§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Minister for Trade what was the number of ships in the Merchant Navy in January 1981, January 1982 and September 1982.
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§ Mr. SproatThe information requested is as follows:
Number of United Kingdom owned and registered merchant ships (500 gross registered tonnage and over) Number End December 1980 1,143 End December 1981 994 End September 1982 913 Note:
The figures include passenger vessels, container ships, cargo liners, tramps, bulk carriers and tankers. They exclude Government owned vessels, offshore supply vessels, non cargo or passenger carrying sea going vessels, sailing vessels, dredgers, river and other non sea going vessels.