§ Mr. AingerTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vessels there were in the British merchant fleet in 1964, 1970, and each year since 1980; and what was the total gross registered tonnage of the British fleet in each year.
§ Mr. Norris[holding answer 24 January 1994]: The table gives the information available for merchant—trading—vessels of 100 grt or above.
Merchant (trading) vessels on registers of United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man 100 grt or more Mid-year Number of vessels Gross registered tons (thousand) 1964 n/a 21,900 1970 n/a 24,896 1980 1,698 26,070 1981 1,552 24,417 1982 1,422 21,447 1983 1,260 18,148 1984 1,151 14,860 1985 1,074 13,339 1986 961 10,572 1987 846 7,490 1988 801 7,211 1989 688 6,413 1990 638 5,564 1991 610 5,266 1992 566 4,916 1993 494 4,804 Source: Lloyd's register.