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Maritime transport (mar)

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National Reference Metadata in Euro SDMX Metadata Structure (ESMS)

Compiling agency: DZS (Croatian Bureau of Statistics)

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Data on maritime transport include arrived and departed ships (in number of vessels and in gross tonnage of vessels), number of embarked and disembarked passengers and loaded and unloaded goods (in tonnes) and relate to activities in all public seaports in the Republic of Croatia. Maritime transport data refer to gross weight of goods (in tonnes), passenger movements (in number of passengers) as well as for vessel traffic (in number of vessels and in gross tonnage of vessels).

17 March 2025

Main concepts used in this domain are the following and for more information on the concepts and methodology, please consult the Reference Manual on Maritime Transport Statistics.

 

Port -A place having facilities for merchant ships to moor and to load and/or unload cargo or to disembark and/or embark passengers to or from vessels, usually directly to a pier.
Statistical Port -A statistical port consists of one or more ports, normally controlled by a single port authority, which is able to record ship, passenger and cargo movements.
Reporting Port -A statistical port for which statistics of inward and outward maritime transport flows are compiled.
Main port -A main port is a statistical port which has annual movements of no less than 200 000 passengers or recording more than one millions tonnes of cargo. For ports selected on the basis of only one of these cargo or passenger criteria, detailed statistics are required only for that transport.
Maritime coastal area (MCA) -A maritime coastal area is defined as a contiguous stretch of coastline, together with islands offshore. Within a country, an MCA is defined either in terms of one or more ranges of ports along its coastline, or in terms of the latitude and longitude of one or more sets of extremities of the coastal area. Riverbanks can be included. Normally the coastline of each country is allocated to a single maritime coastal area and the coastlines of more than one country may form a single maritime coastal area. There are some exceptions. For example, the USA is separated into a number of maritime coastal areas to cover its overall coastline. For some countries, two separate stretches of coastline may be counted as one maritime coastal area, as, for example, the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines of Mexico.
Carriage of goods and passengers by sea -The movement of goods and passengers using seagoing vessels, on voyage which are undertaken wholly or partly by sea. The scope of the Maritime Directive 2009/42/EC also includes goods:

  1. Shipped to offshore installations;
  2. Reclaimed from seabed and unloaded in ports.

Bunkers and stores supplied to vessels shall be excluded from the scope.

Seagoing vessel -Floating marine structure with one or more surface displacement hulls. In the context of the Directive, sea-going vessels are vessels other than those which navigate exclusively in inland waters or in waters within, or closely adjacent to, sheltered waters or areas where port regulations apply.
Nationality of registration of seagoing vessel (Flag state) -Every ship is entered in a registry (i.e. list) of ships. Registries are maintained by many countries, each having a set of rules regarding safety procedures, inspection schedules, manning numbers and nationalities for crew and officers, training requirements, etc. Ship-owners select which registry to use based on the balance between the relative cost implications of the rules of each registry and possible penalties from insurance assessments dependent on these rules.
Type of cargo - The type of cargo classification, set according to the UNECE - Codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials, Recommendation 21, Geneva, March 1986, describes how the goods are being transported in terms of the vessels being used and the port facilities required to handle them. It is therefore very different from the categories of goods classification.
Freight container -Special box to carry freight, strengthened and stackable and allowing horizontal or vertical transfers.

Swap bodies are excluded. Although without internal volume flats used in maritime transport should be considered to be a special type of container and therefore are included here. For a fuller description, reference should be made to ISO 668 and 1496. The related term "container cargo" refers to containers, with or without cargo, which are lifted on or off the vessels which carry them by sea.

