Last year was a busy year for the port of Samoa according to the latest statistics on shipping by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics.

In 2023, there were 498 international seagoing vessels cleared at the port of Apia. Of the total, 213 international seagoing vessels were accepted for tabulation.

 These consisted of 141 container vessels, 48 general cargo vessels and 24 oil tankers. There were 285 vessels excluded from the analysis because they did not have the required information. These vessels included research, naval, yachts, cruise ships and fishing Vessels

The analysis of cargo discharged at the port of Apia indicated that 1941 vessels discharged a combined total of 460,314 metric tonnes of cargo, of which 47.2 per cent (217,173 metric tonnes) came from the Oceania region (mostly from Fiji and New Zealand), 34.8 per cent (160,225 metric tonnes) came from the Asia region (mostly from Singapore and Korea) and 18.0 per cent (82,813 metric tonnes) came from the America region (all from the USA).

There were 1332 vessels that loaded a combined total of 99,596 metric tonnes of cargo, of which 45.5 per cent (45,318 metric tonnes) were loaded for the America region (all to the USA), 41.4 per cent (41,230 metric tonnes) were loaded for the Oceania region (mostly to Australia) and the remaining 13.1 per cent (13,041 metric tonnes) were loaded for the Asia region (mostly to China).

Of the 2133 vessels that arrived, 194 vessels carried inward cargo but 133 vessels returned with outward cargo. The 194 vessels that carried inward cargo consisted of 122 container vessels, 48 general cargo and 24 mineral oil tanker vessels. The 133 vessels that returned with outward cargo consisted of 89 container vessels and 44 general cargo vessels.

The number of vessels that carried inward cargo in 2023 ranged from 10 - 22, while vessels that loaded outward cargo ranged from 6 -14.

Data for the Shipping Statistics Report published by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics were collected mainly from Shipping Statistic Forms and cargo manifests, which were completed by Shipping agents and Stevedores as a port requirement for every international sea going vessel. This report excludes all domestic services and the Apia-Pago Pago route. Furthermore, if a vessel calls in more than once, its subsequent calls are recorded as a separate vessel.