The crisis facing the German merchant fleet has been spelled out by a sharp reduction in the numbers of vessels.
The size of Germany’s merchant fleet, which stands at more than 1,000 gross tons (gt), dropped from a peak of 3,749 vessels in 2011 to 3,477 in 2013 — its lowest level since the start of the crisis in 2008.
The drop puts Germany — with the third-largest merchant fleet behind Japan and Greece — on the verge of being surpassed by China, according to figures from the German Shipowners’ Association (VDR).
The
