| Financial | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating revenues ($ millions) | |||||||||
| Domestic freight | 1,722i | 2,070i | 7,219i | 7,940i | 7,745i | 7,712i | 7,684i | R6,901i | 6,886i |
| Coastal waterways | 747 | 834 | 3,155 | 3,066 | 2,929 | 2,774 | 2,782 | R2,169i | 2,115i |
| Inland waterways | 461 | 621 | 2,395 | 2,956 | 2,868 | 2,964 | 3,044 | R2,860 | 2,801 |
| Great lakes | 227 | 239 | 513 | 615 | 577 | 585 | 579 | R615 | 612 |
| Locks, channels | 287 | 376 | 1,156 | 1,303 | 1,371 | 1,389 | 1,279 | 1,257 | 1,358 |
| International freighth | 1,765 | 3,187 | 8,279 | 12,181 | 13,405 | R14,069 | 17,281 | R14,091 | 15,679 |
| Passenger, total | 281 | 287 | 304 | R1,386 | R1,539 | R1,709 | R1,800 | R1,180 | 1,147 |
| Domestic passenger, intercity | 14 | 12 | 21 | R99u | R120u | R129u | R141u | R141u | 147u |
| International passengera | 267 | 275 | 283 | 1,287i | 1,419i | 1,580i | 1,659i | R1,039i | 1,000i |
| Revenues of U.S. commercial fishing | |||||||||
| Fleet (domestic landings) ($ millions) | 354j | 613j | 2,237j | 3,522j | 3,809j | 3,770j | 3,487j | R3,448j | 3,128j |
| Inventory | |||||||||
| Number of domestic inland | |||||||||
| Vessel operatorsb | 228k | 380k | 403k | 565k | 555k | 557k | 554k | U | U |
| Number of employees | |||||||||
| Ships, boat building, and repairing | 141,200l | 171,800l | 220,500l | 187,700m | 158,200m | 159,600n | 158,800n | R158,300n | 165,900n |
| Water transportationc | N | 212,300 | 211,200 | 176,600 | 172,400 | 174,500 | 174,100 | R178,700 | 180,000 |
| Number of employeesd | |||||||||
| Passenger/combo | 8,560o | 2,178o | 618o | 642o | 642o | 642o | 321o | 321o | 321o |
| Cargo | 28,668 | 22,257 | 9,878 | 7,019 | 6,056 | 5,400 | 4,964 | 4,831 | 4,924 |
| Tankers | 12,053 | 10,567 | 8,722 | 4,471 | 4,626 | 4,261 | 3,965 | 3,785 | 3,711 |
| Total | 49,281 | 35,000 | 19,218 | 12,132 | 11,324 | 10,303 | 9,250 | 8,937 | 8,956 |
| Mileage of commercially Navigable channels | 25,000i | 26,000i | 26,000i | 26,000i | 26,000i | 26,000i | 26,000i | R26,000i | 26,000i |
| Number of vessels | |||||||||
| Total nonself-propelled | 16,777p | 19,377p | 31,662p | 31,209p | 30,730p | 31,360p | 32,811p | 33,011p | 33,509p |
| Dry cargo barges and scows | 14,025 | 15,890 | 27,426 | 27,091 | 26,723 | 27,342 | 28,743 | 29,006 | 29,526 |
| Tankers | 2,429 | 3,281 | 4,166 | 3,913 | 3,966 | 3,985 | 4,036 | 3,971 | 3,952 |
| Railroad car floats | 323 | 206 | 70 | 13 | 34 | 33 | 32 | 34 | 31 |
| Total self-propelled | 6,543 | 6,455 | 7,126 | 8,236 | 8,334 | 8,281 | 8,293 | 8,408 | 8,523 |
| Dry cargo/passenger | 1,796 | 1,761 | 2,036 | 2,678 | 2,785 | 2,804 | 2,782 | 2,905 | 2,938 |
| Ferries, railroad car | 31 | 17 | 67 | 135 | 175 | 172 | 173 | 183 | 213 |
| Tankers | 489 | 421 | 330 | 213 | 195 | 178 | 161 | 147 | 135 |
| Towboats/tugs | 4,203 | 4,248 | 4,693 | 5,210 | 5,179 | 5,127 | 5,177 | 5,173 | 5,237 |
| U.S. merchant marine ships(over 1,000 gross tons) | |||||||||
| Total U. S. flag | 2,926q | 1,579q | 864q | 636q | 543q | 509q | 495q | 477 | 470 |
| Passenger/cargo | 309 | 171 | 65 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 12 |
| Freighters | 2,138 | 1,076 | 471 | 367 | 308 | 295 | 292 | 288 | 289 |
| Bulk carriers | 57 | 38 | 20 | 26 | 22 | 20 | 15 | 14 | 15 |
| Tankers | 422 | 294 | 308 | 233 | 200 | 181 | 173 | 161 | 154 |
| Privately owned | 1,008 | U | 578 | 408 | 354 | 319 | 302 | 285 | 281 |
| Government owned | 1,918 | U | 286 | 228 | 189 | 190 | 193 | 192 | 189 |
| Number of recreational boats (thousands)e | 2,500r | 7,400r | R8,905r | R10,996r | R11,430r | R11,735r | R11,878r | 12,313r | 12,567r |
| Performance | |||||||||
| Ton-miles (thousands)f | |||||||||
| Domestic water freight | |||||||||
