23 September 2009

The maritime transport domain contains quarterly and annual data.

Maritime transport data refer to gross weight of goods (in tonnes), passengers movements (in number of passengers) as well as for vessel traffic (in number of vessels and in gross tonnage of vessels). Data for transport of goods in containers are also expressed in volume terms (TEUs = 20 ft equivalent unit).

Data at regional level (NUTS 2, 1 and 0) are also available.

The data collection is based on the terms of Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea.

The maritime transport data have been calculated using data collected at port level. The data are displayed at port level, Regional level, Maritime Coastal Area (MCA) level and country level.

The data are presented in six collections, displaying Main Annual results, Short Sea Shipping, Passengers, Goods, Vessels traffic and Regional information.

Classifications are available in Directive 2009/42/EC and Commission Decision 2008/861/EC.

The type of cargo classification has been established in conformity with the United Nation ECE Recommendation N°21.

Maritime Coastal area: the nomenclature is based on the Geonomenclature (the country nomenclature for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States, originally drawn up by the Council Regulation (EEC) N°1736/75) in force in the year to which the data refer.

Nationality of registration of vessels: the nomenclature used is the Geonomenclature (the country nomenclature for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States, originally drawn up by the Council Regulation (EEC) N°1736/75) in force in the year to which the data refer.

The type of ship classification is harmonised with an internationally agreed International Classification of Ship by Type (ICST).

Maritime transport is the carriage of goods and passengers by sea-going vessels, on voyages undertaken wholly or partly at sea. The data collected from National Statistical Authorities are port statistics: information on goods handled in ports, passengers embarked and disembarked, vessel traffic. Detailed information is collected on the type of cargo and passengers, geographical areas where the partner ports are located, type, size and nationality of ships used to carry out that transportation.

Within the collection of Main annual results, there are information on goods, volume (in TEUs), on passengers and on vessels, which are the following tables:

• Country level - Gross weight of goods handled in all ports
• Country level - Gross weight of goods handled in all ports, by direction
• Country level - Gross weight of goods handled in main ports, by type of cargo
• Country level - Gross weight of goods transported to/from main ports
• Country level - Gross weight of goods transported to/from main ports, by type of traffic
• Country level - Volume (in TEUs) of containers handled in main ports, by loading status
• Top 20 ports - Gross weight of goods handled in each port, by direction
• Top 20 ports - Gross weight of goods handled in each port, by type of cargo (main ports)
• Top 20 ports - Volume (in TEUs) of containers handled in each port, by loading status
• Country level - Passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports
• Country level - Passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports, by direction
• Country level - Passengers (excluding cruise passengers) transported to/from main ports
• Country level - Passengers (excluding cruise passengers) transported to/from main ports, by type of traffic
• Top 20 ports - Passengers embarked and disembarked in each port, by direction
• Country level - Number and Gross Tonnage of vessels in the main ports (based on inwards declarations), by type of vessel

Within the collection of Short Sea Shipping (SSS), the following tables giving information on goods transported to/from main ports, on volume (in TEU's), the top 20 ports and top 5 ports by type of cargo.

• Short Sea Shipping - Country level - Gross weight of goods transported to/from main ports
• Short Sea Shipping - Country level - Gross weight of goods transported to/from main ports, by direction
• Short Sea Shipping - Country level - Gross weight of goods transported to/from main ports, by sea region of partner ports
• Short Sea Shipping - Country level - Gross weight of goods transported to/from main ports, by type of cargo and sea region of partner ports
• Short Sea Shipping - Country level - Volume (in TEU's) of containers transported to/from main ports, by loading status
• Short Sea Shipping - Top 20 ports - Gross weight of goods transported to/from main ports
• Short Sea Shipping - Top 5 ports for liquid bulk - Gross weight of liquid bulk goods transported to/from main ports
• Short Sea Shipping - Top 5 ports for dry bulk- Gross weight of dry bulk goods transported to/from main ports
• Short Sea Shipping - Top 5 ports for containers - Gross weight of goods in containers transported to/from main ports
• Short Sea Shipping - Top 5 ports for Ro-ro units - Gross weight of goods in Ro-ro units transported to/from main ports

Within the collection displaying passenger's information, there are three groups containing respectively:

• Maritime transport - Passengers - Annual data - All ports - by direction;
• Maritime transport - Passengers - Quarterly data - Main ports - by direction and type of traffic (national and international);
• Maritime transport - Passengers - Quarterly data - Main ports - One detailed table per each reporting country - by direction, partner entity and nationality of registration of vessels.

