Economic ebb and flow in maritime sectors.
Date: 2013-12-29
Institutions: Eurostat
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, economic recession, fishing industry, integrated maritime policy, maritime transport

General and regional statistics 

Author: 

Isabelle COLLET 

S t a t i s t i c s   i n   F o c u s  
5/2013 

Economic ebb and flow in maritime sectors 

Map 1: Employment in maritime industries and transport sectors, 2010 

Source: Eurostat (online data code: sbs_na_ind_r2) 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Most EU maritime economic sectors suffered 
due to the economic crisis or following long-
term trends. However, since 2009 some 
maritime sectors such as maritime transport 
and the seafood industry have started to 
recover. 

Maritime transport was impacted by the 
economic crisis and the declining volume of sea 
transport reflecting the downturn of 
international trade. On the other hand, the 
maritime transport sector profited from the 
recovery of international trade since 2009.The 
sea food industry also saw a downturn followed 

by a recovery period despite the steady 
decreasing trend of EU catches. The impacts of 
the economic downturn were more diverse 
among the maritime industries such as building 
of ships, building of sporting boats or repairs 
and maintenance of boats. 

This publication aims to present economic data 
in the framework of the EU Integrated 
Maritime Policy,1 highlighting the impact of the 
crisis on the traditional maritime sectors. 

1 On October 2007 the Commission presented its vision for an 
Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union. 

Main features of the traditional maritime economic sectors in the EU 

Table 1: Key figures of traditional EU maritime industry and transport enterprises, 2010 

Maritime manufacturing sectors (total)

Building of ships and floating structures

Building of pleasure and sporting boats

Repair and maintenance of ships and boats

Maritime transport and related activities (total)

Sea and coastal passenger water transport

Sea and coastal freight water transport

Service activities incidental to water transportation

Cargo handling

Processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs

Number of 
enterprises

Turnover or gross 
premiums written 
(EUR million)

Value added at factor cost 
(EUR million)

Number of persons 
employed

22 977
4 017
4 664
14 296
28 273
5 400
5 645
6 808
10 420
3 600

44 333
27 993
8 640
7 700
:
17 375
c
18 001
26 884
22 760

11 675
6 565
2 210
2 900
:
5 463
c
c
11 850
3 940

294 700*
154 200*
52 600*
87 900*
541 000
71 700
98 500
109 700
261 100
114 200*  

*2009 values; c confidential 
Source: Eurostat (online data codes:  sbs_na_ind_r2  and sbs_na_1a_se_r2) 

In 2010, of the firms active in the traditional maritime 
economic sectors in the EU, 22 977 enterprises2 were 
in maritime manufacturing sectors (also called the 
maritime industry), 28 273 enterprises were in 
maritime transport and related activities and 
3 600 enterprises were active in the processing and 
preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs, as 
shown in table 1. 

Maritime transport and related activities comprise 
4 sectors: sea and coastal passenger water transport, 
sea and coastal freight water transport, service 
activities incidental to water transport and cargo 
handling. In 2010, cargo handling was the main sector 
among these activities, generating a value added of 
EUR 11 850 million and employing 48% those 
working in maritime transport and related activities. 

Among these three maritime sectors, the largest 
employer was the maritime transport and related 
activities employing 57% of those working in these 
three sectors, followed by maritime manufacturing 
with 30% and processing and preserving of fish with 
13%. 

In 2010, maritime manufacturing sectors in the EU 
generated EUR 11 675 million of value added, of 
which 56 % came from the building of ships and 
floating structures. Maritime manufacturing is made 
up of three main sector activities: the building of 
ships and floating structures, the building of pleasure 
and sporting boats and the repair and maintenance of 
ships and boats. 

2 See SBS definitions in methodological notes. 

The processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans 
and molluscs is categorised under maritime sectors 
due to the use of maritime resources in this industry. 
However this activity also uses freshwater resources. 
The processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans 
and molluscs in the EU generated a turnover of EUR 
22 760 million and a value added of EUR 3 940 
million in 2010, and employed 114 200 persons in 
2009. 

