In 1986 the Japanese merchant fleet included 10,011 ships with a total displacement of 38.5 million gross tons, a steady decrease from 10,425 ships with a total gross tonnage of 40.4 million in 1984. Of the nearly 1,200 Japanese ships of 1,000 gross registered tons and over, there were more than 300 bulk carriers; more than 250 petroleum, oils, and lubricants tankers; some 240 vehicle and cargo carriers; and more than 150 refrigerated cargo ships. The remainder were passenger and passenger-cargo ships, container ships, roll-on/roll-off cargo ships, chemical tankers, combination ore and oil carriers, and other specialized types of large ships.
Japanese ports, mainly Yokohama, Nagoya, and Kobe, received 40,129 ships in 1986, loaded 88.1 million tons of cargo, and unloaded 598.9 million tons. Other major ports included Chiba, Hakodate, Kitakyushu, Kushiro, Osaka, Tokyo, and Yokkaichi. Almost all shipping operated from coastal ports. Japan's rivers were short and were unnavigable except in the lower reaches.
Data as of January 1994