§ Sir John FarrTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what was the decrease in United Kingdom merchant shipping for 1989; and what were the comparable figures for West Germany, Sweden and Norway.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThe figures requested are shown in the table:
Gross tonnage of trading vessels over 100 gross registered tonnes million 1 January 1989 1 January 1990 3 Difference United Kingdom 4.7 4.3 -0.4 British fleet1 20.7 19.3 -1.4 West Germany 3.6 3.7 +0.1 Sweden 2.0 2.3 +0.3 Norway2 12.8 16.5 +3.7 1 Includes the Crown Dependencies and Dependent Territories. 2 Includes Norway's international register. 3 Change in definition of "trading" means the figures are not strictly comparable between years.