Palau PW	7,104	2026
39	Italy IT	7,095	2026
40	Türkiye TR	6,942	2026
41	Netherlands NL	6,642	2026
42	Brazil BR	6,515	2026
43	Bangladesh BD	6,137	2026
44	Philippines PH	6,119	2026
45	Taiwan TW	5,883	2026
46	Guyana GY	5,675	2026
47	Saint Kitts and Nevis KN	5,566	2026
48	Cayman Islands KY	5,217	2026
49	Thailand TH	4,829	2026
50	Kuwait KW	4,742	2026
51	Oman OM	4,355	2026
52	Guinea GN	4,054	2026
53	Canada CA	3,379	2026
54	Belize BZ	3,246	2026
55	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines VC	2,656	2026
56	Tanzania TZ	2,596	2026
57	Sao Tome and Principe ST	2,587	2026
58	Benin BJ	2,584	2026
59	San Marino SM	2,344	2026
60	Djibouti DJ	2,315	2026
61	Australia AU	2,277	2026
62	Mexico MX	2,214	2026
63	Mozambique MZ	2099	2026
64	Aruba AW	2080	2026
65	Tuvalu TV	2023	2026
66	Egypt EG	1908	2026
67	Vanuatu VU	1860	2026
68	Sweden SE	1683	2026
69	Cook Islands CK	1681	2026
70	Venezuela VE	1620	2026
71	Guinea-Bissau GW	1527	2026
72	Luxembourg LU	1459	2026
73	Togo TG	1370	2026
74	Spain ES	1330	2026
75	North Korea KP	1298	2026
76	Croatia HR	1279	2026
77	Azerbaijan AZ	1211	2026
78	Gabon GA	1017	2026
79	Finland FI	993	2026
80	Libya LY	953	2026
81	United Arab Emirates AE	938	2026
82	Botswana BW	917	2026
83	Mongolia MN	912	2026
84	Chile CL	909	2026
85	Pakistan PK	869	2026
86	Tonga TO	855	2026
87	Honduras HN	833	2026
88	Argentina AR	777	2026
89	Switzerland CH	732	2026
90	Qatar QA	708	2026
91	Angola AO	678	2026
92	Algeria DZ	652	2026
93	Gibraltar GI	630	2026
94	Cuba CU	573	2026
95	Peru PE	520	2026
96	Ivory Coast CI	498	2026
97	Madagascar MG	478	2026
98	Maldives MV	462	2026
99	South Africa ZA	462	2026
100	Yemen YE	419	2026
101	Ireland IE	408	2026
102	Brunei BN	380	2026
103	Ecuador EC	327	2026
104	Faroe Islands FO	327	2026
105	Ethiopia ET	317	2026
106	Lithuania LT	286	2026
107	Sri Lanka LK	286	2026
108	Cambodia KH	280	2026
109	Tunisia TN	279	2026
110	Ukraine UA	262	2026
111	Papua New Guinea PG	224	2026
112	Niue NU	223	2026
113	Eswatini SZ	214	2026
114	Latvia LV	211	2026
115	Bahrain BH	206	2026
116	Morocco MA	203	2026
117	Equatorial Guinea GQ	197	2026
118	Kazakhstan KZ	184	2026
119	Lebanon LB	182	2026
120	Myanmar MM	182	2026
121	Seychelles SC	176	2026
122	Iraq IQ	164	2026
123	Bolivia BO	151	2026
124	Dominica DM	143	2026
125	Jamaica JM	139	2026
126	Kiribati KI	126	2026
127	Turkmenistan TM	124	2026
128	Nicaragua NI	115	2026
129	Lesotho LS	113	2026
130	Colombia CO	108	2026
131	Poland PL	106	2026
132	Paraguay PY	93	2026
133	Jordan JO	92	2026
134	New Zealand NZ	92	2026
135	Estonia EE	81	2026
136	Bulgaria BG	75	2026
137	Mauritius MU	73	2026
138	Fiji FJ	72	2026
139	Montenegro ME	72	2026
140	Israel IL	70	2026
141	Namibia NA	59	2026
142	Moldova MD	57	2026
143	Nauru NR	55	2026
144	Romania RO	55	2026
145	Uruguay UY	39	2026
146	Ghana GH	38	2026
147	Micronesia FM	35	2026
148	French Polynesia PF	34	2026
149	DR Congo CD	32	2026
150	Cape Verde CV	31	2026
151	Senegal SN	29	2026
152	Trinidad and Tobago TT	26	2026
153	Albania AL	25	2026
154	Georgia GE	22	2026
155	Wallis and Futuna WF	18	2026
156	Solomon Islands SB	17	2026
157	Eritrea ER	16	2026
158	Iceland IS	15	2026
159	British Virgin Islands VG	13	2026
160	Kenya KE	12	2026
161	Dominican Republic DO	11	2026
162	Grenada GD	10	2026
163	Laos LA	7	2026
164	New Caledonia NC	7	2026
165	Suriname SR	7	2026
166	Falkland Islands FK	6	2026
167	Syria SY	6	2026
168	Mauritania MR	5	2026
169	Samoa WS	5	2026
170	Macau MO	4	2026
171	Costa Rica CR	3	2026
172	Guatemala GT	3	2026
173	North Macedonia MK	3	2026
174	Sudan SD	3	2026
175	Congo CG	2	2026
176	Greenland GL	2	2026
177	Réunion RE	2	2026
178	Slovenia SI	2	2026
179	US Virgin Islands VI	2	2026
180	Czech Republic CZ	1	2026
181	El Salvador SV	1	2026
182	Haiti HT	1	2026
183	Somalia SO	1	2026
184	Timor-Leste TL	1	2026
185	Turks and Caicos Islands TC	1	2026
186	Zambia ZM	1	2026
187	Austria AT	0	2026
188	Belarus BY	0	2026
189	Bosnia and Herzegovina BA	0	2026
190	Guam GU	0	2026
191	Hungary HU	0	2022
192	Monaco MC	0	2026
193	Niger NE	0	2026
194	Northern Mariana Islands MP	0	2026
195	Puerto Rico PR	0	2026
196	Slovakia SK	0	2026

