Ocean & Maritime Shipping
Container shipping lines, bulk carriers, tanker operators, inland barge companies, and marine services providers.
- 7
- Segments
- 29
- Verticals
Overview
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.
Market snapshot
- Market size
- ~$33B
- Growth
- ~6.0%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
- Companies
- ~2,076 firms
81.3% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 1,687 micro-businesses, below most mandates.
- 20–99
- 21154%
- 100–499
- 9524%
- 500+
- 8321%
US-flag maritime is a small, protected market rather than a share of the global shipping trade. The Jones Act reserves domestic waterborne freight for US-built, US-crewed vessels, which is why the figures here are modest and the barriers to entry are close to absolute.
NAICS 483111, 483113, 483211, 483212, 488330. U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Economic Census.
Business model & economics
Revenue model
Freight rates, charter hire, and shipping contracts
Key economics
- Revenue per firm
- $15,915,379
- Revenue per employee
- $547,243
- Employees per firm
- 28.4
- Recurring revenue
- Moderate
- EBITDA margin
- Highly cyclical with freight rates
- Capex intensity
- High
contracted and spot freight
Characteristics
- Scale-driven — payroll is only 17% of revenue; the cost base is assets, not headcount
- Moderate strategic-buyer pool — 83 firms exceed 500 employees; a scaled asset has buyers, but not many
- Carries most of global trade by volume.
- U.S.-flag fleet small; Jones Act protects domestic routes.
- Extreme cyclicality; decarbonization reshaping fleets.
NAICS 483111, 483113, 483211, 483212, 488330. U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Economic Census.
Geographic concentration
Alaska at nineteen times the national concentration and Louisiana at thirteen, with Florida third. Maritime activity follows coastline and river mouth, and these are the two states where waterborne freight is a defining industry rather than a supporting one.
U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 483111/483113/483211/483212/488330. Concentration shown by location quotient.
M&A deal context
Who’s acquiring
- Global & Jones-Act shipping lines
- Barge & coastal operators
- Ship-finance & infrastructure investors
What’s driving deals
- Jones-Act and barge consolidation.
- Global shipping-cycle dynamics.
- Maritime decarbonization and fleet renewal.
Segments in this industry
- 10.4.1Bulk & Tanker Shipping4 verticals
- 10.4.2Coastal & Short Sea Shipping4 verticals
- 10.4.3Container Shipping Lines4 verticals
- 10.4.4Inland Waterway & Barge4 verticals
- 10.4.5Marine Services & Chandlering4 verticals
- 10.4.6Ship Leasing & Maritime Finance5 verticals
- 10.4.7Ship Management & Crewing4 verticals
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