Value of EU goods transported by sea was 47% in 2023

In 2023, the total value of the EU’s imported and exported goods transported by sea to non-EU countries was €2,406.3 billion, up from €810.2 billion two decades earlier. 

Sea transportation represented 47.4% of the value of goods traded between the EU and non-EU countries. Specifically, it accounted for 43.9% of the EU’s exports and 51.0% of its imports. 

Measured in value, air transportation accounted for 26.2% of the EU’s exports and 17.4% of its imports while road transportation made up 24.1% of exports and 18.7% of imports. Rail transportation had a much smaller share, contributing just 1.5% to exports and 1.3% to imports.

Source dataset: DS-058213

The share of imported goods transported by sea rose by 9.0 percentage points (pp) between 2002 and 2023, while the use of sea transportation for EU exports went up by 4.3 pp.
For air transportation, the share of imported goods declined by 3.6 pp but rose slightly for exports (+0.4 pp).

The share of goods transported by road increased by 1.0 pp for imports and 0.1 pp for exports. Meanwhile, imports and exports by other modes of transport, such as pipelines, decreased by 3.9 pp and 4.5 pp, respectively.

This news article marks World Maritime Day on 26 September.

For more information

• Statistics Explained article on international trade in goods by mode of transport
• Thematic section on trade in goods
• Database on trade in goods

Methodological note

The category ‘other’ mentioned in the graph consists of post, fixed mechanism (including pipelines), inland waterway, self-propulsion and unknown.

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