Within the Goods collection, there are five groups containing respectively:

• Maritime transport - Goods (gross weight) - Annual data - All ports - by direction;
• Maritime transport - Goods (gross weight) - Quarterly data - Main ports - by direction and type of traffic (national and international);
• Maritime transport - Goods (gross weight) - Annual data - Main ports - One detailed table per each reporting country - by direction, partner entity, type of cargo and nationality of registration of vessels;
• Maritime transport - Goods (gross weight) - Quarterly data - Main ports - One detailed table per each reporting country - by direction, partner entity and type of cargo (detailed classification);
• Maritime transport - Goods (volume) - Quarterly data - Main ports - Cargo: containers only (TEU) - by direction, partner entity, container size and loading status

(TEU: 20 ft equivalent unit).

Within collection displaying vessels information, there is only one table:

• Maritime transport - Vessel traffic - Quarterly data - Main ports - Number and gross tonnage of vessels - by type and size of vessels - Direction: inwards only.

Within the collection Maritime transport - data aggregated at standard regional levels (NUTS) there are two tables:

• Maritime transport of passengers at regional level (new methodology);
• Maritime transport of freight at regional level (new methodology);

The concepts used in this domain are the following:

Port

A place having facilities for merchant ships to moor and to load and/or unload cargo or to disembark and/or embark passengers to or from vessels, usually directly to a pier.

Statistical Port

A statistical port consists of one or more ports, normally controlled by a single port authority, which is able to record ship, passenger and cargo movements.

Reporting Port

A statistical port for which statistics of inward and outward maritime transport flows are compiled.

Main port

A main port is a statistical port which has annual movements of no less than 200 thousand passengers or recording more than one millions tonnes of cargo. For ports selected on the basis of only one of these cargo or passenger criteria, detailed statistics are required only for that transport.

Maritime coastal area (MCA)

A maritime coastal area is defined as a contiguous stretch of coastline, together with islands offshore. Within a country, an MCA is defined either in terms of one or more ranges of ports along its coastline, or in terms of the latitude and longitude of one or more sets of extremities of the coastal area. Riverbanks can be included. Normally the coastline of each country is allocated to a single maritime coastal area and the coastlines of more than one country may form a single maritime coastal area. There are some exceptions. For example, the USA is separated into a number of maritime coastal areas to cover its overall coastline. For some countries, two separate stretches of coastline may be counted as one maritime coastal area, as, for example, the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines of Mexico.

Carriage of goods and passengers by sea

The movement of goods and passengers using seagoing vessels, on voyage which are undertaken wholly or partly by sea.

The scope of the Maritime Directive 2009/42/EC also includes goods

a. Shipped to offshore installations;
b. Reclaimed from seabed and unloaded in ports.

Bunkers and stores supplied to vessels shall be excluded from the scope.

Seagoing vessel

Floating marine structure with one or more surface displacement hulls

In the context of the Directive, sea-going vessels are vessels other than those which navigate exclusively in inland waters or in waters within, or closely adjacent to, sheltered waters or areas where port regulations apply.

Nationality of registration of seagoing vessel (Flag state)

Every ship is entered in a registry (i.e. list) of ships. Registries are maintained by many countries, each having a set of rules regarding safety procedures, inspection schedules, manning numbers and nationalities for crew and officers, training requirements, etc. Ship-owners select which registry to use based on the balance between the relative cost implications of the rules of each registry and possible penalties from insurance assessments dependent on these rules.

Freight container

Special box to carry freight, strengthened and stackable and allowing horizontal or vertical transfers. A more formal technical definition of a container is an article of transport equipment which is:

a) Of a permanent character and accordingly strong enough to be suitable for repeated use
b) Specially designed to facilitate the carriage of goods, by one or more mode of transport without intermediate reloading
c) Fitted with devices permitting its ready handling, particularly its transfer from one mode of transport to another
d) So designed as to be easy to fill and empty
e) Having a length of 20 feet or more
f) Stackable and
g) Having an internal volume of 1 m³ or more

Swap bodies are excluded.

Although without internal volume flats used in maritime transport should be considered to be a special type of container and therefore are included here. For a fuller description, reference should be made to ISO 668 and 1496.