As Map 1 shows, in these main sectors, the 
enterprises housed in Italy, Germany, France, the 
United Kingdom and Spain were the main employers. 
In terms of distribution of employment by sector, the 
main countries for maritime transport were Italy 
where 30 % of the total EU employees in these 
sectors were employed, followed by Germany with 
12 %. 

2 

5/2013 — Statistics in Focus  

 
 
 
                                                      
                                                      
Italian-based enterprises were also the main 
employers in the EU maritime manufacturing sector, 
employing 16 % of those working in these sectors in 
the EU as a whole, followed by enterprises based in 
the United Kingdom with 13 %. 

As regards the processing and preserving of fish, 
crustaceans and molluscs in the EU, the main 
countries were Spain, with 17 % of the employed 
persons in the EU and Poland with 14 %. 

Maritime manufacturing sectors on the decline but repair and maintenance 
recovers 

Figure 2: Production of the EU maritime manufacturing sectors by main activities, 2008-2011 
(index=100 in 2008) 

 100

 90

 80

 70

 60

2008

2009

2010

2011

Building of ships and floating structures

Building of pleasure and sporting boats

Repair and maintenance of ships and boats

Maritime manufacturing sectors (total)

Source: Eurostat (online data code: Prodcom ) 

Between 2008 and 2011, the value of production in 
the maritime manufacturing sector as a whole 
decreased by 25 %, especially due to the economic 
crisis. The value of the production of the building of 
ships and floating structures and the building of 
pleasure and sporting boats followed the same trend, 
as shown in figure 2. However, the decline in the 

production and building of pleasure and sporting 
boats was more pronounced. In contrast, repair and 
maintenance followed a different trend, with the value 
of production in this sector decreasing steadily by 
27 % between 2008 and 2010 and then increasing by 
8 % between 2010 and 2011. 

Figure 3: Value added of maritime manufacturing sector by main activities, 2010 
For countries below 500 EUR million of value added 

 500

 450

 400

 350

 300

 250

 200

 150

 100

 50

 0

SK

HU

CY

IE

SI

LV

AT

EE

BG

BE

LT

PT

DK

SE

HR

FI

RO

EL*

Building of ships and floating structures

Building of pleasure and sporting boats

Repair and maintenance of ships and boats

* 2009 value -  Source: Eurostat (online data code:  sbs_na_ind_r2) 

Figure 4: Value added of maritime manufacturing sector by main activities, 2010 
For countries over 500 EUR million of value added 

3 000

2 500

2 000

1 500

1 000

 500

 0

TR*

PL

NL**

ES

FR

DE

IT*

UK

NO

Building of ships and floating structures

Building of pleasure and sporting boats

Repair and maintenance of ships and boats

* 2009 value; ** 2009 estimate - Source: Eurostat (online data code:  sbs_na_ind_r2) 

  Statistics in Focus — 5/2013 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
In most countries, the building of ships and floating 
structures was the largest sector among the maritime 
manufacturing sectors in terms of value added, as 
shown in figures 3 and 4. 

In 2010, more than two thirds of the value added 
generated by the EU maritime manufacturing sectors 
came from five Member States: the United Kingdom, 
Italy, Germany, France and Spain. Norway led these 
sectors, accounting for EUR 2 629 million of value 
added. 

In 2011, 50 % of production in the maritime 
manufacturing sectors in the EU was accounted for by 
the building of ships and floating structure, 27 % by 
the building of pleasure and sporting boats and 23 % 
by the repair and maintenance of ships and boats. At 
the more detailed level, the production of motor boats 
and motor yachts for pleasure or sports accounted for 
18 % of EU maritime manufacturing production, the 
repairing of ships, boats and floating structures for 
17 % and the production of cruise vessels for 16 %. 

