Water transportation industry - statistics & facts
Water transportation has been a crucial way of moving commodities, products, and people for millennia. Nowadays, vital commodities such as coal, oil, and gas are carried by ships to fuel the global economy. In 2020 alone, some 1.2 million metric tons of coal and almost 1.8 million metric tons of oil were transported via waterways. Even more importantly, around 80 percent of all goods are transported by sea, mainly by container ships. Compared to other modes of freight transport, ships have a vast capacity that makes them more economical and suitable for transporting large, heavy, and bulky items while producing a relatively small amount of emissions. In 2020, shipping accounted for about 11 percent of global transportation emissions, less than road freight transport.
