Merchant marine

This entry provides the total and the number of each type of privately or publicly owned commercial ship for each country; military ships are not included. There are five types of merchant marine ships:

bulk carrier - for cargo such as coal, grain, cement, ores, and gravel
container ship - for loads in truck-size containers (a transportation system called containerization)
general cargo - also referred to as break-bulk containers, for a wide variety of packaged merchandise
oil tanker - for crude oil and petroleum products
other - includes chemical carriers, dredgers, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, refrigerated cargo ships called reefers, tugboats, passenger vessels (cruise and ferry), and offshore supply ships