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Data extracted in November 2023.

Planned update: November 2025.

Highlights

Maritime transport of passengers in EU ports almost recovered in 2023, after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The total number of passengers embarked and disembarked in EU ports was 395.3 million in 2023.
Italy was the largest maritime passenger transport country in Europe in 2023.

[[File:Seaborne passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports_EU_2008_2023.xlsx]]

Seaborne passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports, EU, 2008-2023

  • Source: Eurostat (online data codes: mar_mp_aa_cph)

This article presents the latest statistical data on passenger traffic in ports in the European Union (EU), the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway and the candidate countries Montenegro and Türkiye. It also covers maritime transport flows with the main partner geographical areas, as well as individual results for major European ports. This article contains data for 2023.


The number of seaborne passengers almost recovered in 2023, following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

After falling regularly between 2008 and 2014, with an exception in 2013 (+0.3% compared with 2012), the total number of passengers embarked and disembarked in EU ports has recovered in the last 5 years, reaching a peak in 2019 with 418 million (+2.2% in 2019 compared with 2008, year of the previous peak). As the result of strict precautionary measures taken because of the COVID-19 pandemic, maritime passenger transport almost halved in 2020, compared with 2019 (-45.0%). The number of passengers passing through EU ports reached a low point of 230 million in 2020 (Figure 1). In 2021 and 2022, a partial recovery was recorded with successive increases by 16.4% and 39.5% compared with 2020 and 2021, respectively. In 2023, 395.3 million passengers were recorded in EU ports, which was still below the level observed before the pandemic. Compared with 2019, the number of passengers in EU ports decreased by 5.5% in 2023. All quarters of 2022 and 2023 registered increases when compared with the same quarters for the previous year. The first two quarters of 2022 recorded the largest increases (+69.4% and +78.3%, respectively), whereas the trend slowed down from the second quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2023.

Unlike the movement of goods, where broadly 60% of goods are unloaded and 40% loaded in EU ports, the difference between the number of passengers disembarking (‘inwards’) and embarking (‘outwards’) in EU ports was generally small. This reflects the fact that seaborne passenger transport in Europe is mainly carried by national or intra-EU ferry services, with the same passengers being counted twice in the port’s throughput statistics (once when they embark the ferry in one EU port, and once when they disembark the same ferry in another EU port).

a line chart showing seaborne passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports in the EU from the year 2008 to 2023, with an embedded image of a bar chart showing the quarterly results in EU main ports in 2022 and 2023.
Figure 1: Seaborne passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports, EU, 2008-2022
(million)
Source: Eurostat (mar_mp_aa_cph) and Eurostat (mar_pa_qm)

Italian ports handled 22% of all EU seaborne passenger traffic in 2023, with a total of 85.4 million passengers (Figure 2). Combining the passengers embarking and disembarking in Italian ports with the 75 million (in Greek ports) and 41.2 million (in Danish ports), the total accounted for over 51% of all passengers using EU ports in 2023. These three countries were followed by Croatia, with 33.8 million passengers embarked and disembarked in 2023, Spain (31.7 million), Germany (28.5 million), Sweden (24.9 million), France (22.2 million), Malta (14.6 million), Finland (14.2 million) and Estonia (12.9 million).

a vertical bar chart with three bars showing seaborne passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports for the years 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Figure 2: Seaborne passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports, 2019, 2022 and 2023
(million)
Source: Eurostat (mar_mp_aa_cph)

