Cargo damage is measured through several different lenses: insured claims, indemnity payments, claim causes, container handling, vessel incidents and containers lost at sea. The figures below keep those populations separate, with geography and measurement periods stated explicitly.
Key Cargo Damage Statistics
These highlights cover the most useful reported and estimated measures:
- In 2023, 201 insured cargo claims were recorded for transport inside Greece.
- In 2023, €1,019,520 in total indemnities was recorded for transport inside Greece, combining paid and outstanding amounts.
- In 2023, 256 insured cargo claims were recorded for Greece departure or arrival transport.
- In 2023, €1,258,033 in total indemnities was recorded for Greece departure or arrival transport.
- In 2023, 145 insured cargo claims were recorded for transport outside Greece.
- In 2023, denting or breakage accounted for 38 insured claims inside Greece.
- In 2023, denting or breakage accounted for 113 insured claims for Greece departure or arrival transport.
- In 2023, €239,728 in indemnities was associated with denting or breakage for Greece departure or arrival transport.
- In 2023, the average indemnity was €5,072 per claim inside Greece.
- In 2023, the average indemnity was €3,192 per claim for transport outside Greece.
- In 2008, average container handling was calculated at 3.7 handlings per container worldwide.
- From 2005 to 2014, claims above USD 5,000 rose from 8% to 26% of containership cargo claims.
- From 2005 to 2014, improper shore-side handling represented 14.50% of cited containership claim categories.
- In 2023, 26 vessels over 100 GT were total losses worldwide.
- In 2023, 2,951 shipping incidents involving vessels over 100 GT were reported worldwide.
- From 2014 to 2023, 729 total vessel losses were recorded worldwide for vessels over 100 GT.
- In 2025, an estimated 1,478 containers were lost at sea globally.
- In 2025, approximately 280 million containers were transported globally.
- In 2025, one major incident accounted for 640 lost containers, approximately 43% of the annual estimate.
Contents
- Key Cargo Damage Statistics
- Insured Cargo Damage Claims and Indemnity Scale
- Cargo Damage Causes and Reported Loss Patterns
- Cargo Damage Costs by Transport Scope and Cause
- Cargo Damage Frequency and Container-Handling Trends
- Maritime Cargo Risk, Vessel Losses and Shipping Incidents
- Containers Lost at Sea: Recent Cargo-Loss Data
Insured Cargo Damage Claims and Indemnity Scale
The official Cargo Insurance 2023 report separates transport inside Greece, Greece departure or arrival, and transport outside Greece. These are insured reported claims, not a census of every cargo-damage event or every economic loss.
| Transport scope | Claims in 2023 | Paid indemnities | Outstanding indemnities | Total indemnities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inside Greece | 201 | €131,564 | €887,956 | €1,019,520 |
| Greece departure/arrival | 256 | €330,055 | €927,978 | €1,258,033 |
| Outside Greece | 145 | Not stated | Not stated | €462,866 |
Paid indemnities represent amounts already paid, while outstanding indemnities are open reserves that may change. Total indemnities combine paid and outstanding amounts where the report provides both components.
The report’s average indemnity was €5,072 per claim inside Greece, €4,914 for Greece departure or arrival transport, and €3,192 for transport outside Greece. Those averages are report measures and should not be treated as the full cost of damaged goods, delay, disposal, business interruption or uninsured losses.
Cargo Damage Causes and Reported Loss Patterns
Cause classifications show different patterns across the three transport scopes. The categories are insurance classifications, and “other” may include unassigned causes rather than a single physical mechanism.
| Cause and scope | Reported claims | Period and population |
|---|---|---|
| Denting/breakage, inside Greece | 38 | 2023 insured claims |
| Spoilage, inside Greece | 9 | 2023 insured claims |
| Wetting/mould/humidity/water, inside Greece | 2 | 2023 insured claims |
| Theft, inside Greece | 2 | 2023 insured claims |
| Other causes, inside Greece | 147 | 2023 insured claims |
| Denting/breakage, Greece departure/arrival | 113 | 2023 insured claims |
| Water damage, Greece departure/arrival | 33 | 2023 insured claims |
| Spoilage, Greece departure/arrival | 8 | 2023 insured claims |
| Theft, Greece departure/arrival | 7 | 2023 insured claims |
| Denting/breakage, outside Greece | 41 | 2023 insured claims |
Inside Greece, denting or breakage was recorded in 38 claims, while spoilage appeared in 9 and wetting, mould, humidity or water in 2. The “other causes” category contained 147 claims, so it should not be read as a specific damage type.
For Greece departure or arrival transport, denting or breakage reached 113 claims, compared with 33 water-damage claims, 8 spoilage claims and 7 theft claims. Outside Greece, the supplied cause data identifies 41 denting or breakage claims but does not provide a complete cause breakdown.
