Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics 2020

Statistics on the economic contributions of Scotland’s marine sectors in 2020. Includes a time series of Gross Value Added (GVA), turnover and employment for marine sectors. The supporting documents include: additional tables in an excel file and a pdf version of the publication.

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Sea and coastal water transport

This sector includes both passenger and freight water transport. Inland water transport is not included. Sea and coastal water transport is an essential part of Scotland's transport network. It is key for connectivity and supports island and mainland communities. Travel in Scotland in 2020 was significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Scottish Annual Business Statistics provides the economic and employment data. See Annex for more information.

Supplementary information comes from the Scottish Transport Statistics publication, and the Department of Transport statistics.

Passenger water transport: key points

In 2020, passenger water transport generated £75 million in GVA, 0.05% of Scottish and 2% of marine economy GVA. Passenger water transport employed 1,600 people, 0.06% of Scottish employment and 2% of marine economy employment.

From 2019 to 2020, the GVA from passenger water transport decreased by 47%. The longer term GVA trend fluctuated by year, but rose by 34% from 2011 to 2020. From 2011 to 2020, employment increased by 7%.

Transport Scotland report passenger journeys by operator rather than location. In 2020, around 48% of the passenger journeys were on the Caledonian MacBrayne services in the West of Scotland. These services travel between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands on Scotland's west coast.

Freight water transport: key points

In 2020, freight water transport generated £97 million GVA, 0.07% of Scottish and 2% of marine economy GVA. Freight water transport employed 500 people, 0.02% of Scottish employment and 1% of marine economy employment.

From 2019 to 2020, freight water transport GVA decreased by 60%. In the longer term, from 2011 to 2020, GVA fell by 54%. This is a small sector so the figures can fluctuate from one year to the next.

Transport Scotland report freight traffic by port. The highest freight traffic in 2020 was through Forth ports. This accounted for 41% of tonnage through the top 11 ports.

Contact

Email: MarineAnalyticalUnit@gov.scot

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