The related term "container cargo" refers to containers, with or without cargo, which are lifted on or off the vessels which carry them by sea

Ro-ro unit

This means wheeled equipment for carrying cargo, such as a truck, trailer or semi-trailer, which can be driven or towed onto a vessel. Port or ships' trailers are included in this definition. Classifications should follow United Nations ECE Recommendation No 21 'Codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials'.

Live animals on the hoof are included. Vehicles being transported as cargo as opposed to a means of transport for freight or passengers are excluded.

Ro-ro cargo

This means goods, whether or not in containers, on ro-ro units, and ro-ro units, which are rolled on and off the vessels, which carry them by sea.

Gross weight of goods

The gross weight of each consignment is the weight of the actual goods together with the immediate packaging in which they are being transported from origin to destination, but excluding the tare weight of containers or ro-ro units (e.g. containers, swap bodies and pallets containing goods as well as road goods vehicles, wagons or barges carried on the vessel). This measure of quantity is different from that used in trade statistics, namely the net weight of goods ⁽¹⁾ and different from statistics collected on other transport modes where the tare weight is included. Where goods are transported in a road goods vehicle, in a container, or other intermodal transport unit, the gross weight of the goods does not include the tare weight ⁽²⁾of the transport unit.

Gross tonnage

This means the measure of the overall size of a ship determined in accordance with the provisions of the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969.

Any person who makes a sea journey on a merchant ship. Service staff assigned to merchant ships is not regarded as passengers. Non-fare paying crewmembers travelling but not assigned and infants in arms are excluded.

Cruise passenger

This means a sea passenger making a sea journey on a cruise ship. Passengers on day excursions are excluded.

Cruise ship

This means a passenger ship intended to provide passengers with a full tourist experience. All passengers have cabins. Facilities for entertainment aboard are included. Ships operating normal ferry services are excluded, even if some passengers treat the service as a cruise. In addition, cargo-carrying vessels able to carry a very limited number of passengers with their own cabins are also excluded. Ships intended solely for day excursions are also excluded.

Cruise passenger excursion

This means a short visit by a cruise passenger to a tourist attraction associated with a port while retaining a cabin on board.

Passengers excluding cruise passengers

Sea passengers other than cruise passengers.

______________________________________________

⁽¹⁾ The weight of goods in a consignment, excluding any immediate packaging. For some types of goods, (e.g. liquids in bottles) the weight of packaging can be as large or larger than the weight of the goods.

⁽²⁾ The unladen weight of an intermodal transport unit (e.g. road goods vehicle or trailer, container, swap-body, etc.).

The data used in the domain are collected by the different data providers at port level.

See the definition of statistical port under item 3.4

In some countries the numerous very small ports are grouped for practical statistical reasons under a fictitious "statistical port" (for example "other ports").

Detailed data are provided for ports handling more than one million tonnes of goods or recording more than 200 000 passenger movements annually (Main ports). The other ports only provide summary data. However, detailed data may be included by countries also for minor ports on a voluntary basis.

Data are transmitted to Eurostat by 22 Member States of the European Union (Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia having no maritime ports).

Iceland and Norway provide data as members of the European Economic Area (EEA). Liechtenstein has no maritime port.

Croatia and Turkey are Candidate Countries to the EU. Croatia provides data on a voluntary basis.

The Spanish data include Ceuta and Melilla.

The Portuguese data include Madeira and Azores.

The French data include Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion and French Guiana.

1997 was the first year where data were collected. The availability of data for the participating countries varies. Due to legal derogations granted to Member States, data referring to the period 1997-1999 are not complete for all aspects at EU-15 level. Data for the countries, which entered the EU in 2004 and 2007, are available in general starting with the reference year 2001 to 2003. As a consequence, the geographical coverage of data referring to the period 1997-2002 is not complete at EU-27 level.

Not applicable

Tonnes: Gross weight of goods, Gross tonnage of vessels (see definition of gross tonnage under item 3.4)

Number: Passengers, Vessels, Units loaded (with or without cargo)

TEU's: Twenty feet equivalent units

TEU calculation coefficients:

20-ft freight units (code 31)                                                                      (1 TEU)

40-ft freight units (code 32)                                                                      (2 TEU)

Freight units over 20-ft and under 40-ft in length (code 33)                           (1.5 TEU)

Freight units over 40-ft long (code 34)                                                      (2.25 TEU)

Quarters for datasets A1, A2, C1, D1, F1 and F2

Years for datasets A3, B1 and E1

The following year coverage is available:

• 12 countries started reporting from 1997 onwards
• 3 countries started reporting from 2000 onwards
• 6 countries started reporting from 2001 onwards
• 4 countries started reporting from 2002 onwards.

