Source: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. Statistical Tables, World fleet statistics 2000.

Registered World Fleet, 1914-2000

About 85,000 ships of more than 100 tons are in operation around the world, half of them performing transport functions and the other half performing service functions (e.g. tugs). While during the 20th century the number of ships of more than 100 tons grew from about 24,000 in 1914 to 87,000 in 2000, the most significant trend has been the growth of the average tonnage, notably after WWII. The decline in the tonnage during the 1970s and 1980s is linked the impacts of the first and second oil shocks as well as the emergence of containerization, which initially was using smaller ships than regular cargo ships. As economies of scale became dominant in maritime container shipping in the 1990s, the growth in tonnage resumed.