Compared with 2019, 7 EU countries registered increases, notably the EFTA country, Iceland and candidate country Türkiye also increased as well. It is also worth mentioning that from 2020, data for Portugal in Figure 2 include additional ports for which data were not available in previous years. Moreover, in 2023, data for Portugal in Figure 2 include one additional port for which data were not available in previous years. Therefore, data from 2020 and in 2023 are not comparable with previous years. The largest increase was recorded in Portugal (+24.8%; excluding the new ports reported in 2020 and 2023) and Bulgaria (+13.9%). By contrast, the largest decreases were recorded by Latvia (-64.8%), followed by Cyprus (-51.4%) and Finland (-25.9%). When comparing 2023 with 2022, 4 EU countries recorded decreases: Bulgaria (-17.0%), Slovenia (-2.1%), the Netherlands (-0.2%) and Sweden (-0.1%). The EFTA countries Iceland and Norway also registered decreases (-14.7% and -3.5%, respectively). By contrast, Belgium and Cyprus recorded the highest growth over the same period (+75.0% and 36.8%, respectively). The number of passengers almost doubled in Belgium (from 570 000 to 997 000 passengers) and in Cyprus increased from 19 00 to 26 000 passengers. The candidate country Türkiye also increased substantially from 1.62 million to 2.12 million passengers.

Number of seaborne cruise passengers, with 16.4 million in 2023, are higher than the 2019 levels

The number of cruise passengers passing through EU ports plummeted to 1.2 million in 2020 and rebounded in 2021 and 2022 to 2.8 and 12.0 million, respectively. Reflecting a robust recovery, 2023 surpassed the pre-pandemic level with a 12.7% increase, compared to 2019 with 16.4 million cruise passengers passed through EU ports in 2023, compared to 14.6 million passengers in 2019 (Table 1). Although cruise passengers represent only a small share of the total number of passengers embarked and disembarked in EU ports, these passengers play an important role in the ports and countries where the cruise traffic is concentrated. Almost 72% of the total number of cruise passengers embarked and disembarked in EU ports in 2023 did so in the ports of one of the three countries Italy (5.3 million cruise passengers; or 32.5% of the EU), Spain (3.6 million cruise passengers; or 22.1%) and Germany (2.8 million cruise passengers; or 17.3%). Cruise passengers on day excursions in EU ports are not included in these figures.

a table showing seaborne cruise passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports, in selected years, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Table 1: Seaborne cruise passengers embarked and disembarked in all ports, in selected years, 2013-2023
(number)
Source: Eurostat (mar_pa_aa)

Nine countries recorded an increase in 2023 compared with 2019: Ireland (from 44 000 in 2019 to 371 000 cruise passengers in 2023), Portugal (from 82 000 in 2019 to 204 000 cruise passengers in 2023), Greece (+116.1%), France (+54.1%) and Croatia (+28.0%). Finland and Bulgaria did not report any cruise passengers in 2023. Besides Finland and Bulgaria, Estonia and Sweden recorded the highest falls in 2023 compared with 2019 (-99.1% and -66.3%, respectively). Among the remaining EU countries, two decreased by more than 45% over the same period (Denmark and Cyprus). For the two remaining EU countries, Malta registered a decrease by 22.5% and Poland recorded the lowest fall by 0.6%. When comparing with 2022, cruise passengers substantially increased in 2023 in all EU countries except in Poland and Estonia (-98.1% and -40.8%, respectively).


Messina remained the largest EU passenger port in 2023

The top 20 passenger ports accounted for 37% of the total number of passengers embarked and disembarked in the reporting countries in 2023. The port of Messina remained the largest EU passenger port in 2023, with 11.3 million passengers (Figure 3). Thirteen ports out of the top 20 decreased in 2023 compared with 2019. Amongst the top 20 ports in 2023, Helsinski (-23.2%), Tallinn (-22.1%), Stockholm (-15.8%), Calais (-14.3%) and Rødby (Faergehavn) (-13.9%) recorded the highest falls in 2023 compared with 2019, dropping two, three, one, one and two positions in the ranking, respectively. Among the remaining ports, 7 ports recorded a drop between 3% and 11% over the same period. The port of Cirkewwa recorded the lowest drop by 0.6%. When comparing with 2022, almost all ports recorded substantial increases in 2023, with the exception of Stockholm (-6.7%) and the two Greek ports Paloukia Salaminas and Perama (both -5.3%). The highest growth was registered by Calais (+41.3%), followed by Capri (+38.4%) and Algeciras (+26.3%). Among the remaining ports, 8 ports recorded a growth between 10% and 20% over the same period, while 6 recorded an increase below 10%. Compared with 2022, only one port entered the top 20: Capri replaced Burgstaaken/Fehmarn. It should be noted that the composition of the top 20 ports in 2023 was almost the same as in 2019, even though the ranking was different, with the exception of Burgstaaken/Fehmarn.

