The UK Ship Register ended 2025 with fewer vessels and less tonnage than a year earlier, according to the latest shipping fleet statistics from the Department for Transport.
This article is independently written from factual information published by the UK Department for Transport on 25 February 2026. The official release recorded 8.7 million gross tonnes on the UK Ship Register at the end of December 2025, a fall of 12 per cent year on year.
The number of UK-registered merchant and commercially operating pleasure vessels also declined. The total was 1,034, compared with 1,054 in 2024. The change means the register entered the new year with both a smaller vessel count and a reduced gross-tonnage total.
A lower global position
The department's figures place the UK-registered trading fleet 31st globally by deadweight tonnage. In 2024 it was ranked 26th. Deadweight tonnage is the measure used in the release for the international ranking, while gross tonnage records the size of the ship's enclosed spaces. The two measures therefore describe different aspects of the fleet.
The UK register represented 0.4 per cent of the world trading fleet by deadweight tonnage and 0.5 per cent by gross tonnage. Those percentages show the register's share of a much larger international market and provide context for the movement in its ranking.
The statistics also distinguish between definitive register information from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and commercial context concerning the global fleet. That distinction matters when the figures are read as a measure of the UK's position. The domestic counts and tonnage are official register data, whereas the wider comparison is presented as global-fleet context supplied commercially.
A broader picture emerges when the Red Ensign Group is considered. Combining the UK, Crown Dependency and Overseas Territory registers would have placed the group 11th globally by deadweight tonnage. The combined figure is not the same as the position of the UK register alone, but it shows how the associated registers change the scale of the maritime presence represented by the Red Ensign.
The release does not present the ranking change as a single explanation for the register's performance. It reports the measured movements and separates the sources used for the domestic and international elements. That provides a disciplined basis for considering the UK's flag position without treating the Red Ensign Group and the UK Register as interchangeable.
For the UK maritime sector, the figures form a snapshot of fleet scale at the close of 2025. The register had 1,034 merchant and commercially operating pleasure vessels, 8.7 million gross tonnes and a 31st-place trading-fleet ranking by deadweight tonnage. The wider group had a materially different global standing when its constituent registers were combined.
The result is a story of contrast: contraction in the UK register itself alongside a stronger position for the wider family of Red Ensign registers. Future editions of the statistics will show whether the 2025 movement was sustained or reversed, but the current release establishes the official baseline.
Reporting note This Maritime Gazette report is independently written from cited factual information published by UK Department for Transport.
Written by Luke Smout from verifiable facts published by UK Department for Transport on 25 Feb 2026, 00:00. The Gazette does not reproduce source copy, and publication follows editorial review.