Maritime passengers and goods concentrated in a few Member States 

Figure 5: Maritime transport passengers and gross weight of goods handled in port by direction, 2010 

50 000

40 000

30 000

20 000

10 000

0

-10 000

-20 000

-30 000

-40 000

-50 000

)
s
n
o
s
r
e
p
0
0
0
1
(
s
r
e
g
n
e
s
s
a
P

500 000

400 000

300 000

200 000

100 000

0

-100 000

-200 000

-300 000

-400 000

-500 000

)
s
e
n
n
o
t
0
0
0
1
(

s
d
o
o
g
f
o
t
h
g
i
e
w
s
s
o
r
G

IT

EL

DK

SE

UK

DE

FR

ES

FI

EE

MT

IE

PL

NL

BE

PT

LV

LT

CY

SI

BG

RO

NO

HR

Inward  passengers

Inward goods

Outward  passengers

Outward goods

Source: Eurostat (online data codes:  mar_go_aa and mar_pa_aa) 

In 2010, 3.6 billion tonnes of goods were handled in 
EU maritime ports, of which 62 % were unloaded. 
With 538.7 million tonnes, the Netherlands had the 
highest share (14.8 %) of the goods handled in EU 
ports, followed by the United Kingdom (14.1 %), Italy 
(13.6 %) and Spain (10.3 %). 

In 2010, around 395 million passengers passed 
through EU ports, split almost evenly between 
embarking and disembarking persons. Italy was the 
leading country with 87.7 million passengers or 
22.2 % of all passengers at EU ports, followed closely 
by Greek ports at 20.2 %. Danish ports were in a 

Figure 6: Gross weight handled in EU ports, 2002-2010 
(1 000 tonnes) 

distant third place, with 10.6 % of all passengers at 
EU ports. 

Italy recorded high values for both maritime 
passengers and goods. The Netherlands, home to the 
most important port in the EU (Rotterdam), showed a 
clear concentration of the maritime transport of goods 
while Greek ports were predominately involved in the 
maritime transport of passengers. There was no 
significant correlation between the weight of goods 
handled and the number of passengers who embarked 
or disembarked by country or by ports. Actually, 
maritime ports have developed one or more 
independent types of traffic.

4 000 000

3 500 000

3 000 000

2 500 000

2 000 000

1 500 000

1 000 000

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Inward

Outward

Total

Source: Eurostat (online data code:  mar_go_aa) 

4 

5/2013 — Statistics in Focus  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Between 2002 and 2008 the total gross weight of 
goods handled at EU ports increased from 3.3 to  
3.9 billion tonnes. The trend was steady between 
2002 and 2007 and slowed down between 2007 and 
2008 due to the early effects of the crisis. Then, due 
to the crisis the total gross weight fell by 12 % 
between 2008 and 2009. Between 2009 and 2010 the 

trend was reversed again and the total gross weight 
increased from 3.4 to 3.6 billion tones. Between 2002 
and 2010 inward and outward gross weight followed 
largely the same trend. However, between 2007 and 
2010, the crisis impacts were more significant on 
inward gross weight than on outward gross weight, as 
shown in figure 6. 

Maritime transport passengers show a double dip over the past decade 

Figure 7: Maritime transport passengers in EU ports, 2002-2010 
(1 000 persons) 

425 000

420 000

415 000

410 000

405 000

400 000

395 000

390 000

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Source: Eurostat (online data code:  mar_pa_aa) 

Between 2002 and 2010 the number of maritime 
transport passengers at EU ports followed an irregular 
trend as shown in figure 7. Between 2002 and 2005 
there was a fall in the total number of maritime 
transport passengers at EU ports from 421 million to 
395 million. This fall is mainly explained by the 
opening and progressive use of new alternative routes 
such as the ‘Charilaos Trikoupis’ (EL) and ‘Great 
Belt’ (DK) bridges and the growth of low-cost flights. 

Between 2005 and 2007, EU ports recorded an 
increase, from 395 to 414 million maritime transport 
passengers. Leading countries such as Greece and 
Denmark recovered from the previous period. 
Between 2007 and 2008, numbers of maritime 
transport passengers going through EU ports fell 
again, from 414 to 395 million, due to the crisis and 
more competition from alternative routes. 

