6.2. Shipping

95% of the country’s trade by volume (68% in terms of value) is moved by sea. India has one of the largest merchant shipping fleet and ranked 17th among the developing countries with average age of the fleet being 18.03 years. India had a total of 1299 ships comprising of 11.24 MGT as on 31.10.2016. Out of the total tonnage, 900 vessels of about 1.52 million GT are engaged in coastal trade and remaining 399 vessels are plying in overseas trade. Despite growth in tonnage, the percentage of cargo carried by Indian flag ships has reduced from 40.7% in 1987-88 to 7.45% of total EXIM trade in 2014-15.