Water Transportation

NAICS 483 covers establishments that transport cargo and passengers by water, spanning deep sea container shipping, coastal and Great Lakes freight, inland barge operations on the Mississippi River system, and passenger ferry services. The U.S. port system handled over 2.3 billion short tons of waterborne commerce in 2022 according to the Army Corps of Engineers, with the Ports of South Louisiana, Houston, and Beaumont ranking as the highest-volume facilities by tonnage.

The international container shipping segment is dominated by foreign-flag carriers — Maersk (Denmark), MSC (Switzerland), CMA CGM (France), and COSCO (China) — that move containerized imports through gateway ports including Los Angeles/Long Beach, New York/New Jersey, Savannah, and Seattle/Tacoma. The Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920, 46 U.S.C. 55102) reserves domestic point-to-point waterborne cargo movement for U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged, U.S.-crewed vessels, sustaining a separate domestic fleet operated by carriers like Matson (Hawaii and Alaska routes), Crowley Maritime (Puerto Rico, Caribbean), and Kirby Corporation (inland tank barges).

Inland barge transportation on the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois rivers moves approximately 550 million tons of bulk commodities annually — grain, coal, petroleum products, and aggregates — at the lowest per-ton-mile cost of any freight mode. ACBL (American Commercial Barge Line), Ingram Barge Company, and Canal Barge Company operate the largest inland fleets. The Army Corps of Engineers maintains the inland waterway lock-and-dam system, with the Inland Waterways Trust Fund partially financing major rehabilitation projects like the Chickamauga Lock replacement on the Tennessee River.