About 116,000 commercial ships carry the world's trade
The world merchant fleet counts about 116,000 commercial ships of at least 100 gross tons as of January 1, 2026, according to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Together they can carry 2.5 billion deadweight tons of cargo, and they move more than 80% of world trade by volume.
That headline number needs an immediate asterisk. It includes ferries, offshore support vessels, and harbor craft. Only about 62,000 ships exceed 1,000 gross tons, which is a better proxy for the ocean-going cargo fleet most people picture when they ask this question. Narrow the lens to container ships, the vessels that carry your imports, and the count drops to 6,706 (Alphaliner, March 2026).
- ~116,000 commercial ships of 100+ gross tons worldwide, about 62,000 of them over 1,000 GT — UNCTAD Data Hub, January 1, 2026
- 2.5 billion dwt of carrying capacity, up 85 million dwt year over year; the fleet was valued at $1.52 trillion as of June 2025 — UNCTAD
- The printed Review of Maritime Transport 2025 anchors the year-earlier snapshot: 112,500 ships and 2.44 billion dwt as of January 2025, after 3.4% growth in 2024
- 6,706 cellular container ships with 33.6 million TEU of combined capacity — Alphaliner, March 2026. That works out to roughly 5,000 TEU per ship on average
- The largest container ship afloat, MSC Irina, carries 24,346 TEU on a 399.9-meter hull with 240,000 dwt — ShipHub
- Ships moved 12.72 billion tons of seaborne trade in 2024, up 2.2% — UNCTAD RMT 2025
- The average ship is 12.6 years old weighted by tonnage, and 22.2 years old by vessel count — UNCTAD
- MSC runs the largest cargo fleet of any company: 992 ships and 7.26 million TEU, 21.5% of global container capacity — Alphaliner, March 2026
How analysts count cargo ships differently
Nobody runs a census of "cargo ships," so every published answer depends on a size threshold and a definition. UNCTAD counts every commercial vessel of 100 gross tons or more, which sweeps in thousands of ferries, tugs, and offshore service craft that never carry a container. Cut the fleet at 1,000 GT and nearly half of it disappears. Count only cellular container ships, as Alphaliner does, and you keep less than 6% of the headline figure.
| Approach | What it counts | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| UNCTAD Data Hub (Jan 2026) | All commercial ships ≥100 GT, cargo and non-cargo | ~116,000 |
| UNCTAD, ≥1,000 GT cut | Ocean-going vessels — the working cargo fleet | ~62,000 |
| UNCTAD RMT 2025 (Jan 2025) | Same method, year-earlier print snapshot | 112,500 |
| Alphaliner (Mar 2026) | Cellular container ships only | 6,706 |
| Equasis / EMSA registry | Adds fishing vessels (~20% of its records) and tugs (~16%) | Larger still — not a cargo count |
What kinds of ships make up the fleet
UNCTAD slices fleet capacity by deadweight tonnage rather than by hull count, because a single 400,000-dwt ore carrier moves as much cargo as a hundred small coasters. By capacity, dry bulk dominates: bulk carriers and oil tankers together hold 70% of the world's carrying capacity. Container ships hold under 15% of the tonnage yet carry most of the world's manufactured goods by value.
| Segment | Capacity (Jan 2025) | Share of fleet dwt | What it carries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk carriers | 1,036 million dwt | 42.5% | Iron ore, coal, grain, fertilizer |
| Oil tankers | 670 million dwt | 27.5% | Crude oil and refined products |
| Container ships | 364 million dwt | 14.9% | Manufactured goods, nearly everything on a store shelf |
| Liquefied gas carriers | 100 million dwt | 4.1% | LNG and LPG |
| Other types | 270 million dwt | 11.0% | General cargo, ro-ro, ferries, specialized vessels |
Source: UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport 2025. Per-type hull counts are harder to pin down than capacity shares; the one segment with a clean public count is container shipping, where Alphaliner tracks 6,706 cellular ships.
