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The global ranking of Malaysian merchant fleet slipped one point to 18th
position based on fleet size of 9.93 million dwt at the beginning of 2005.
The ranking, a notch below Saudi Arabia and a notch above Iran, was based on
the review of the world merchant fleet published by the latest issue of
UNCTAD Maritime Review 2005.
The Review ranked top 35 countries and territories that controlled 95 per
cent of the world merchant fleet (2.5 per cent more than in the previous
year).
Malaysia’s share of the world total merchant fleet was 1.17 per cent, which
still ranks well ahead of bigger economies and countries like France, The
Netherlands, Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Turkey, Indonesia, Sweden and Spain
all of which fell behind Malaysia.
Rankings in terms of deadweight for the 35 most important maritime countries
the Review reveals that besides Malaysia, Russian Federation, the Islamic
Republic of Iran, Turkey, Canada, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Spain and Cyprus moved down one point ranking.
The pole position was continued to be held by Greece with an increased fleet
size totaling 155 million dwt, accounting for 18 per cent of the world
total.
Greece was followed by Japan, Germany, China, the US and Norway.
The share of the developing-country fleet reached 22.6 per cent, or 202.3
million dwt, at the beginning of 2005.
About 77 per cent of the fleet belonged to developing countries in Asia.
The net increase of developing countries´ fleet was 20.9 million dwt, more
than four times the net increase of the fleet of major open-registry
countries, which increased by 4.5 million dwt.
The worldwide merchant fleet increased by 38.8 million dwt to a record 895.8
million dwt.
Greece and Japan were still at the top of the list. Monaco, which had been
thirty-second in 2003, was replaced in 2004 by a new entrant, the United
Arab Emirates, which occupied thirty-fourth place.
There were several other countries that moved up the rankings: France,
Switzerland and Indonesia moved up by four places, the United Kingdom,
Thailand and Ukraine by two places, and Germany, Belgium, China, the United
States and Denmark by one place.
Countries that moved down by two places were Singapore and Australia, three
places, Norway, Sweden and the Philippines.
The total tonnage registered under foreign flags in 2004 increased to 523.3
million dwt, representing 65.6 per cent of the 35 countries’ total fleet, as
compared with 489.3 million dwt or 64.6 per cent in 2003.
For developing countries and territories, the trend towards registering
their tonnage under foreign flags is a recent one.
In 2004, the 13 developing countries in the top 35 countries list –
including Hong Kong (China) but excluding Taiwan Province of China – had 47
per cent of their total tonnage registered under foreign flags.
In spite of the continuous trend towards flagging out among developing
countries, there are significant differences among the countries concerned.
The foreign registries of Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong (China) amounted to
92.1 per cent and 57.9 per cent respectively, while the Islamic Republic of
Iran and the Philippines made significantly less use of foreign flag
facilities, which accounted for only 4.9 and 21.1 per cent respectively of
their fleets.
For developed market-economy countries, the share of foreign-registered
tonnage increased to 72.2 per cent in 2004.
In some countries, however, the opposite trend could be at work. Belgium
raised total tonnage to 6.9 million dwt at 1 January 2005 (6.4 million dwt
the previous year), even as its foreign flag fleet dropped from 81.3 to 45.5
per cent. 
Source: UNCTAD Maritime Review 2005
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