Merchant fleet capacity is concentrated in a handful of open-registry economies. Liberia accounts for about 18 percent of the total recorded for the beginning of 2026, and the top five countries together account for about 59 percent. Among the 195 countries and territories with figures, 17 register a fleet larger than 20,000 thousand tons.

How the Largest Fleets Compare in Each Region

In Asia, open-registry hubs Singapore (186,000) and Hong Kong (175,884) head the ranking, ahead of China (142,003) and Japan (47,081). National fleets in South Korea (23,746) and India (19,037) are more moderate but steadily maintained.

Europe presents a varied picture. Malta (114,157) holds the largest registry, Greece contributes 51,670, and Cyprus (35,156) and Portugal (39,261) also rank in the global top 15. Denmark (25,395) and Norway (20,846) exceed the figures of France (10,818), the United Kingdom (9,827), Germany (8,703), Italy (7,095), and the Netherlands (6,642).

In the Americas, the Bahamas (71,327) leads. The United States registers 13,448, Brazil 6,515, and Canada 3,379. In the Middle East, Iran (20,190) holds the largest fleet, while in Africa, outside the open registries, Nigeria (7,304) records the largest figure ahead of Egypt (1,908) and South Africa (462). Australia (2,277) and New Zealand (92) account for the smallest fleets in Oceania.

Barbados (14,527), Cameroon (14,475), and Sierra Leone (13,420) each added more than 10,000 thousand tons since 2021 but remain far below the ten largest registries.

Largest Changes in Merchant Fleet, 2021–2026

Liberia recorded the largest increase between the beginning of 2021 and the beginning of 2026, growing from 299,827 to 446,506 thousand dwt, up 146,679. Singapore expanded from 136,315 to 186,000 (up 49,685), the Marshall Islands from 274,265 to 317,667 (up 43,402), and China from 110,960 to 142,003 (up 31,043).

Hong Kong recorded the largest decline, from 205,028 to 175,884 thousand dwt (down 29,144), followed by Greece, whose fleet fell by 12,728 to 51,670, and Italy, down 4,171 to 7,095. Both countries recorded lower registered fleet capacity over the period.