a horizontal bar chart with three bars showing the top 20 EU maritime ports embarking and disembarking passengers for the years 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Figure 3: Top 20 EU maritime ports embarking and disembarking passengers, 2019, 2022 and 2023
(million)
Source: Eurostat (mar_mp_aa_pphd)


Most EU seaborne passenger transport is within national borders

Table 2 and Figure 4 show the breakdown of seaborne passenger transport (excluding cruise passengers) between national, international intra-EU and international extra-EU transport for each reporting country. Unlike the other statistics presented in this article, these figures do not reflect the sum of embarkation and disembarkation of passengers in ports, but estimate the transport of passengers between ports. As far as possible, double counting of the same passengers being reported as embarked in one port and disembarked in another port within the same statistical aggregate is excluded in these figures (see data sources).

a table showing seaborne passengers, excluding cruise passengers, transport to and from main ports, in selected years, 2013, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Table 2: Seaborne passengers (excluding cruise passengers) transport to/from main ports, in selected years, 2013-2023
(thousand)
Source: Eurostat (mar_mp_am_cft)

At 212 million, the EU seaborne transport of passengers (excluding cruise passengers) increased by 4.1% between 2022 and 2023, but decreased by 4.4% between 2019 and 2023 (Table 2). Compared with 2019, 14 EU countries recorded decreases in 2023: the most noticeable being for Belgium (-97.8%), Latvia (-72.2%), Finland (-26.3%), Sweden (-20.7%), Estonia (-17.5%) and Poland (-15.5%). Among the remaining EU countries, 2 countries as well as Norway decreased by more than 10% over the same period and 6 countries between 1% and 9%. Among all reporting countries, the Netherlands and Croatia registered the lowest decreases, with -1.9% and -1.4%, respectively. It has to be noted that from 2020, data for Portugal in Table 2 include additional ports for which data were not available in previous years. Therefore, data from 2020 are not comparable with previous years. When comparing with 2022, 14 reporting countries recorded an increase in 2023%. Belgium (+72.6%) and France (+18.4%) recorded the highest growths. The candidate country Türkiye also registered a substantial increase. Among the remaining EU countries, 3 recorded a growth between 11% and 16% over the same period, while 9 other EU countries recorded increases less than between 10%.

a vertical stacked bar chart showing seaborne transport of passengers, excluding cruise passengers between main ports in the reporting country and their partner ports grouped by main geographical areas in the year 2023 as a percentage based on the number of passengers, in the EU, EU countries, Norway, Türkiye and Montenegro.
Figure 4: Seaborne transport of passengers (excluding cruise passengers) between main ports in the reporting country and their partner ports grouped by main geographical areas, 2023
(%,based on number of passengers)
Source: Eurostat (mar_mp_am_cft)

Most seaborne passenger transport (excluding cruise passengers) in the EU is carried out between ports located in the same country (65% in 2023), reflecting the dominant role of national ferry services in EU seaborne passenger transport (excluding cruise passengers, (see Figure 4)). In general, countries with busy ferry connections to and from well-populated islands will have both a large volume of seaborne passenger transport (excluding cruise passengers) and a high share of national maritime passenger transport (excluding cruise passengers). This applies to the two leading maritime passenger countries, Italy and Greece, as well as countries like Malta, Portugal, Croatia and Spain. Countries with ferry connections to other EU countries, such as Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark and Germany, naturally have high shares of international intra-EU transport. The Netherlands, Ireland, France and Belgium recorded the highest shares of extra-EU seaborne passenger transport (excluding cruise passengers) in 2023, having ferry links with the United Kingdom.

