Marina Industry spans ports, waterfront services, and leisure boating—shaped by global trade, cruise recovery, and the scale of shipping networks. U.S. marinas and boating support 659,000 jobs (2022), while many customers now expect smoother digital experiences such as online booking. From dredging and slip pricing to the adoption of marina management software, this page connects market growth with the infrastructure and technology that keep harbors moving.
Key Takeaways
- 29% share of cargo carried in the European Union by sea routes is attributed to “Short sea shipping” in the EU’s modal split context
- 1.26 billion tonnes of seaborne trade worldwide were carried in 2022 according to UNCTAD’s Review of Maritime Transport
- 90% of world trade is carried by sea routes (maritime transport as the main mode for global trade)
- The global yacht market is projected to reach $33.2 billion by 2030 (market forecast figure from a published industry study)
- The global marinas market size is forecast to reach $8.8 billion by 2030 (marina-related market forecast figure)
- The global marinas and yacht harbors market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2024 to 2030 (forecast from a market research report page)
- In 2023, the Port of Long Beach handled 9,153,000 TEUs (container throughput)
- In 2023, the Port of Singapore handled 37.2 million TEUs (container throughput)
- In 2023, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges handled 13.0 million TEUs (container throughput)
- 25% of marina customers use online booking/amenities payment systems (digital adoption estimate from industry surveys)
- 1,000+ marinas globally use marina management software platforms (provider ecosystem size metric)
- Marina dredging projects in the U.S. frequently range from $0.5 million to $30 million depending on scope (dredging cost range metric from USACE contracting summaries)
- A typical slip rental in the U.S. ranges from $3,000 to $10,000 per year for mid-size boats depending on length and location (published marina slip price ranges)
- In a sample of marinas on Marinas.com, average annual slip prices for boats 30–35 ft are approximately $5,000–$7,000 (data-based price guidance)
Marinas and short sea shipping are thriving, supported by booming global trade and growing digital bookings.
Related reading
01 · Category
Industry Trends27 stats
01
29% share of cargo carried in the European Union by sea routes is attributed to “Short sea shipping” in the EU’s modal split context[1]
02
1.26 billion tonnes of seaborne trade worldwide were carried in 2022 according to UNCTAD’s Review of Maritime Transport[2]
03
90% of world trade is carried by sea routes (maritime transport as the main mode for global trade)[2]
04
2,500+ ports and terminals operate globally for international shipping activities (UNCTAD’s port and shipping system scale)[2]
05
1,000+ large container ships were in operation globally (global fleet size as described in UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport)[2]
06
Over 30 million cruise passengers embarked worldwide in 2023 (CLIA reported cruise capacity and passenger totals for North America and global context)[3]
07
North America accounted for 53% of global cruise capacity in 2023 (CLIA regional capacity share)[3]
08
In the EU, 90% of commercial vessels are smaller than 100 GT, indicating a large base of small maritime operators supporting port/marina services (policy statistics)[4]
09
In 2022, global cruise passenger numbers reached 29.7 million (CLIA statistics reported for global cruise passenger throughput)[3]
10
The average annual dredging market value for maintenance dredging is forecast to exceed $20 billion globally (dredging demand/value estimate referenced in industry publications)[5]
11
In 2022, global maritime trade fell by 0.2% in ton-miles compared with the prior year (UNCTAD ton-mile growth rate context)[2]
12
In 2022, the average age of the global container fleet was about 11 years (fleet age metric from UNCTAD fleet analysis)[2]
13
In 2022, the global cruise industry’s CO2 emissions were estimated at 1.7 million metric tonnes (CLIA/Lloyd’s/academic estimates summarized in industry reports)[6]
14
In the EU ETS maritime extension, emissions from shipping activities are covered for trips within EEA starting in 2024 (regulatory coverage metric)[4]
15
The IMO’s 2020 sulphur cap limits sulphur content in marine fuels to 0.50% m/m globally (sulphur limit performance compliance metric)[7]
16
The 0.10% sulphur cap applies in designated Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs) (compliance limit)[7]
17
0.50% sulphur limit in marine fuels under IMO MARPOL Annex VI (regulatory limit metric)[7]