| Coastwise | N | 359,784,000s | 631,149,247s | 479,133,600s | 457,600,661s | 440,345,100s | 408,086,100s | 349,843,000s | 314,863,900s |
| Internal | N | 155,816,000 | 227,342,991 | 292,393,300 | 297,762,360 | 306,329,100 | 296,790,600 | R294,023,000 | 294,896,400 |
| Lakewise | N | 79,416,000 | 61,747,114 | 60,929,900 | 58,263,444 | R59,703,800 | 58,335,300 | R62,165,900 | 61,654,300 |
| Intraport | N | 1,179,000 | 1,596,412 | 1,087,000 | 1,292,733 | 1,349,600 | 1,474,500 | 1,378,100 | 1,380,700 |
| Total | N | 596,195,000 | 921,835,764 | 853,543,800 | 814,919,198 | 748,023,800 | 764,686,500 | R707,409,900 | 672,795,000 |
| Tons of freight hauled (thousands) | |||||||||
| Domestic | |||||||||
| Coastwise | 209,197 | 238,440 | 329,609 | 298,637 | 277,029 | 266,612 | 267,389 | R263,146 | 249,633 |
| Internal | 291,057 | 472,123 | 534,979 | 622,595 | 618,409 | 620,324 | 622,081 | R630,558 | 625,028 |
| Lakewise | 155,109 | 157,059 | 115,124 | 110,159 | 114,777 | 116,127 | 114,870 | R122,734 | 122,156 |
| IntraportR | 104,193 | 81,475 | 94,184 | 86,378 | 82,870 | 83,104 | 89,011 | R89,816 | 90,077 |
| Intraterritory | 1,017 | 1,630 | 3,588 | 4,529 | 5,926 | 6,868 | 7,327 | R6,273 | 7,217 |
| Total | 760,573 | 950,727 | 1,077,483 | 1,122,299 | 1,099,011 | 1,093,035 | 1,100,679 | R1,112,527 | 1,094,112 |
| Exports | |||||||||
| Great lakes ports | 23,150 | 35,932 | 45,077 | 32,898 | 27,108 | 32,968 | 31,855 | 33,209 | 36,876 |
| Coastal ports | 104,810 | 205,698 | 358,806 | 408,688 | 369,138 | 441,732 | 418,940 | 399,104 | 367,831 |
| Total | 127,961 | 241,629 | 403,883 | 441,586 | 369,246 | 474,700 | 450,794 | 432,313 | 404,708 |
| Imports | |||||||||
| Great lakes ports | 12,851 | 26,406 | 15,515 | 17,578 | 23,028 | 18,897 | 24,503 | 24,532 | 25,558 |
| Coastal ports | 198,466 | 312,934 | 502,006 | 582,412 | 696,469 | 653,760 | 708,090 | 763,771 | 815,122 |
| Total | 211,316 | 339,340 | 517,521 | 599,970 | 719,497 | 672,657 | 732,593 | 788,303 | 840,680 |
| Average haul, domesticsystem (miles)f | |||||||||
| Coastwise | 1,496 | 1,509 | 1,915 | 1,604 | 1,652 | 1,652 | 1,526 | 1,330 | 1,261 |
| Internal | 282 | 330 | 405 | R470 | 482 | 494 | 477 | 466 | 472 |
| Lakewise | 522 | 506 | 536 | 553 | 508 | 514 | 508 | 507 | 505 |
| Cargo capacity (short tons) | |||||||||
| Total nonself-propelled vessels | 16,355,657p | 24,026,024p | 44,875,116p | R48,946,785p | 49,708,960p | 51,140,530p | 54,086,973p | 54,974,961p | 55,999,952p |
| Dry cargo barges | 12,147,006 | 17,695,275 | 34,486,851 | R38,189,490 | 38,643,518 | 39,971,443 | 42,748,644 | 43,710,093 | 44,718,691 |
| Tankers | 4,208,651 | 6,330,749 | 10,388,265 | R10,757,295 | 11,065,442 | 11,169,087 | 11,338,329 | 11,264,868 | 11,281,261 |
| Total self-propelled vessels | 15,905,881 | 19,284,050 | 23,906,346 | 19,723,788 | 16,867,458 | 15,783,399 | 14,850,253 | 14,161,739 | 12,970,167 |
| Dry cargo/passenger | 12,188,956 | 10,815,977 | 8,011,587 | 7,042,263 | 7,118,193 | 6,484,707 | 6,208,011 | 6,685,719 | 6,371,425 |
| Tankers | 3,716,925 | 8,468,073 | 15,894,753 | 12,681,525 | 9,749,265 | 9,298,692 | 8,642,242 | 7,476,020 | 6,598,742 |
| Fuel consumption (thousand barrels) | |||||||||
| Diesel fuel and distillate | 18,730i | 19,503i | 35,201i | 52,310i | 48,260i | 47,098i | 51,848i | 50,180i | 50,609i |
| Residual fuel oil | 94,084 | 89,850 | 213,131 | 148,764 | 141,544 | 153,125 | 138,213 | 114,044 | 110,480 |
| Gasoline | 9,200 | 14,238 | 25,048 | 30,962 | 20,850 | 25,250 | 23,659 | R23,659 | 22,767 |
| Total | 122,014 | 123,591 | 273,380 | 232,036 | 210,654 | 225,473 | 213,720 | R187,883 | 183,856 |
| Safety | |||||||||
| Fatalities in waterborne transport (vessel casualties only) | |||||||||
| Freight | N | 30t | 8t | 0t | 0t | 0t | 0t | 2t | 0t |