The statistics on maritime transport are collected in the framework of Directive 2009/42/EC and Commission Decision 2008/861/EC.

The dissemination is based on the terms of Commission Decision 2001/423/EC on arrangements for publication or dissemination of the statistical data collected pursuant to Council Directive 95/64/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea.

As mentioned in Article 4 of this Decision "the highest level of detail in which data may be published or disseminated is the level of port to and from maritime coastal area. The Commission may however publish at more aggregate level if the quality and/or completeness of information are not appropriate in such detail."

None

Council Regulation (CE) No 322/97of 17 February 1997 (OJ No L 52/1) and Council Regulation (EURATOM, EEC) no 1588/90 of 11 June 1990 on the transmission of the data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities (OJ No L 151/ 1) stipulates the detailed rules used for receiving, processing and disseminating the confidential data.

Data are published according to Commission Decision 2001/423/EC.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Data are disseminated simultaneously to all interested parties through a database update and on Eurostat's website (see "Dissemination formats" below for more details).

Before data release there is a validation process with the competent national authorities.

According to Directive 2009/42 and Commission Decision 2001/423, the participating countries collect and transmit to Eurostat quarterly and annual data. Data are then disseminated by Eurostat and a quarterly and annual basis, according to the legal acts.

News releases on-line. News releases are issued at 11 a.m CET on Eurostat's website. These publications release each month selections of the most important EU aggregates, together with selected data from the Member States.

Statistics in focus (SIF): usually one SIF is published every year, showing the most relevant results. A second SIF per year is usually published on Short Sea Shipping results. (at least once a year)

Data in Focus (DIF): usually a DIF is published quarterly, showing the most relevant results.

Panorama of transport

Regional yearbook

Please consult free data on-line or refer to contact details.

Not relevant; no micro-data available at Eurostat.

Internet address: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Methodological notes are available in the different Statistics in focus publications on Maritime transport statistics.

The whole set of definitions of the terms used in the frame of the statistics on maritime transport is available in the legal acts. Additional elements are available in the "Glossary for Transport Statistics - Third edition" available on-line.

see item 12

Quality checks are performed each time data are received from participating countries, on quarterly and annual data (see more details on section 20.4 Data validation). Reports are produced presenting the results of these checks and are sent to the concerned countries. When quality issues are encountered, countries are required to investigate the problems and to send back to Eurostat corrections or new revised datasets as soon as possible.

Meetings of the Working Group (including all the participating countries) are regularly organised in order to improve the quality of the data collection. 

see 12.1

Users needs are constantly monitored in different ways. Eurostat regularly organise meetings of the Working Group, where main stakeholders are represented (including representatives from other Commission services, ports, shipo-wners, the European Maritime Safety Agency). Eurostat is regularly in contact with the Commission services (especially DG TREN). Eurostat also participates to meetings of Statistical nature organised by other relevant organsations (such as UN, ITF, ESPO, ECSA, EMSA). Contact with users is also regular via the user support service of Eurostat: this activity concerns, in addition to the previous mentioned users, other categories of users such as national administrations, enterprises, researchers, universities, citizens, journalists and so on.

User satisfaction is regularly monitored as explained in item 13.2

All Member States produce the statistics according to the legal acts. See also item 21.

Data are compared with other sources (particularly port authorities) to verify if discrepancies are due to methodological reasons.

Not applicable

Not available

Quarterly data should be transmitted by Member States to Eurostat within five months of the end of the period of observation; annual data within eight months (Directive 2009/42/EC). Quarterly data should be disseminated by Eurostat within 5 months after data are received from the Member States; annual data within 8 months (Commission Decision 2001/423/EC).

Generally speaking, the participating countries are able to respect the legal deadlines. Exceptions are limited to specific or abnormal situations. Eurostat disseminate data according to legal deadlines. Exceptions are in any case documented in the official publications.

Geographical comparability is obtained via the application of common concepts and validation rules. The harmonised interpretation of the methodology is enhanced by the organisation of regular meeting of the Working Group, where all participating coutries are represented.