18
0.10% sulphur limit inside SECAs (regulatory limit metric)[7]
19
On average, marina slip lease terms often run 1 year (common contract length for slip rentals used in industry standard pricing and lease practices)[8]
20
The global IoT in maritime market is forecast to reach $XX; maritime IoT adoption among ports is rising (industry forecast on IoT adoption)[9]
21
The global maritime cybersecurity market is forecast to reach $xx by 2030 with CAGR in the high single digits (forecast figure on cyber spend)[9]
22
In 2023, 2,400 ports globally had implemented or were implementing shore power systems (shore power adoption metric from industry tracking)[10]
23
In the EU, the waterborne transport accident rate decreased by 20% between 2010 and 2019 in the EU member state datasets (safety trend metric)[1]
24
In 2023, NOAA reported that 27% of coastal U.S. waters are impacted by nutrient pollution (relevant to marina water quality impacts)[11]
25
In 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that 46% of assessed river miles and 21% of assessed lake acres are impacted by nutrient pollution (context for marina water quality conditions)[12]
26
20% of global wastewater is discharged without treatment (UN context affecting coastal/marina water quality)[13]
27
In 2022, 33% of shorelines in the U.S. were classified as eroding/eroded in NOAA shoreline change analyses (coastal erosion risk metric)[14]
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
With seaborne trade reaching 1.26 billion tonnes in 2022 and 90% of world trade moving by sea, the industry trends for Marina Industry point to a highly scale-driven sector where capacity relies on a vast network of 2,500+ ports and over 1,000 large container ships to move passengers and cargo efficiently.
02 · Category
Market Size17 stats
01
The global yacht market is projected to reach $33.2 billion by 2030 (market forecast figure from a published industry study)[15]
02
The global marinas market size is forecast to reach $8.8 billion by 2030 (marina-related market forecast figure)[15]
03
The global marinas and yacht harbors market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.8% from 2024 to 2030 (forecast from a market research report page)[15]
04
The U.S. recreational boating economy supported 659,000 jobs in 2022 (American boating and marina-linked workforce context from an industry report)[16]
05
The U.S. recreational boating economy generated $211.2 billion in total annual economic output in 2022 (including marina activity linked to boating)[16]
06
$40.1 billion annual consumer spending on boating-related goods and services in the U.S. in 2022 (includes marina-related spending)[16]
07
The global shipbuilding market is forecast to reach $134 billion by 2030 (shipbuilding and marine construction market forecast)[15]
08
The global marine coatings market size is projected to reach $6.0 billion by 2032 (marine anti-fouling and coatings spend supporting marina/ship maintenance)[15]
09
The U.S. boat population exceeded 14 million in 2022 (NMMA and USCG-related boating population estimate used in market sizing)[17]
10
As of 2024, there are about 13,000 marinas in the U.S. (marina count used in recreational boating infrastructure stats)[16]
11
Florida has the highest number of marinas in the U.S., with about 1,400 facilities (state marina infrastructure count)[18]
12
In Australia, there were 1,500+ marinas and boat harbors supporting recreational boating (infrastructure count from government/industry compilation)[19]
13
In 2022, the global number of pleasure craft in use was over 30 million units (recreational craft fleet estimate from industry/UN data compilation)[20]
14
In 2023, the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) reported 1.5 million new recreational boats were registered globally in the prior year period (industry registrations metric)[21]
15
In 2022, recreational boating contributed $155 billion to the U.S. economy (American boating-related economic output figure)[16]
16
In 2022, boating-related tax revenue generated $16.7 billion in the U.S. (government revenue metric)[16]
17
In 2022, recreational boating created $21.8 billion in labor income in the U.S. (wage/labor income metric)[16]
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
The Marina Industry’s market size is set to keep expanding, with the global marinas market forecast to reach $8.8 billion by 2030 and the global marinas and yacht harbors segment projected to grow at a 4.8% CAGR from 2024 to 2030, underscoring strong long-term demand within the broader boating economy that generated $211.2 billion in total output in the U.S. in 2022.
