The Asian Transport Observatory has released a new set of Maritime Transport Profiles to support a better understanding of the maritime sector in Asia and the Pacific.

Maritime transport plays a central role in trade, logistics, connectivity, and economic development across the region. For island economies, coastal states, and major trading nations alike, ports and shipping networks are critical links between domestic markets, regional supply chains, and the global economy. At the same time, the sector faces growing pressure to improve efficiency, reduce emissions, strengthen resilience, and respond to climate and disaster risks.

The new Maritime Transport Profiles bring together data and policy information from official, reputable, and peer-reviewed secondary sources. They are designed to help policymakers, development partners, researchers, and other stakeholders better assess maritime transport systems through comparable indicators and country-level insights.

The profiles cover a broad set of themes, including maritime assets and infrastructure, port activity, shipping and fleet indicators, trade and freight movements, seafarer supply, logistics performance, shipping connectivity, emissions, climate and disaster risk, development finance, private participation, and relevant policy targets and measures.

By organizing these indicators in one place, the profiles help make visible the links between maritime transport and wider development priorities. These include trade competitiveness, supply chain reliability, employment, climate resilience, decarbonization, and sustainable infrastructure investment.

The profiles also support more integrated discussions on ports and shipping. Rather than viewing maritime transport only through the lens of infrastructure or trade volumes, the profiles highlight how maritime systems perform across multiple dimensions: how connected they are, how efficiently they operate, how exposed they are to risk, how they contribute to emissions, and how policies and investments are shaping their future direction.

This release expands the Asian Transport Observatory's growing portfolio of country-focused knowledge products. It complements existing ATO profile packages on transport and climate, road safety, e-mobility, green roads, gender in transport, rail, air pollution, and other thematic areas.

The Maritime Transport Profiles are now available through the ATO website and will continue to support evidence-based dialogue on advancing sustainable, resilient, and efficient maritime transport systems across Asia and the Pacific.

Explore the ATO Maritime Transport Profiles: https://asiantransportobservatory.org/analytical-outputs/maritimetransportprofiles/