Maritime: notes and definitions
Updated 14 December 2023
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About this release
These notes and definitions accompany the statistical release Transport Statistics Great Britain (TSGB), and provide background information for the maritime tables.
This document includes information on sources, data quality, definitions, and general information about the tables.
Revenue and expenditure
Information on table TSGB0516
The revenue and expenditure figures in this table are derived from the results of annual inquiries carried out by the UK Chamber of Shipping (CoS). The United Kingdom shipping industry is defined as United Kingdom resident companies which own or operate ships irrespective of their flag of registry.
This includes companies, which are United Kingdom subsidiaries of overseas parent companies, and excludes overseas resident subsidiaries of United Kingdom companies.
This treatment arises from the primary purpose of the UK CoS inquiries, which is to provide estimates for the sea transport account of the United Kingdom Balance of Payments. In the Balance of Payments, the revenue from overseas resident subsidiary companies is treated as investment income, not part of the sea transport account.
International activities cover the activities of ships either owned by the United Kingdom industry or operated by the industry on charter. The activities covered are:
- carriage of UK imports and exports
- carriage of trade between two foreign countries (cross trades)
- carriage of passengers on international ferry routes and sea cruises
- chartering ships to overseas operators
The passenger revenue series includes revenue from overseas residents only and is consistent with data published in The Pink Book (United Kingdom Balance of Payments). Associated expenditure includes:
- payment for bunkers uplifted abroad
- disbursements in overseas ports, such as cargo handling, port dues, crews’ expenses, agency fees and light dues
- charter payments to overseas ship owners
Marine accident casualties
Information on table TSGB0517
The information is derived from accidents reported to the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) in compliance with the Merchant Shipping (Accident Reporting and Investigation) Regulations (SI 2005 No. 881). The role of the MAIB is to prevent future accidents through investigation of the causes and circumstances of accidents.
The data in part (a) refer to accidents to persons on UK registered merchant vessels of greater than or equal to 100 gross tonnes only, including accidents during access. Such vessels have a duty to report accidents to the MAIB, wherever in the world they occur.
The data in part (b) refer to all recorded accidents in UK 12-mile territorial waters. Requirements to report such accidents to the MAIB vary. Broadly, most UK registered commercial vessels have a duty to report; certain small UK craft or hired pleasure craft are only required to report certain types of accident; non-commercial UK pleasure craft are largely exempt; non-UK flagged vessels are only required to report such accidents if they are in a UK port and, or harbour or if carrying passengers to and, or from a UK port. However, the MAIB will record, and may investigate, any significant accidents of which they are notified by other bodies such as the Coastguard or harbour or inland waterway authorities.
Modal specific tables
As of the 2022 release, TSGB now covers primarily cross-modal information. As a result, there are fewer tables in this chapter. Below are the tables that are no longer published with TSGB, but can still be found in the relevant routine DfT statistical collections, and their accompanying notes and definitions. The Transport Statistics Finder can also be used to locate these tables, either by table name or code.
| Notes and definitions | Table information | TSGB tables |
|---|---|---|
| Inland and coastal waters | Domestic waterborne freight in the UK by traffic type, cargo category, region and major inland waterway route (in terms of goods lifted and moved). | TSGB0425 (PORT0701), TSGB0426 (PORT0702), TSGB0427 (PORT0704), TSGB0428 (PORT0705) |
| Ports | Freight tonnage traffic by port, year cargo type and route. | TSGB0501 (PORT0101), TSGB0502 (PORT0102), TSGB0503 (PORT0201), TSGB0505 (PORT0204) |
| Sea passengers | Sea passenger volumes by UK port, direction, overseas country and type of route. | TSGB0507 (SPAS0101), TSGB0508 (SPAS0107), TSGB0509 (SPAS0108), TSGB0510 (SPAS0201) |
| Search and rescue helicopters | Taskings by base, type and number of rescued and assisted. | TSGB0513a (SARH0101), TSGB0513b (SARH0102) |
| Seafarers | UK certificated officers and trainees by type, and active seafarers by age, gender and departmental profile. | TSGB0514 (SFR0101), TSGB0515 (SFR0302) |
| Shipping fleet | Trading ships of 100 gross tonnes and over (in terms of deadweight). | TSGB0511 (FLE0101), TSGB0512 (FLE0502) |
Contact us
Maritime and shipping statistics
Email maritime.stats@dft.gov.uk
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