Sea transport mode dominates EU international trade especially in terms of 
volume and impacted maritime transport economic sector 

Figure 8: Extra EU trade using sea transport mode and all modes, 2000-2011 

2 000

1 800

1 600

1 400

1 200

1 000

800

600

400

200

0
2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

EU exports using sea transport mode

EU exports all modes

EU imports using sea transport mode

EU imports all modes

Source: Eurostat (online data code: (NSTR) DS_022469 ) 

  Statistics in Focus — 5/2013 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
Between 2000 and 2011 extra-EU trade (imports and 
exports) using sea transport followed the same pattern 
as extra-EU trade as a whole, as shown in figure 8. 
However, during this period the changes (increases 
and decreases) in extra-EU trade using sea transport 
were more pronounced. Between 2003 and 2008, 
extra-EU exports increased by an annual average of 
10.6 % and total extra-EU imports by 8.7 % (annual 
average). During the same period, extra-EU exports 
using sea transport increased by an annual average of 
11.1% and total extra-EU import by 15.3 %. The 

crisis strongly affected extra-EU trade using sea 
transport, and especially imports. Between 2008 and 
2009, extra-EU imports using sea transport fell 
sharply by 27 %, i.e. 5 percentage points more than 
total imports had fallen. Between 2009 and 2011 the 
recovery in extra-EU trade using sea transport was 
also more pronounced than the market overall; 
imports increased by an annual average of 24.8 % and 
exports by 20.1 %, compared with 17.9 % and 19.0 % 
respectively for total extra-EU imports and exports. 

Figure 9: Share of international trade using sea transport mode in Extra EU trade in volume, 2011 
(%) 

 100

 80

 60

 40

 20

 0

- 20

- 40

- 60

- 80

- 100

SK CZ

SI

AT

PL

LT

LV DE

EE BG LU EU27 FR SE RO FI

BE

IT

DK EL

ES CY NL

PT

IE

UK MT

Source: Eurostat (online data code: (NSTR) DS_022469 ) 

Import

Export

The proportion of extra-EU trade using sea transport 
is more significant in terms of volume than in value. 
In 2011, EU imports using sea transport accounted for 
74 % of EU imports as a whole and EU exports using 
sea transport represented 77 % of all EU exports by 

volume. As figure 9 shows, there were wide 
disparities from country to country and by direction; 
for example, almost all Maltese extra-EU trade used 
sea transport but only 26 % of extra-EU imports to 
Poland used sea transport. 

Figure 10: Share of international trade using sea transport mode in Extra EU trade in value, 2011 
(%) 

 100

 80

 60

 40

 20

 0

- 20

- 40

- 60

- 80

- 100

SI

LV

LT

CZ

IE

LU

AT

PL

SK

FR

SE

EE

BE

DK

UK EU27 NL

DE

BG MT

FI

RO

IT

CY

EL

ES

PT

Import

Export

Source: Eurostat (online data code: (NSTR) DS_022469 ) 

In 2011, the value of extra-EU trade using sea 
transport was EUR 741 billion for exports and EUR 
953 billion for imports, i.e. a deficit of  
EUR 211 billion. Extra-EU trade using sea transport 
represented the major part of extra-EU trade as a 
whole. In 2011, total extra-EU imports accounted for 
EUR 1 714 billion of which 56 % used sea transport. 

In the same period, total extra-EU exports accounted 
for EUR 1 557 billion of which 48 % used sea 
transport. However, there were differences between 
countries; in 2011, only 14 % of Slovenian extra-EU 
exports used sea transport while at the other end of 
the scale the figure for Portugal was around 78 %, as 
shown in figure 10. 

6 

5/2013 — Statistics in Focus  

 
 
 
 
 
 
EU production of the sea food industry increased while catches declined 

Figure 11: Production of EU processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs, 2008-2011 
(index=100 in 2008) 

114

112

110

108

106

104

102

100

98

96

94

2008

2009

2010

2011

Source: Eurostat (online data code: Prodcom ) 

In 2011, the main products of the EU processing 
industry were prepared or preserved tuna, skipjack 
and Atlantic bonito, whole or in pieces (12 %), fresh 
or chilled fish fillets and other fish meat without 
bones (11 %) and smoked Pacific, Atlantic and 

Danube salmon (9 %). Between 2008 and 2009 
production fell by 4.5 %. Since 2009 the trend has 
reversed and production increased steadily by 8.2 % 
per year between 2009 and 2011, as figure 11 shows. 

