Ocean & Maritime Shipping

Ocean & Maritime Shipping covers the vessels and operators that carry the vast majority of global trade by volume — container ships, bulk carriers, tankers, and the coastal and inland-waterway vessels that move goods across oceans, coasts, and rivers. The U.S.-flag fleet sized here is small (~$27 billion) because global container, tanker, and bulk shipping is overwhelmingly foreign-flagged and far larger (the global market runs into the hundreds of billions).

The U.S. protects domestic maritime trade through the Jones Act (requiring U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged, and U.S.-crewed vessels for domestic routes — supporting operators like Matson, TOTE, and Crowley and the inland barge industry). Demand is highly cyclical with global trade; container shipping in particular saw extreme volatility (record 2021–22 profits during the supply-chain crisis, then a sharp downturn). Decarbonization (IMO rules and alternative fuels) is reshaping fleets industry-wide.