An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Water Transportation: NAICS 483

About the Water Transportation subsector

The water transportation subsector is part of the transportation and warehousing sector.

Industries in the Water Transportation subsector provide water transportation of passengers and cargo using watercraft, such as ships, barges, and boats.

The subsector is composed of two industry groups: (1) one for deep sea, coastal, and Great Lakes; and (2) one for inland water transportation. This split typically reflects the difference in equipment used.

North American Industry Classification System

The water transportation subsector consists of these industry groups:

Deep Sea, Coastal, and Great Lakes Water Transportation: NAICS 4831
Inland Water Transportation: NAICS 4832

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment in water transportation. These data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment


Data series	Dec. 2024	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	69.9	69.7	(p)69.0	(p)69.2
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2024
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels	13,570
General and operations managers	1,870
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	1,900
Sailors and marine oilers	11,890
Ship engineers	3,490

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for water transportation.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings

Recent hourly and annual earnings for occupations commonly found in water transportation.

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2024
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels	47.98	51.91	99,800	107,970
General and operations managers	78.45	82.85	163,180	172,330
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	22.11	26.92	45,990	56,000
Sailors and marine oilers	23.11	26.48	48,060	55,080
Ship engineers	51.77	55.19	107,670	114,800

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in water transportation. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.


Data series	2020	2021	2022	2023
Fatalities
Number of fatalities				10
There was a series break beginning with 2023 data due to NAICS 2022. Data for years prior to 2023 are available at www.bls.gov/iif.


Data series	2023
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	1.8
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.0
Cases involving days away from work	0.8
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.2
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction.


Data series	Dec. 2024	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	Mar. 2025
Producer price index	(p)197.925	(p)197.221	(p)201.871	(p)205.082
Percent change from previous month	(p)-0.4%	(p)-0.4%	(p)2.4%	(p)1.6%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Producer Price Indexes)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in water transportation.

Establishments


Data series	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024	3rd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry	2,484	(p)2,508	(p)2,543	(p)2,575
Local government	9	(p)9	(p)9	(p)10
State government	13	(p)13	(p)13	(p)14
Federal government	1	(p)1	(p)1	(p)1
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) compare growth in output to the growth in a combination of inputs that include labor, capital, energy, materials, and services. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked.


Data series	2020	2021	2022	2023
Total factor productivity (TFP)	1.0	7.5	-7.4	0.3
Output	-31.7	-8.2	39.4	7.1
Combined inputs	-32.4	-14.6	50.5	6.7
Capital input	-0.6	1.3	2.4	3.0
Labor input	-10.9	23.2	14.3	-2.5
Labor productivity, output per hour	-22.2	-25.7	21.8	10.0

(Source: Productivity)

Data extracted on: April 29, 2025