Figure 12: Value added of processing and preserving of fish crustaceans and molluscs, 2010 
(EUR million) 

 900

 800

 700

 600

 500

 400

 300

 200

 100

 0

HU BG AT

SK RO HR

EE

LV

FI

EL*

LT

BE

IE

TR* SE* NL*

PT

PL

DK

IT*

DE

FR

UK

ES

NO

* 2009 value 
Source: Eurostat (online data code:  sbs_na_ind_r2) 

In 2010, around two thirds of the value added of 
processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and 
molluscs was provided by enterprises based in Spain, 

the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, as 
shown in figure 12. Norway led these sectors 
accounting for EUR 815 million of value added. 

  Statistics in Focus — 5/2013 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 13: EU catches in volume, 2000-2010 
(tonnes) 

7 000 000

6 500 000

6 000 000

5 500 000

5 000 000

4 500 000

4 000 000

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Total species

Marine fish

Source: Eurostat (online data code:  fish_ca_00) 

One of the inputs to the EU fish processing industry 
are EU catches. Of all the maritime sectors, the 
fisheries industry is certainly the most emblematic. In 
2010, EU catches amounted to 4 943 780 tonnes, of 
which around 85 % were marine fish. Since 2001, EU 

catches have decreased steadily with the total and 
marine fish catches following the same trend. 

Over the last couple of decades, the total engine 
power and capacity of the EU fleet have decreased 
regularly by around 2 % per year on average. 

Figure 14: Aquaculture production in volume, 2000-2009 
(tonnes live weight) 

1 500 000

1 400 000

1 300 000

1 200 000

1 100 000

1 000 000

900 000

800 000

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Marine waters

Total

Source: Eurostat (online data code:  fish_aq_q) 

In 2009, output from EU aquaculture was  
1 299 635 tonnes of which 76 % was produced in a 
marine water environment. In the same period, output 
from Norwegian aquaculture was 962 thousand 
tonnes, almost exclusively in marine areas. Output 
from Norwegian aquaculture is equal to 74% of total 
EU aquaculture output. 

In 2009, aquaculture produced in a marine water 
environment in the EU accounted for 993 thousand 
tonnes, representing around 20 % of the EU catch. 

The largest part of this production came from Spain 
(25 %) followed by France (19 %) and the United 
Kingdom (18 %), with Italy and Greece producing 
12 % each. 

Since 2000, total and marine water aquaculture 
production followed an irregular trend but largely a 
similar pattern. However, between 2007 and 2009 
marine water aquaculture production went up while 
total aquaculture production fell in 2008. 

8 

5/2013 — Statistics in Focus  

 
 
 
 
 
 
METHODOLOGICAL NOTES 

Maritime sectors comprise activities linked to the sea. 
The link between activities and the sea may be explained 
by the use of marine resources, maritime areas or by the 
vicinity of these areas. The relationship between the 
activities and the sea can be more or less direct and 
maritime sectors cannot be seen as a single sector 
activity within the NACE classification but rather as a 
set of activities. 

Due to the horizontal aspects of the topic, the paper 
combines the latest data from different sources: structure 
business, international trade, product, maritime transport 
and fishery statistics.  

NACE  

NACE is the acronym used to designate the ‘statistical 
classification of economic activities in the European 
Community’ and is the subject of legislation at the 
European Union level, which imposes the use of the 
classification uniformly within all the Member States. It 
is a basic element of the international integrated system 
of economic classifications, which is based on 
classifications of the UN Statistical Commission 
(UNSTAT), and Eurostat as well as national 
classifications; all of them are strongly related to one 
another, allowing the comparability of economic 
statistics produced worldwide by different institutions. 
The current NACE Rev. 2, is the outcome of a major 
revision of the international integrated system of 
economic classifications which took place between 2000 
and 2007. NACE Rev. 2 reflects the technological 
developments and structural changes of the economy, 
enabling the modernisation of EU statistics and 
contributing, through more comparable and relevant 
data, to better economic governance at both EU and 
national level. 