The report labels theft figures as insurance classifications rather than a theft census. Similarly, the cause totals describe reported insured claims and should not be generalized to all shipments.
Cargo Damage Costs by Transport Scope and Cause
Indemnity amounts show how claim counts and financial outcomes can differ. The figures below are total indemnities for the stated cause and transport scope in 2023, measured as insurance indemnity rather than total economic damage.
| Cause | Inside Greece | Greece departure/arrival | Outside Greece |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denting/breakage | €113,023 | €239,728 | €65,959 |
| Water damage | €30,149 | €54,998 | €23,333 |
| Spoilage | €70,376 | Not stated | Not stated |
| Fire/explosion | Not stated | €233,310 from one claim | Not stated |
Denting or breakage produced €113,023 in total indemnities inside Greece, €239,728 for Greece departure or arrival transport, and €65,959 outside Greece. Water damage produced €30,149 inside Greece, €54,998 for Greece departure or arrival, and €23,333 outside Greece.
The Greece departure or arrival fire/explosion figure illustrates why claim volume alone can be misleading: one claim generated €233,310 in total indemnities. It is explicitly a single-claim observation, not a typical fire or explosion cost.
The average denting or breakage indemnity was €2,974 inside Greece, €2,121 for Greece departure or arrival, and €1,609 outside Greece. These are cause-specific report averages and are not directly interchangeable with the total indemnity figures in the table.
Cargo Damage Frequency and Container-Handling Trends
A peer-reviewed article, A decision model on the repair and maintenance of shipping containers, describes exposure and claim-frequency measures from different sources. The measures are useful context, but they are not one unified cargo-damage rate.
In 2008, a worldwide calculation used 506 million TEU of world port throughput and 137 million TEU of containerized liner trade, producing an average of 3.7 container handlings per container. This is an exposure indicator, not a measured probability of damage.
The same article cites Maersk Line data showing empty-container failure rates of 20% to 25% during the cited study period. That is company-specific and concerns empty-container failures, not cargo damage itself.
A cited Swedish Club frequency series for containership cargo claims shows a shift in claim-value bands:
| Claim band | 2005 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|
| Above USD 5,000 | 8% | 26% |
| Below USD 5,000 | 50% | 33% |
The article also reports a partial loss-code table for 2005–2014. Improper shore-side handling represented 14.50% of cited claim categories, hold flooding 13.36%, and heavy weather 12.60%.
Insufficient shipper lashing or securing represented 4.58% of the cited categories, compared with 3.05% for stevedore securing. The percentages are from a partial table and do not sum to 100%.
Maritime Cargo Risk, Vessel Losses and Shipping Incidents
The Safety and Shipping Review 2024 provides worldwide indicators for vessels over 100 GT. These figures are related maritime-risk measures, not direct cargo-damage or shipment-claim counts.
| Indicator | 2023 | Comparison or longer period |
|---|---|---|
| Total vessel losses | 26 | 41 in 2022; 89 in 2014 |
| Cargo ships among vessels lost | 16 | Of 26 losses in 2023 |
| Shipping incidents | 2,951 | 3,036 in 2022 |
| Machinery damage/failure incidents | 1,587 | 2023 |
The 26 total losses in 2023 were 70% below the 89 recorded in 2014, according to the report’s derived comparison. Across 2014–2023, the database recorded 729 total vessel losses.
Foundering caused 13 losses in 2023, equal to 50% of the total, while wrecking or stranding caused 4. Fire or explosion caused 3 losses in 2023 and 55 losses during the prior five years.
Machinery damage or failure accounted for 1,587 reported shipping incidents in 2023. Across 2014–2023, the report recorded 11,506 machinery damage or failure incidents, 3,014 collisions, 2,808 wrecking or stranding incidents and 1,916 port-contact incidents.
Containers Lost at Sea: Recent Cargo-Loss Data
The Estimate of Containers Lost at Sea – 2026 Update reports survey-based estimates for global container shipping. It estimates that 1,478 containers were lost at sea in 2025, while approximately 280 million containers were transported globally.
The 2025 estimate was 576 containers higher than the 2024 estimate of 576, or about 2.6 times the 2024 estimate. The source presents both annual figures as survey estimates, so the comparison remains sensitive to reporting and isolated incidents.
One major incident accounted for 640 lost containers in 2025, approximately 43% of that year’s estimated losses. This concentration means a single event can materially change the annual total.
WSC member companies operate more than 90% of global containership capacity, supporting the estimate’s coverage while leaving it short of a universal census. The source describes the 2025 estimate as a very small proportion of approximately 280 million transported containers and reports it as above the recent three-year average, without stating that average’s value.
Across these measures, insured claims, vessel incidents and containers lost at sea answer different questions. Keeping their denominators, dates, currencies and qualifications visible is essential when using cargo damage statistics for risk assessment.