German merchant fleet

The German merchant fleet includes all merchant ships that are entered in the German shipping register. Only those seagoing ships that are classified and are in the shipping register belong to the merchant fleet . The deep-sea fishing does not belong to the merchant fleet. The sea trade - the Kauffahrtei - and the passenger ships operate sea shipping . The term merchant marine is also used for the merchant fleet in maritime law , international law , European law and commercial law (and in statistics ) . The Association of German Shipowners speaks of the German merchant fleet .

tonnage

Due to flagging out , Liberia (29 million GT) and Panama (23.2 million GT) have the world's largest merchant fleets (as of 1997). Of this, Germany accounted for 6.5 million GT (with an average age of three years).

"All German merchant ships form a uniform merchant fleet."

- Art. 27, Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

Duration

The following two tables (as of June 30, 2017) show the structure of the German merchant fleet. All merchant ships (over 100 GT) owned by German shipping companies are recorded , regardless of the ships' trade flags.

Ship type	Ships	1,000 GT	1,000 dw
Passenger ships
Cruise ships	28	1,603	133
Passenger ships	76	26th	6th
Sport fishing vehicles u. a.	8th	1	1
All in all	112	1,630	140
Dry cargo ship
Rail ferries	4th	90	18th
Other ferries	28	294	56
RoRo ships	26th	688	233
General cargo ship	762	5,626	7,617
Reefer ships	35	350	370
Container ships	1,117	40.241	46,529
Oil rig supply ships	17th	44	51
Bulk carrier	317	12,939	23,201
All in all	2,306	60.272	78.075
Tanker
Mineral oil tanker	196	7.119	12,261
Bunker boats	5	2	3
Gas tanker	41	1,027	1,161
Chemical and other tankers	60	903	1,442
All in all	302	9,051	14,867
Merchant ships in total	2,720	70,953	93,082

Development of the German merchant fleet
year	Ships (piece)	1,000 GT
1970	2,578	7,485
1975	2.120	9,965
1980	1,900	11,833
1985	1,750	9,524
1990	1,410	7,518
1995	1,542	10,797
1997	1,645	15,252
1998	1,850	19,924
1999	2.010	23,039
2000	2.110	26,584
2001	2,230	29,726
2003	2,397	33,975
2004	2,575	40,879
2005	2,729	49,946
2006	3,011	58,751
2007	3,220	65,899
2008	3,371	71.003
2009	3,548	76.281
2010	3,716	83,609
2011	3,784	88,732
2012	3,671	89,068
2013	3,477	86,358
2014	3,244	81,910
2015	3,015	78.064
2016	2,823	70,952

Data on January 1st of the year, from 1997 on December 31st of the year

Others

During the global economic crisis of 2009/10 , many merchant ships were laid up or only sailed at significantly reduced speed in order to save fuel ( slow steaming ). A shipping crisis began due to an oversupply of cargo space . Too many ships had been ordered or built and came on the market after completion, while at the same time the cargo volume decreased (see also pig cycle ). To date (mid-2013) it has not recovered sustainably. Freight rates (= transport price ) and charter rates ( rental price for a ship) plummeted. The charter shipping companies widespread in Germany are particularly affected. The overcapacities of container ships are seen as an impending catastrophe.