UK flag fleet Size Declines

 

According to UK's Department of Transport (DFT) the UK fleet size fell in 2014 from 16th place to 20th place, in terms of deadweight tonnage, decreasing by 17 per cent. Ships registered in the Crown Dependencies (primarily the Isle of Man) remained at 12th place despite tonnage decreasing by 4% over the same period.

The deadweight tonnage of the UK-registered trading fleet has decreased by 27% since 2009, while the combined deadweight tonnage of the world trading fleet has increased by 34%.

The total number of ships in the world trading fleet has increased by 5% from 54,125 ships to 56,759, but the number of vessels registered in the UK decreased by 36%, from 712 to 453 during the same period. In 2013, 66 ships left the UK flag, with Singapore and China being among the key beneficiaries.

Despite the decline in recent years, the UK registered fleet is still four times the size it was in the late 1990s, having increased from 2.7 million dwt to 12.6 million dwt – although down from a high point of 17.7million dwt in 2011. Over the same period, UK direct owned tonnage more than doubled, from 7.2 million dwt to 16.5 million dwt. This boost was largely the result of the introduction of the Tonnage Tax regime in 2000.

DfT notes that there are “embryonic signs of recovery” in the UK Parent-Owned fleet, which showed the first increase since before the economic crisis – moving from 789 to 798 vessels, with an increase from 29.4 million deadweight tonnes to 30.1 million in 2014.