Building of ships and floating structures (NACE 
class 30.11) 

This class includes the building of ships, except vessels 
for sports or recreation, and the construction of floating 
structures. 

Building of pleasure and sporting boats (NACE class 
30.12) 

This class includes: manufacture of inflatable boats and 
rafts, building of sailboats with or without auxiliary 
motor, building of motor boats, building of recreation-
type hovercraft, manufacture of personal watercraft, 
canoes, kayaks, rowing boats and skiffs. 

Repair and maintenance of ships and boats (NACE 
class 33.15) 

This class includes the repair and maintenance of ships 
and boats. However, the factory rebuilding or overhaul 
of ships is classified in division 30. 

50.10 Sea and coastal passenger water transport 
(NACE class 50.10) 

This class includes: transport of passengers overseas and 
coastal waters, the scheduled or unscheduled operation 
of excursions, cruises or sightseeing boats, operation of 
ferries, water taxis, etc. 

This class also includes: renting of pleasure boats with 
crew for sea and coastal water transport (e.g. for fishing 
cruises). 

Sea and coastal freight water transport (NACE class 
50.20) 

This group includes the transport of freight on vessels 
designed for operating on sea or coastal waters. Also 
included is the transport of freight on great lakes, etc. 
when similar types of vessels are used. 

This class includes: transport of freight overseas and 
coastal waters, whether scheduled or not, transport by 
towing or pushing of barges, oil rigs, etc. 

This class also includes: renting of vessels with crew for 
sea and coastal freight water transport. 

Service activities incidental to water transportation 
(NACE class 52.22) 

This class includes: activities related to water transport 
of passengers, animals or freight, operation of terminal 
facilities such as harbours and piers, operation of 
waterway locks, etc., navigation, pilotage and berthing 
activities, lighterage, salvage activities and lighthouse 
activities. 

Cargo handling (NACE class 52.24) 

This class includes: loading and unloading of goods or 
passengers’ luggage irrespective of the mode of 
transport used for transportation, stevedoring and the 
loading and unloading of freight railway cars. 

Processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and 
molluscs (NACE class 10.20) 

This class includes: preparation and preservation of fish, 
crustaceans and molluscs: freezing, deep-freezing, 
drying, cooking, smoking, salting, immersing in brine, 
canning, etc., production of fish, crustacean and mollusc 
products: fish fillets, roes, caviar, caviar substitutes, etc., 
production of fishmeal for human consumption or 
animal feed, production of meal and solubles from fish 
and other aquatic animals unfit for human consumption. 

This class also includes: 

- activities of vessels engaged only in the processing and 
preserving of fish or the processing of seaweed. 

  Statistics in Focus — 5/2013 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Prodcom — Statistics by Product 

Prodcom provides statistics on the production of 
manufactured goods. The term comes from the French 
‘PRODuction COMmunautaire’ (Community 
Production) for mining, quarrying and manufacturing: 
sections B and C of the Statistical Classification of 
Economy Activity in the European Union (NACE 2). 

Prodcom uses the product codes specified on the 
Prodcom List, which contains about 3900 different types 
of manufactured products. Products are identified by an 
8-digit code: the first four digits are the classification of 
the producing enterprise given by the NACE and the 
first six correspond to the Classification of products by 
activity (CPA). 

Maritime transport 

The content of this publication is based on data collected 
within the framework of the EU Maritime Transport 
Statistics Directive, i.e. ‘Directive 2009/42/EC of the 
European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 
on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and 
passengers by sea’ (OJ L141 of 6.6.2009, page 29), 
which is a recast of the original Council Directive 
95/64(EC) of 8 December 1995. According to the 
Directive, ‘main ports’ are ports handling more than 1 
million tonnes of goods or 200 000 passengers annually. 
More data are to be collected for ‘main ports’ than for 
other ports. However, additional data may also be 
included by countries for smaller ports on a voluntary 
basis. Moreover, because of normal fluctuations in port 
activity, the thresholds are not automatically applied on 
a yearly basis to avoid breaks in the series. 