Ro-Ro unit - This means wheeled equipment for carrying cargo, such as a truck, trailer or semi-trailer, which can be driven or towed onto a vessel. Port or ships' trailers are included in this definition. Classifications should follow United Nations ECE Recommendation No 21 'Codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials'. Live animals on the hoof are included. Vehicles being transported as cargo as opposed to a means of transport for freight are recorded in the separate headings of the Ro-Ro cargo classification, when they are rolled on or rolled off a vessel on their own wheels.
Ro-Ro cargo -This means goods, whether or not in containers, on Ro-Ro units, and Ro-Ro units, which are rolled on and off the vessels, which carry them by sea.
Gross weight of goods -The gross weight of each consignment is the weight of the actual goods together with the immediate packaging in which they are being transported from origin to destination, but excluding the tare weight of containers or Ro-Ro units (e.g. containers, swap bodies and pallets containing goods as well as road goods vehicles, wagons or barges carried on the vessel). This measure of quantity is different from that used in trade statistics, namely the net weight of goods and different from statistics collected on other transport modes where the tare weight is included. Where goods are transported in a road goods vehicle, in a container, or other intermodal transport unit, the gross weight of the goods does not include the tare weightof the transport unit.
Gross tonnage (GT) -This means the measure of the overall size of a ship determined in accordance with the provisions of the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969.
Deadweight (DWT) – This means the difference in tonnes between the displacement of a ship on summer load-line in water with a specific gravity of 1,025 and the total weight of the ship, i.e. the displacement in tonnes of a ship without cargo, fuel, lubricating oil, ballast water, fresh water and drinking water in the tanks, usable supplies as well as passengers, crew and their possessions.
Passenger - Any person who makes a sea journey on a merchant ship. Service staff assigned to merchant ships is not regarded as passengers. Non-fare paying crewmembers travelling but not assigned and infants in arms are excluded.

Cruise passenger -This means a sea passenger making a sea journey on a cruise ship. Passengers on day excursions are excluded.

Cruise ship -This means a passenger ship intended to provide passengers with a full tourist experience. All passengers have cabins. Facilities for entertainment aboard are included. Ships operating normal ferry services are excluded, even if some passengers treat the service as a cruise. In addition, cargo-carrying vessels able to carry a very limited number of passengers with their own cabins are also excluded. Ships intended solely for day excursions are also excluded.
Cruise passenger excursion -This means a short visit by a cruise passenger to a tourist attraction associated with a port while retaining a cabin on board.

Statistical units are all ships under domestic and foreign flags that arrived in or departed from the seaports in the Republic of Croatia, regardless of the activity they perform in the seaport.

Data are collected from all seaports in the Republic of Croatia opened for public traffic of ships, passengers and goods.

In quarterly datasets provided to Eurostat detailed data are provided for ports handling more than one million tonnes of goods or recording more than 200 000 passenger movements annually (Main ports). For other ports summary data are provided annually. 

All seaports in the Republic of Croatia opened for public traffic of ships, passengers and goods.

Maritime data are collected and produced monthly and transmitted to Eurostat as quarterly datasets A1, A2, C1, D1, F1 and F2 five months after the reference quarter and annually for datasets A3, B1 and E1 eight months after the reference year. 

Administrative data source is Croatian integrated maritime information system (CIMIS), which was created as a national single window to facilitate the delivery of information to all relevant govenment bodies in the process of arrival/departure of ship. The assumption is that the system with a quality data coverage and overall accuracy serves as the best source for statistical survey.

Through the application of statistical methods in the processing and analysis of data the high quality of data is achieved.

The units used depend on the variables collected: gross weight of goods expressed in tonnes, number of passengers, number of vessels.

TEUs: Twenty feet equivalent units, expressed in units. TEU calculation coefficients:

  • 20-ft freight units (1 TEU).
  • 40-ft freight units (2 TEU).
  • Freight units over 20-ft and under 40-ft in length (1.5 TEU).
  • Freight units over 40-ft long (2.25 TEU).

Data processing on the Survey Processor software enables automated creation of quarterly and annual datasets from processed and validated maritime transport data. The structure of the datasets is according to Directive 2009/42/EC. Datasets are sent using SDMX structure.

The Croatian Integrated Maritime Information System (CIMIS) has been used as a uniform platform for the recording of arrivals and departures of ships. Data include arrived and departed ships, embarked and disembarked passengers and loaded and unloaded goods.

Maritime transport statistics first results are published quarterly 45 days after the reference quarter and annual publication of detailed data 8 months after the end of reference year.

Quarterly data should be transmitted by Member States to Eurostat within five months of the end of the period of observation; annual data within eight months. The Commission (Eurostat) shall disseminate appropriate statistical data with a periodicity comparable to that of the results transmitted (Directive 2009/42/EC).

Since the statistical survey is fully harmonized with the statistical standards in the European Union: the Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and the Council (Recast) on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea as well as with all its amending regulations and as the common concepts and rules are applied, as well as in other Member States, it is possible to compare the statistical data between the Republic of Croatia and other Member States.

Comparable data harmonized with the statistical standards in the European Union and the Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and the Council (Recast) on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea are available since 2004.