How many containers fit on a cargo ship
Between about 1,000 and 24,346 TEU, depending on the class of ship. A TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) is one standard 20-foot container; a 40-foot box counts as two TEU.
| Class | Typical capacity | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Feeder | up to ~3,000 TEU | Short regional routes, small ports |
| Panamax | ~4,000–5,100 TEU | Sized to the original Panama Canal locks |
| Neo-Panamax | ~13,000–15,000 TEU | Fits the expanded locks opened in 2016 |
| Ultra-large (ULCV) | 18,000–24,346 TEU | Asia–Europe mainline services |
The fleet averages roughly 5,000 TEU per ship (33.6 million TEU across 6,706 ships, per Alphaliner's March 2026 count). The record holder, MSC Irina, has a nominal capacity of 24,346 TEU with containers stacked up to 26 rows deep (ShipHub). Because most boxes moving on mainline trades are 40-footers, a ship that size carries roughly 12,000 physical containers rather than 24,000.
For scale: the Ever Given, the ship that blocked the Suez Canal in 2021, carries 20,124 TEU and still ranks outside the ten largest ships afloat.
How fast do cargo ships go
Most cargo ships were built to cruise at 20 to 25 knots (23–29 mph), and almost none of them sail that fast. Fuel burn rises exponentially with speed, so carriers run slower on purpose. Clarksons Research clocked the average container ship at a record-low 13.7–13.9 knots in 2023, and bulk carriers at 10.9 knots — about 16 mph and 13 mph respectively.
Speed tiers for container ships, per Rodrigue's The Geography of Transport Systems (Texas A&M):
| Mode | Speed | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | 20–25 knots | Design speed; used when schedules demand it |
| Slow steaming | 18–20 knots | Standard fuel-saving practice |
| Extra slow steaming | 15–18 knots | Deep fuel savings on long hauls |
| Minimal cost | 12–15 knots | Rarely commercially practical |
The economics are blunt: an 8,000 TEU ship burns about 225 tons of fuel per day at 24 knots, and about 150 tons at 21 knots. Three knots buys a 33% fuel saving. At typical service speeds, a trans-Pacific crossing takes two to three weeks.
How much does a cargo ship weigh
Three different measures get confused here, and they differ by a lot. Deadweight tonnage (dwt) is how much a ship can carry, including cargo, fuel, and stores. Gross tonnage (GT) is a volume index of the enclosed hull, not a weight at all. Displacement is what the ship and everything aboard actually weigh.
| Ship | Deadweight | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Handysize bulker | 15,000–35,000 dwt | The small workhorse class |
| Panamax bulker | 65,000–80,000 dwt | Grain and coal staple |
| Ever Given | 199,629 dwt (220,940 GT) | 20,124 TEU container ship |
| MSC Irina | 240,000 dwt | Largest container class afloat |
| Valemax ore carrier | up to 400,000 dwt | The heaviest cargo movers in service |
| Seawise Giant (historic) | 564,763 dwt | Largest ship ever built; scrapped in 2010 |
So the honest answer: a mid-size ocean freighter can carry 50,000 to 80,000 tons, and the largest ships in service carry 400,000. Add the ship's own structure to the Ever Given's 199,629-ton deadweight and the fully loaded vessel displaces roughly a quarter-million tonnes — about 25 Eiffel Towers.
The carriers that control the container fleet
Container shipping concentrates fast. The top seven carriers control about four-fifths of global capacity, and MSC alone passed 20% market share in 2024 — the first carrier ever to do so.
| Rank | Carrier | Capacity | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MSC | 7.26M TEU (Mar 2026) | 21.5% |
| 2 | Maersk | 4.57M TEU | 14.2% |
| 3 | CMA CGM | 3.95M TEU | 12.3% |
| 4 | COSCO | 3.37M TEU | 10.5% |
| 5 | Hapag-Lloyd | 2.41M TEU | 7.5% |
| 6 | ONE | 2.03M TEU | 6.3% |
| 7 | Evergreen | 1.82M TEU | 5.6% |
Source: Alphaliner via Container News (May 2025 snapshot); MSC figures updated to Alphaliner's March 2026 count of 992 ships and 7.26 million TEU.
The fleet keeps growing faster than it retires
World fleet capacity has grown between 2.7% and 4.2% every year since 2014 (UNCTAD). Retirement barely dents it: ship recycling removed just 6.3 million gross tons in 2024, about 0.25% of the fleet. Meanwhile the container orderbook is aggressive: Wan Hai has ships on order equal to 73% of its current fleet, Evergreen 46%, CMA CGM 43%, and COSCO 39% (Alphaliner).