Merchant Fleet by Country (2026)

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#	Country	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
1	Panama	344,580	350,896	366,720	380,361	371,621	349,621
2	Liberia	299,827	335,725	378,569	408,151	423,369	446,506
3	Marshall Islands	274,265	290,273	299,858	308,508	305,410	317,667
4	Hong Kong	205,028	208,083	200,225	200,209	202,946	175,884
5	Singapore	136,315	131,730	134,796	140,741	152,357	186,000
6	Malta	115,839	114,822	109,200	102,576	113,224	114,157
7	China	110,960	120,534	133,185	143,131	139,850	142,003
8	Bahamas	74,303	73,144	72,039	72,350	70,364	71,327
9	Greece	64,398	61,632	58,690	55,999	53,437	51,670
10	Japan	39,099	40,034	41,659	42,612	43,789	47,081
11	Cyprus	34,007	33,479	31,620	30,673	34,276	35,156
12	Indonesia	29,136	29,409	30,189	32,896	34,581	36,358
13	Denmark	24,754	26,112	25,392	25,062	25,671	25,395
14	Norway	24,060	23,355	23,487	22,245	21,327	20,846
15	Portugal	22,855	25,998	26,967	29,514	35,968	39,261
16	Isle of Man	22,013	20,603	20,004	19,497	19,934	19,950
17	Iran	20,762	20,481	21,051	21,118	21,076	20,190
18	India	17,117	16,928	18,197	18,364	17,958	19,037
19	South Korea	15,753	15,731	18,929	21,206	21,475	23,746
20	Saudi Arabia	13,675	13,896	13,406	14,427	17,736	19,510
21	United States	12,505	12,518	12,683	13,241	13,227	13,448
22	United Kingdom	11,746	10,965	10,396	10,498	10,139	9,827
23	Italy	11,266	9,979	9,042	7,698	7,228	7,095
24	Russia	10,917	10,907	11,259	11,898	14,593	19,605
25	Vietnam	10,350	12,343	12,393	13,142	11,603	9,928
26	Malaysia	10,207	9,332	9,399	9,373	9,857	9,278
27	Belgium	9,635	9,773	9,205	8,024	6,869	12,307
28	Bermuda	8,052	7,888	7,031	6,529	6,737	7,465
29	Germany	7,902	7,135	7,269	8,036	8,705	8,703
30	France	7,862	7,936	8,250	9,647	9,942	10,818
31	Taiwan	7,141	6,714	6,396	5,981	5,881	5,883
32	Cayman Islands	6,887	6,416	6,365	6,072	5,502	5,217
33	Netherlands	6,811	6,661	6,624	6,691	6,757	6,642
34	Philippines	6,577	6,421	6,176	6,053	5,582	6,119
35	Antigua and Barbuda	6,398	6,273	6,369	6,495	9,314	8,977
36	Türkiye	6,301	6,122	6,629	7,214	6,867	6,942
37	Thailand	6,070	5,375	4,684	4,505	4,671	4,829
38	Brazil	5,225	5,199	5,524	5,700	5,934	6,515
39	Nigeria	4,938	4,986	5,875	6,506	7,120	7,304
40	Kuwait	4,522	4,849	4,746	4,747	4,740	4,742
41	Belize	4,485	3,775	3,745	4,306	4,089	3,246
42	Bangladesh	3,652	4,340	5,124	5,439	6,013	6,137
43	Canada	3,319	3,276	3,426	3,380	3,298	3,379
44	Cook Islands	2,903	1772	1911	4,889	4,641	1681
45	Sierra Leone	2,847	2,933	2,597	2,635	5,735	13,420
46	Cameroon	2,750	4,985	7,309	8,142	5,779	14,475
47	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	2,679	2,623	2,628	2,614	2,665	2,656
48	Barbados	2,614	3,259	4,692	6,223	18,720	14,527
49	Australia	2,597	2,593	2,594	2,603	2,417	2,277
50	Palau	2,230	3,271	5,302	7,894	7,730	7,104
