The Norwegian Merchant Fleet, 2002

The figures have been corrected 17 June 2003.

Compared with 2001, there are in 2002 fewer NIS vessels owned by Norwegian companies, and more NIS vessels owned by foreign companies. The Norwegian owned NIS fleet lost 8.1 per cent of its tonnage, while the foreign owned NIS fleet gained 7.8 per cent more tonnage.

Fewer gas tankers and more supply vessels

The number of gas tankers decreased by 13 vessels from 2001 to 2002 which amounts to a tonnage decrease of 3.5 per cent. The number of supply vessels increased by 7 vessels which amounts to a tonnage increase of 11.4 per cent. The number of dry cargo vessels decreased by 9 per cent the same period, but the tonnage was almost unchanged.

Fewer medium sized and small vessels

The number of large vessels, sizing more than 50 000 gross tonnes, was almost unchanged from 2001. There are 8 fewer medium sized vessels, i.e. between 10 000 and 19 999 gross tonnes. Vessels smaller than 500 gross tones experienced a downturn of 16 vessels or 4 per cent.

Old dry cargo vessels

Almost one quarter of the fleet, amounting to 1.3 per cent of the tonnage, are older than 30 years. The share of vessels older than 30 years compared with the total has increased the last years. 28 per cent of the dry cargo vessels are more than 30 years old, while 15 per cent are younger than 5 years.

Oslo, Stavanger and Bergen most frequent home port

23.6 per cent of the vessels list Bergen as home port. Still, Oslo has a larger tonnage. Stavanger has 20 per cent of the tonnage, but only 9 per cent of the total number of vessels. 48 per cent of all vessels list one of these cities as their home port, comprising 73 per cent of the fleet tonnage.

Increased tonnage in Denmark , Iceland and Sweden

Despite a decrease of fleet tonnage in Norway in 2002, the Norwegian fleet is still larger than the fleets of the other Nordic countries combined. Denmark has increased its tonnage by 463 thousand gross tonnes, an increase of 7 per cent. Iceland and Sweden could also report an increase in tonnage from 2001 through 2002. The vessel group with the larges tonnage is for all Nordic countries except Iceland dry cargo vessels. For more information about the Nordic merchant fleet, please visit Statistics Sweden , Statistics Denmark , Statistics Finland and Statistics Iceland .

Tables:

• Table 1 Vessels registered in Norwegian ship registers. The merchant fleet. Vessels and tonnage. 1989-2002
• Table 2 Merchant fleet. Vessels in Norwegian ship registers. Number of vessels and gross tonnage by vessel type as for 31.12. 2000-2002,
• Table 3 Merchant fleet. Vessels in Norwegian ship registers. Number of vessels and gross tonnage by vessel size as for 31.12. 2000-2002
• Table 4 Merchant fleet. Vessels in Norwegian ship registers. Number of vessels and gross tonnage by vessel age as for 31.12. 2000-2002
• Table 5 Merchant fleet. Vessels in Norwegian ship registers. Number of vessels and gross tonnage by home port as for 31.12. 2000-2002
• Table 6 The merchant fleet of the Nordic countries. Merchant vessels,