Three countries build nearly everything: China delivered 54.6% of new tonnage in 2024, South Korea 28.0%, and Japan 12.6%. Ownership tells a different story: Greek owners control 16.4% of fleet capacity, China 14.4%, Japan 9.9%. Registration tells a third one. Liberia (17.4%), Panama (15.2%), and the Marshall Islands (12.5%) fly the most tonnage under their flags.
Common questions about the world cargo fleet
How many container ships are there in the world?
6,706 cellular container ships as of March 2026, per Alphaliner, with a combined capacity of 33.6 million TEU. Orderbooks suggest the count keeps climbing through the late 2020s.
What is the largest cargo ship in the world?
By container capacity, the MSC Irina class: 24,346 TEU on a 399.9-meter hull. By deadweight, Valemax ore carriers top current service at around 400,000 dwt. The largest ship ever built, the tanker Seawise Giant at 564,763 dwt, was scrapped in 2010.
How long does a cargo ship take to cross the Pacific?
Two to three weeks port to port at typical service speeds. Shanghai to Los Angeles is roughly 5,700 nautical miles; at 14 knots that's about 17 days of sailing.
How much fuel does a cargo ship burn?
An 8,000 TEU container ship burns roughly 225 tons of bunker fuel per day at 24 knots, and about 150 tons at 21 knots. That exponential fuel curve is why the industry slow-steams.
Who owns the world's cargo ships?
Greek owners control the most capacity (16.4% of dwt), followed by Chinese (14.4%) and Japanese (9.9%) owners. Among operators, MSC runs the largest fleet: 992 ships. Most ships fly a different flag than their owner's nationality. Liberia, Panama, and the Marshall Islands register 45% of world tonnage between them.
Do cargo ships ever get scrapped?
Yes, but slowly. Recycling removed only 6.3 million gross tons in 2024, about 0.25% of the fleet. That is why the average ship is 22 years old counted by hull, even as new megaships pull the tonnage-weighted average down to 12.6 years.
What the number actually tells you
Cite ~116,000 if you need the full merchant fleet, ~62,000 for ocean-going cargo vessels, and 6,706 for container ships. Journalists reaching for a single figure should take the first; anyone modeling freight capacity should work from the deadweight numbers instead, because hull counts hide a fleet where one ship can outcarry a hundred others.
For shippers, the operative number is the smallest one. Those 6,706 container ships and their 33.6 million TEU are the capacity pool that sets the freight rates your landed cost rides on. Seven companies control four-fifths of that pool. When that pool tightens — a canal drought, a Red Sea rerouting — rates move within weeks.
The fleet itself keeps growing about 3% a year while scrapping runs near zero, so the 2030 answer to this question will be comfortably north of 120,000. Every one of those ships ends its voyage the same way: cargo discharged at a port, trucked to a warehouse, and handed to whoever fulfills the order. That last mile of the chain is what a 3PL does.
How we built this
Fleet totals, capacity shares, ages, flags, ownership, and shipbuilding figures come from UN Trade and Development: the Review of Maritime Transport 2025 (fleet as of January 1, 2025) and the UNCTAD Data Hub maritime profile (fleet as of January 1, 2026). Container fleet counts and carrier rankings come from Alphaliner data as republished by Global Maritime Hub, gCaptain, and Container News between May 2025 and April 2026. Sailing speeds are Clarksons Research figures reported by Splash247; speed tiers and fuel-burn curves are from Jean-Paul Rodrigue's The Geography of Transport Systems. Individual ship specifications come from ShipHub and Wikipedia. We derived the ~5,000 TEU fleet average, the ~12,000 physical-container estimate, and the 17-day Pacific crossing ourselves from the cited figures. Where UNCTAD's two snapshots differ (112,500 vs ~116,000 ships), we report both with their reference dates.
- UNCTAD, Review of Maritime Transport 2025 — Chapter 2
- UNCTAD Data Hub — Maritime transport profile
- Alphaliner fleet data via Global Maritime Hub (April 2026)
- Alphaliner Top 100 via Container News (May 2025)
- MSC fleet milestone via gCaptain (February 2026)
- Clarksons Research speed data via Splash247
- Rodrigue, The Geography of Transport Systems — fuel consumption by containership size and speed
- ShipHub — MSC Irina specifications
- Wikipedia — Ever Given
- UNCTAD RMT 2025 highlights via Safety4Sea
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