Structural business statistics (SBS) 

SBS  cover  industry,  construction,  trade  and  services. 
Presented according to the NACE activity classification, 
they describe the structure, conduct and performance of 
businesses  across  the  European  Union  (EU)  –  data  are 
available for the EU-27 and for the Member States. 

The  statistics  can  be  broken  down  to  a  very  detailed 
sectoral  level  (several  hundred  economic  activities).  A 
subset  of  the  SBS  information  is  also  available  for 
European  regions,  as  well  as  according  to  the  size  of 
enterprises. 

The main indicators within SBS are generally collected 
and  presented  as  monetary  values,  or  as  counts  (for 
example,  numbers of  enterprises  or  persons  employed); 
this is in contrast to short-term business statistics, where 
the data are presented as indices (generally in relation to 
a base year of 2005=100). 

Generally SBS does not collect information on products. 
The  external  trade  and  the  production  of  specific 
products  are  covered  by  external  trade  statistics  and/or 
PRODCOM. 

An enterprise is the smallest combination of legally 
recognised units 

• 

constituting an organisational unit for 
producing goods or services; 

• 

benefiting from a certain degree of autonomy in 
decision making, especially for the allocation 
of its current resources. 

It may be a sole legal unit and carries out one or more 
activities at one or more locations. 

Turnover, in the context of structural business statistics, 
comprises the totals invoiced by the observation unit 
(enterprise in this paper) during the reference period, 
and this corresponds to the total value of market sales of 
goods and services to third parties. 

Turnover includes: 

• 

• 

all duties and taxes on the goods or services 
invoiced by the unit with the exception of the 
value-added tax (VAT) invoiced by the unit 
vis-à-vis its customer and other similar 
deductible taxes directly linked to turnover; 
all other charges (transport, packaging, etc.) 
passed on to the customer, even if these charges 
are listed separately on the invoice. 

Reductions in price, rebates and discounts as well as the 
value of returned packaging must be deducted. 

Excluded are: 

income classified as other operating income, financial 
income and extraordinary income in company accounts; 

operating subsidies received from public authorities or 
the institutions of the European Union (EU). 

Value added at factor cost is the gross income from 
operating activities after adjusting for operating 
subsidies and indirect taxes. It is an indicator in the 
domain of structural business statistics. 

It can be calculated as the total sum of items to be added 
(+) or subtracted (-): 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 

turnover (+); 
capitalised production (+); 
other operating income (+); 
increases (+) or decreases (-) of stocks; 
purchases of goods and services (-); 
other taxes on products which are linked to 
turnover but not deductible (-); 
duties and taxes linked to production (-). 

The number of persons employed is defined, within 
the context of structural business statistics, as the total 
number of persons who work in the observation unit 
(inclusive of working proprietors, partners working 
regularly in the unit and unpaid family workers), as well 
as persons who work outside the unit who belong to it 
and are paid by it (e.g. sales representatives, delivery 
personnel, repair and maintenance teams). It excludes 
manpower supplied to the unit by other enterprises, 
persons carrying out repair and maintenance work in the 

10 

5/2013 — Statistics in Focus  

 
 
 
 
enquiry unit (enterprise in this paper) on behalf of other 
enterprises, as well as those on compulsory military 
service. 

International trade 

Information on international trade is based on data 
available in Eurostat’s Comext database. 

Trade statistics track the value and quantity of goods 
traded between EU Member States (intra-EU trade) and 
between Member States and non-EU countries (extra-
EU trade).They are the official source of information on 
imports, exports and trade balance of the EU, its 
Member States and the euro area. 