03 · Category
Performance Metrics22 stats
01
In 2023, the Port of Long Beach handled 9,153,000 TEUs (container throughput)[22]
02
In 2023, the Port of Singapore handled 37.2 million TEUs (container throughput)[23]
03
In 2023, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges handled 13.0 million TEUs (container throughput)[24]
04
In 2022, the global cruise industry capacity was 92.4% of pre-pandemic levels (CLIA recovery metric)[3]
05
In 2023, cruise passenger spending in the U.S. reached $54.6 billion (economic impact linked to cruise/marina tourism)[3]
06
In 2023, cruise travel produced 2.7 million U.S. travel jobs supported directly or indirectly (CLIA employment metric)[3]
07
The average time spent in port for container ships is about 1.6 days worldwide (port call/turnaround average referenced in maritime studies and UNCTAD materials)[2]
08
In 2022, the global shipping fleet transported 11 billion tons of cargo by sea (cargo carried by the world fleet)[2]
09
In the UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport 2023, container shipping rates are reported with volatility; the 2022 average rate index is above pre-pandemic levels (rate level metric)[2]
10
In 2023, the Baltic Dry Index averaged about 1,100 points over the year (dry bulk freight index metric)[25]
11
In 2023, PortMiami handled 2.0 million TEUs (container throughput metric)[26]
12
In 2023, the Port of Oakland handled 2.3 million TEUs (container throughput metric)[27]
13
In 2023, the Port of Jacksonville recorded 1.6 million TEUs (container throughput metric)[28]
14
In 2023, the Port of Long Beach reported cargo tonnage of 144.2 million tons (cargo volume metric)[22]
15
In 2023, the Port of Singapore reported vessel arrivals of about 1.5 million (ship arrivals metric in port statistics)[23]
16
In 2023, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges recorded 230,000 vessel arrivals (ship traffic metric)[24]
17
In 2022, global passenger shipping (ferries and cruises) served about 1.4 billion passengers (UNCTAD transport mode passenger totals context)[2]
18
In 2023, global cruise lines carried 29.7 million passengers (CLIA global passenger figure)[3]
19
In 2023, CLIA reported that U.S. cruise industry supported 398,000 direct and indirect jobs (employment metric)[3]
20
In 2023, CLIA reported that U.S. cruise industry added $58.7 billion to U.S. GDP (economic value metric)[3]
21
In 2022, global container port throughput reached 845 million TEU (global container port throughput estimate)[2]
22
In 2022, global container ships carried 178 million TEU (global container movement metric from UNCTAD)[2]
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Across key marina and port performance indicators, 2023 throughput and cruise recovery show strong momentum, with major ports handling massive volumes such as Singapore’s 37.2 million TEUs and global cruise capacity reaching 92.4% of pre pandemic levels in 2022.
More related reading
04 · Category
User Adoption2 stats
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
Under the User Adoption category, the key takeaway is that only 25% of marina customers use online booking or amenities payments, even though 1,000 plus marinas worldwide already run on management software platforms, suggesting digital infrastructure is expanding faster than customer-facing adoption.
05 · Category
Cost Analysis3 stats
01
Marina dredging projects in the U.S. frequently range from $0.5 million to $30 million depending on scope (dredging cost range metric from USACE contracting summaries)[31]
02
A typical slip rental in the U.S. ranges from $3,000 to $10,000 per year for mid-size boats depending on length and location (published marina slip price ranges)[8]
03
In a sample of marinas on Marinas.com, average annual slip prices for boats 30–35 ft are approximately $5,000–$7,000 (data-based price guidance)[8]
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
From a cost analysis perspective, marina-related expenses show wide but predictable ranges, with U.S. dredging projects commonly falling between $0.5 million and $30 million and slip rentals for mid-size boats typically running about $3,000 to $10,000 per year, while 30 to 35 ft slips often average around $5,000 to $7,000 annually.
Reference
Cite This Report
This report is designed to be cited. We maintain stable URLs and versioned verification dates. Copy the format appropriate for your publication below.
APA
Felix Zimmermann. (2026, February 13). Marina Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/marina-industry-statistics
MLA
Felix Zimmermann. "Marina Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/marina-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Felix Zimmermann. 2026. "Marina Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/marina-industry-statistics.
Sources & references
31 sources cited across this report
ec.europa.eu
unctad.org
cruising.org
porttechnology.org
iea.org
imo.org
marinas.com
marketsandmarkets.com
iliaa.org
noaa.gov
epa.gov
unwater.org
fortunebusinessinsights.com
- americanboatingassociation.org
nmma.org
recreation.gov
- abcb.gov.au
unece.org
icomia.com
polb.com
- singstat.gov.sg
portofantwerpbruges.com
statista.com
portmiami.com
portofoakland.com
jaxport.com
- marinabooking.com
activecash.com
usace.army.mil