51	Mexico	2,142	2,202	2,451	2,620	2,224	2,214
52	Togo	2091	2,549	2,183	1356	1196	1370
53	Tuvalu	1952	2,109	1909	1641	1686	2023
54	Gibraltar	1945	1387	1052	905	733	630
55	Spain	1918	1903	1902	1690	1600	1330
56	Djibouti	1898	3,155	2,375	2,868	3,473	2,315
57	Vanuatu	1813	1737	1465	1520	1237	1860
58	Croatia	1797	1527	1534	1216	1222	1279
59	Tanzania	1754	1971	2,104	2,508	2,792	2,596
60	Egypt	1746	1721	1767	1827	1921	1908
61	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1707	1415	3,991	2,761	5,239	5,566
62	Libya	1626	1626	1679	986	956	953
63	Comoros	1488	1506	1820	2078	4,550	8,614
64	Curaçao	1413	1361	1137	1115	4,464	7,456
65	Eswatini	-	-	-	-	1409	214
66	Venezuela	1403	1301	1302	1286	1229	1620
67	Luxembourg	1314	1402	1416	1494	1630	1459
68	Gabon	1157	1513	2,151	6,070	5,232	1017
69	Sweden	1152	1203	1243	1074	1143	1683
70	Finland	1138	1262	1130	1140	1012	993
71	North Korea	1078	1116	1170	1240	1261	1298
72	Qatar	1042	755	686	630	555	708
73	Chile	1016	975	960	981	916	909
74	Switzerland	930	930	854	839	771	732
75	Botswana	-	-	-	-	-	917
76	Argentina	887	862	865	860	847	777
77	Pakistan	868	868	1082	1085	1083	869
78	Mongolia	814	720	950	983	851	912
79	Honduras	782	752	736	1078	2,664	833
80	United Arab Emirates	744	858	848	907	910	938
81	Azerbaijan	733	748	758	1092	1205	1211
82	Dominica	681	584	249	229	113	143
83	Sao Tome and Principe	681	689	1297	1177	2055	2,587
84	Algeria	673	652	652	652	652	652
85	Samoa	603	1200	5	5	8	5
86	Moldova	529	431	112	61	57	57
87	Brunei	470	462	394	393	393	380
88	Cuba	450	573	573	573	576	573
89	Peru	447	447	442	565	529	520
90	Israel	446	449	335	69	66	70
91	Yemen	443	418	419	419	419	419
92	Faroe Islands	408	365	292	321	330	327
93	Ukraine	395	388	343	299	266	262
94	Ireland	389	381	377	389	411	408
95	Cambodia	354	358	316	280	280	280
96	South Africa	344	554	542	484	663	462
97	Ethiopia	338	338	338	317	317	317
98	Kiribati	327	339	254	108	104	126
99	Sri Lanka	322	315	307	282	278	286
100	Angola	321	322	320	320	327	678
101	Tunisia	321	279	279	279	279	279
102	Bahrain	308	281	235	220	213	206
103	Ecuador	308	310	304	314	309	327
104	Lithuania	230	214	174	179	278	286
105	Seychelles	208	208	176	176	176	176
106	Papua New Guinea	207	199	218	214	223	224
107	New Zealand	205	210	130	116	99	92
108	Myanmar	200	194	198	179	182	182
109	Niue	195	248	311	234	244	223
110	Lebanon	182	178	199	193	175	182
111	Morocco	154	156	165	141	192	203
112	Mauritius	150	148	71	81	84	73
113	Montenegro	143	142	142	142	142	72
114	Bulgaria	138	133	108	104	91	75
115	Kazakhstan	135	135	137	186	190	184
116	Bolivia	125	126	123	112	126	151
117	Turkmenistan	125	124	130	126	128	124
118	Jamaica	120	65	76	70	74	139
119	Latvia	111	162	174	204	187	211
120	Paraguay	103	95	90	85	93	93
121	Poland	101	102	102	103	105	106
122	Iraq	98	103	97	163	163	164