Information on extra-EU and intra-EU trade is collected 
monthly by Member States. External trade data are 
subject to frequent revisions, as a consequence of errors, 
omissions or — particularly with the Intrastat system — 
late declarations by information providers. When data 
for the latest period are released, revised data for 
previous periods are also made available 

In the methodology for the statistics on the trading of 
goods, the mode of transport in the case of extra-EU 
trade is defined as the active means of transport by 
which: 

• for outwards flows (exports), goods are presumed to 
leave the statistical territory of the EU 

• for inwards flows (imports), goods are presumed to 
have entered the statistical territory of the EU. 

‘Active means of transport’ is the means of transport 
that provides the motive power. If there are several 
means of transport, the active means of transport is the 
one which provides the motive power for the whole 
combination. 

The modes of transport considered in the methodology 
for the statistics on the trading of goods are the 
following: Air, Fixed installation (including pipelines), 
Inland waterways, Post, Rail, Road, Sea, Self-
propulsion, Unknown. 

Fishery and aquaculture 

Fishery  statistics  are  derived  from  official  national 
sources  either  directly  by  Eurostat  or  by  the  EEA 
member countries. 

The  data  are  collected  using  internationally  agreed 
concepts and definitions developed by the Coordinating 
Working  Party  on  Fishery  Statistics,  comprising 
Eurostat  and  several  other  international  organisations 
with responsibility for fishery statistics. 

The domain ‘Fisheries’ contains data on catch by fishing 
region,  on  aquaculture  production,  on  total  production, 
on  landings  in  EEA  ports,  on  trade  in  fishery  products 
and on the EEA fishing fleet. 

Catch 

The flag of the fishing vessels is used as the primary 
indication of the nationality of the catch, though this 
concept may differ in certain circumstances (for 
example, in the case of joint ventures and chartering of 
vessels). The national authorities are requested to submit 
catch statistics for all commercial, subsistence and 
recreational fisheries. However, the reporting of data for 
recreational fisheries is known to be incomplete. The 
data are reported as the live weight equivalent of the 
landings (i.e. the landed weight of a product to which an 
appropriate conversion factor has been applied). The 
data therefore exclude quantities of fishery products 
which are caught but not landed. For example, fish 
caught but rejected at sea (non-commercial species, 
under-sized fish, etc.) or fish consumed on board the 
vessel. 

Aquaculture production 

Aquaculture means the farming of aquatic organisms 
including fish, molluscs, crustaceans, aquatic plants and 
other aquatic organisms. It includes capture-based 
aquaculture and the production of aquatic organisms 
which are harvested by an individual or corporate body 
which has owned them throughout their rearing period. 
The data are recorded as the live weight equivalent of 
the product. 

  Statistics in Focus — 5/2013 

11 

 
 
 
 
Further information 

Eurostat website: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat 

Data on 'Structural business statistics' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/european_business/data/database 
Further information about 'Structural business statistics' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/european_business/introduction 

Data on 'International trade statistics' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/international_trade/data/database 
Further information about 'International trade statistics' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/international_trade/introduction 

Data on 'Prodcom – statistics by product' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/prodcom/data/database 
Further information about 'Prodcom – statistics by product' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/prodcom/introduction 

Data on 'Transport statistics' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/transport/data/database 
Select 'maritime transport' 
Further information on 'Transport statistics' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/transport/introduction 

Data on 'Fisheries' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/fisheries/data/database 
Further information about 'Fisheries' 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/fisheries/introduction 

Journalists can contact the media support service: 

Bech Building, Office A4/125, L-2920 Luxembourg 
Tel.: (352) 4301 33408  
Fax: (352) 4301 35349 
E-mail: eurostat-mediasupport@ec.europa.eu 

European Statistical Data Support: 

With the members of the ‘European statistical system’, Eurostat has set up a network of 
support centres in nearly every Member State and in some EFTA countries. 
Their role is to provide help and guidance to Internet users of European statistics. 
Contact details for this support network can be found on the Eurostat website at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/. 

All Eurostat publications can be ordered via the ‘EU Bookshop’: 
http://bookshop.europa.eu/. 

Manuscript completed on: 22.02.2013 
Data extracted on: 01.11.2012 
ISSN 1977-0316 
Catalogue number: KS-SF-13-005-EN-N 
© European Union, 2013