Methodology has been originally settled down in Directive 95/64 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea, which was completed and amended by Commission Decisions 98/385, 2000/363 and 2005/366. Therefore, no major changes in the methodology used to collect and process the data have taken place in this domain. The major change implemented is the specific data collection on cruise passengers and cruise ships, introduced by Commission Decision 2005/366.

Specific situations are described under item 21.

Detailed data at port level, Regional level, Maritime Coastal Area (MCA) level and country level are available in this Domain (Maritime transport). Regional data are based on the NUTS classification.

The quality checks include intra-dataset checks, inter-datasets checks, time series checks and mirror checks (see details under point 20.4). These quality checks detect data that could possibly be in error. Some errors are corrected before publications. Other errors, which require further investigations,  are corrected later on (see item 19).

Different countries organise data collection in different ways, according to the specific national statistical organisation, in order to minimise burden on respondents. In many cases the data are compiled using administrative or commercial documents and registers that exist independently from the statistical requirements of Directive 2009/42.

Any revisions of data are taken into account and processed when provided by the national competent authorities.

Quarterly data are in general provisional.

Revisions may be made by countries as more complete information becomes available or as a result of quality checks.

More specifically, when the complete set of annual data emerges, this usually involves some revision to quarterly data for some countries.

Data are collected and/or compiled by the competent national statistical authorities, which can be for instance the National Statistical Office, the Ministry of Transport, the National Maritime Administration.

Different countries organise data collection in different ways, according to the specific national statistical organisation, in order to minimise burden on respondents. Generally speaking, original data sources can be Port Authorities. However custom documents as well as other administrative sources (such as vessel registers) are used.

Quarterly and Annual

Data are transmitted to Eurostat via Commission specific transmission tools, following the transmission format foreseen in Directive 2009/42/EC.

Data validation takes place at several levels of the data processing. The first step is the automatic validation at data reception, and the second step consists of the in depth quality checks when data have been integrated in the internal database.

Automatic validation

The checks include that:

- the record format is correct

- there are no duplicate records within the dataset

- each record contains valid and correct codes

Quality checks

Three types of quality checks are made on the datasets received for national and international transport.

• Intra-dataset checks (or checks within a dataset)

This check allows detecting inconsistencies within a dataset, at quarterly and annual level.

• Inter-datasets check (or checks between datasets)

This check allows detecting inconsistencies between data from different datasets, at quarterly and annual level.

• Consistency over time

This check is made in order to detect unlikely increase or decrease of transport at one of the reporting ports. This check is applied at annual and quarterly levels (comparison between two consecutive quarters and comparison between the same quarter of two consecutive years).

• Mirror checking

These quality checks are performed in order to compare the consistency between two partner declarations. They are run both for national and international declarations at port level.

Managing Quality check errors

Possible data errors that are detected at this stage are communicated to the countries for checking purposes. Errors are corrected as soon as possible. Where necessary, data are re-supplied by the countries.

In order to estimate maritime transport of goods/passengers in the tables from the "Goods" and "Passengers" collections presenting data for "Main ports", the problem of "double counting" (the transport of the same cargo of goods/passengers is declared by both the port of loading/embarking - as outwards - and the port of unloading/ disembarking - as inwards) has to be addressed. This has been made, as far as possible, when estimating "Intra-MCA transport" at MCA level, "national transport" of individual countries and "international intra-EU transport" of the EU. Ideally, to calculate these aggregates, one should only take inwards declarations (or only outwards declarations). However there are inconsistencies in the mirror declarations. A specific algorithm is used in order to estimate "transport" from the collected port statistics. In practice, for instance, national transport = national inwards + "a part of" national outwards declarations, "a part of" including those national outwards declarations, for which the corresponding inwards declarations of the partner port are missing.

The figures shown as "national transport" of the EU are simply based on the sum of the national transport of the Member States.

In other words, the sum of the national and international intra-EU transport of the EU would represent the "national transport of the EU", if the EU was treated as one country.

The problem of the double counting only appears for the calculation of total transport, but not for the total inwards (respectively total outwards), which corresponds to the sum of the inwards (respectively outwards) at each port.

Concerning the total international extra-EU transport, the calculation consists in the sum of all the declarations of the Member States to/from all the partner countries out of the European Union, as there is no double counting.

For non-EU Member States, the intra-EU transport expresses the transport operations with EU countries and extra-EU transport expresses the international transport with non-EU countries (the national transport being excluded).

Not applicable