123	Colombia	97	98	107	108	108	108
124	Jordan	90	91	92	96	87	92
125	Estonia	84	82	83	83	87	81
126	Syria	77	46	238	143	5	6
127	Romania	74	76	79	79	55	55
128	Fiji	73	73	69	93	72	72
129	Dominican Republic	69	19	8	10	11	11
130	Maldives	62	75	131	127	145	462
131	Micronesia	62	57	46	52	42	35
132	Uruguay	60	60	48	45	41	39
133	Equatorial Guinea	58	71	77	67	51	197
134	Georgia	58	8	9	9	22	22
135	Guyana	52	980	160	758	6,086	5,675
136	Albania	49	47	45	27	25	25
137	Cape Verde	44	45	39	33	34	31
138	Ghana	42	43	45	45	42	38
139	Namibia	42	56	56	56	59	59
140	DR Congo	33	41	32	32	32	32
141	Mozambique	33	33	33	34	34	2099
142	Trinidad and Tobago	28	28	27	26	26	26
143	French Polynesia	22	26	28	28	32	34
144	Tonga	22	19	12	12	13	855
145	Oman	19	19	18	13	19	4,355
146	Senegal	17	17	17	17	27	29
147	Congo	15	14	14	14	2	2
148	Iceland	15	14	18	15	16	15
149	British Virgin Islands	14	14	14	14	13	13
150	Eritrea	14	14	14	14	16	16
151	New Caledonia	14	12	10	8	8	7
152	Kenya	13	13	13	12	12	12
153	Madagascar	10	10	18	15	15	478
154	Nauru	9	1	5	8	24	55
155	Solomon Islands	7	7	8	16	18	17
156	Suriname	7	7	7	7	7	7
157	Sudan	6	6	3	3	3	3
158	Gambia	5	7	22	19	1354	7,273
159	Lesotho	-	-	4	4	4	113
160	Costa Rica	3	3	3	3	3	3
161	Falkland Islands	3	6	6	6	6	6
162	Ivory Coast	3	3	3	154	154	498
163	Nicaragua	3	3	3	3	3	115
164	Zambia	3	3	1	1	1	1
165	Guatemala	2	2	2	2	3	3
166	Guinea-Bissau	2	2	89	335	1543	1527
167	Laos	2	2	2	2	2	7
168	Macau	2	4	4	4	4	4
169	Réunion	2	2	2	2	2	2
170	Slovenia	2	3	2	2	2	2
171	US Virgin Islands	2	2	2	1	2	2
172	Wallis and Futuna	2	17	18	18	18	18
173	Belarus	1	1	1	0	0	0
174	Benin	1	2	1	3	3	2,584
175	Greenland	1	2	2	2	2	2
176	Grenada	1	1	1	1	10	10
177	Haiti	1	1	1	1	1	1
178	Mauritania	1	4	4	4	7	5
179	Niger	1	5	0	0	0	0
180	San Marino	-	1	1	355	2,224	2,344
181	Somalia	1	1	1	1	1	1
182	Turks and Caicos Islands	1	1	1	1	1	1
183	Aruba	0	0	0	47	47	2080
184	Austria	0	0	0	0	0	0
185	Bosnia and Herzegovina	-	-	-	0	0	0
186	Czech Republic	-	-	-	0	0	1
187	El Salvador	0	1	1	1	1	1
188	Guam	0	0	0	0	0	0
189	Guinea	0	2	0	1	2043	4,054
190	Hungary	0	0	-	-	-	-
191	Monaco	0	0	0	0	0	0
192	North Macedonia	-	-	-	0	8	3
193	Northern Mariana Islands	-	-	0	0	0	0
194	Puerto Rico	0	0	0	0	0	0
195	Slovakia	-	-	-	0	0	0
196	Timor-Leste	0	0	1	1	1	1

Methodology

The statistics are based on the UNCTADstat database, indicator US.MerchantFleet (Merchant fleet by country of registration, total dead weight tonnage in thousand tons). Values refer to the beginning of each year. The main comparison uses figures for the beginning of 2026 where available, and the latest available year for countries without a 2026 observation. In the table, a zero reflects a nil or negligible fleet, while an empty cell means that no value was reported; the two are never mixed up in the calculations.