Source data for tables and graphs

Data sources

This article presents the trends in freight transport and vessel traffic in European Union (EU) ports and also includes figures for Iceland, Norway, Montenegro and Türkiye. The content is based on data collected within the legal framework for EU maritime transport statistics, i.e. Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea and later amendments. Directive 2009/42/EC is a recast of the original Council Directive 95/64/EC of 8 December 1995.

The EU aggregates in the statistics refer to the total of 22 maritime Member States. Czechia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia have no maritime ports. Norway and Iceland provide Eurostat with data as members of the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA country Liechtenstein has no maritime ports. Montenegro and Türkiye provide data as candidate countries.

'Main ports' are ports handling more than 200 000 passengers annually (however, data for some smaller ports may be included in the published results). Data are presented at the level of 'statistical ports'. A statistical port consists of one or more ports, normally controlled by a single port authority, able to record ship and cargo movements.

Please note that data can be subject to revision and latest data are available in Eurostat’s online database.

Basic results and derived indicators (such as growth rates and shares in % of the total) in the tables are rounded. However, the figures are based on non-rounded original data. As a result, the sum of shares in % of the total, as shown in the tables, is not necessarily equal to 100%.

Explanatory notes for countries are available in the metadata on the Eurostat website.

Starting from 2011, the figures for Spain include data for a number of minor regional ports outside the state-controlled port system. Data coverage of passengers for Portugal improved in 2020 and also in 2023 that leads to a break in series . Montenegro started to report data on seaborne transport in 2012. Data have been partially estimated by Eurostat for a number of French ports for the period 2009-2016. Detailed data on main ports are not available for Iceland.

Figures 1, 2 and 3: Data include (cruise and non-cruise) passengers starting and ending a voyage. Cruise passengers on excursion in ports (cruise transit) are excluded. Starting from 2011, the figures for Spain include data for a number of minor regional ports outside the state-controlled port system. Starting from 2018, the figures for Spain include data for a number ports that were not reported in the previous years. From 2020, data for Portugal includes additional ports for which data were not available in previous years. From 2023, data for Portugal includes one additional port for which data were not available in previous years. The Netherlands only provides the number of non-cruise passengers (‘ferry passengers’). The passenger figures for Portugal do not include cruise passengers until 2011. Passenger data for Norway cover international traffic only.

Table 1: Cruise passengers on excursion in ports (cruise transit) are not included.

Table 2 and Figure 4: In order to estimate maritime transport of passengers between ports, the issue of ‘double counting’ – the transport of the same passengers being declared by both the port of embarkation – (as outward movements), and the port of disembarkation (as inward movements), has to be addressed. Generally, when both the port of embarkation and the port of disembarkation are situated within the same statistical aggregate, only the incoming flows of passengers declared by ports are summed up to determine the total maritime transport within the aggregate (‘elimination of double counting’). The algorithm used to eliminate double counting is applied at statistical port level. Thus, the total maritime transport per country excludes the double counting of maritime transport within the country. Similarly, total EU maritime transport excludes double counting of national and international intra-EU maritime transport (see metadata on the Eurostat website for more information). Starting from 2018, the figures for Spain include data for a number ports that were not reported in the previous years. From 2020, data for Portugal include additional ports for which data were not available in previous years. Passenger transport data for Malta do not include international transport to/from the port of Valletta. Passenger data for Norway cover international traffic only. Data are not available for Iceland.

Please note that the recording of an unknown port of loading or unloading may have influenced the transport figure calculations, as well as the shares of maritime transport allocated to intra-EU, extra-EU and national maritime transport.

Special symbols used in the tables

':' not available

'-' not applicable

Context

The content of this statistical article is based on data collected within the framework of the EU maritime transport statistics Directive, i.e. Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea (OJ L141 of 6.6.2009, page 29), which is a recast of the original Council Directive 95/64 (EC) of 8 December 1995.

The basic legal act (Directive 2009/42/EC) was amended by:

The following legal acts include respectively the last official version of the list of ports and some dissemination aspects:



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