| Tankship | N | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Passenger vessel | N | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Tug/towboat | N | 22 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Offshore supply | N | N | N | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Fishing vessel | N | 77 | 60 | 47 | 38 | 18 | 38 | 22 | 35 |
| Recreational vessel | N | N | N | 3 | 12 | 20 | 3 | 7 | 5 |
| MODUg | N | N | N | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Platform | N | N | N | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Freight barge | N | N | N | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| Tank barge | N | H | N | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Miscellaneous | N | 44 | 56 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| Total | N | 178 | 206 | 85 | 69 | 46 | 50 | 46 | 59 |
| Injuries in waterborne transport | |||||||||
| Freight | N | 14 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Tankship | N | 19 | 9 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| Passenger vessel | N | 10 | 10 | 51 | 39 | 50 | 60 | 37 | 29 |
| Tug/towboat | N | 10 | 27 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 12 | 20 | 15 |
| Offshore supply | N | N | N | 9 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
| Fishing Vessel | N | 13 | 28 | 31 | 51 | 32 | 32 | 25 | 33 |
| Recreational vessel | N | N | N | 2 | 16 | 19 | 7 | 5 | 6 |
| MODUg | N | N | N | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Platform | N | N | N | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Freight barge | N | N | N | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| Tank barge | N | H | N | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Miscellaneous | N | 39 | 98 | 12 | 31 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 13 |
| Total | N | 105 | 180 | 175 | 179 | 145 | 129 | 109 | 107 |
| Fatalities in recreational boating (vessel casualties only) | |||||||||
| Air thrust | N | N | N | N | N | 4r | 1r | 6r | 11r |
| Propeller | N | N | N | N | N | 475 | 363 | R436 | 462 |
| Inboard | N | 119r | 100r | 50r | 36r | N | N | N | N |
| Outboard | N | 774 | 609 | 454 | 341 | N | N | N | N |
| Inboard/outboard | N | 28 | 47 | 53 | 49 | N | N | N | N |
| Jet | N | N | 10 | 25 | 58 | 68 | 61 | 83 | 82 |
| Sail | N | 44 | 43 | 20 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 15 | 5 |
| Manual (oars, paddle) | N | 205 | 272 | 182 | 140 | 148 | 109 | 150 | 151 |
| Other | N | 29 | 14 | 5 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| Propulsion unknown | N | 219 | 265 | 76 | 135 | 122 | 159 | 121 | 104 |
| Total | 739r | 1,418 | 1,360 | 865 | 784 | 829 | 709 | 821 | 815 |
KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised; U = data are not available.
aRevenues paid by American travelers to U.S. and foreign flag carriers.
bDoes not include vessel operators whose primary area of operation is fishing, towing, passenger transport, ferrying, or crew boat utility service.
cIncludes commercial port, marina, and other employees; excludes employees of non-for-hire private businesses.
dEstimate based on established active jobs for licensed and unlicensed personnel aboard oceangoing ships of 1,000 gross-tons and over, privately owned and operated, government-owned ships under bare boat charters, ship managers and General Agency Agreement, supplemented by Military Sealift Command employment totals for ships with Civil Service crews.
eThe U.S. Coast Guard changed its methodology for counting the number of recreational boats.Figures cited represent number of numbered boats, not estimates as previously noted for 1960 and 1970.
fDoes not include intraterritorial traffic (traffic between ports in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which are considered a single unit).