Ships and boats market in Europe: size, suppliers and public contracts
Market size and key facts
In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 373 supply contracts for ships and boats through award notices on TED; the 220 of them that state a value (59%) add up to €599 million. EU countries together imported €22.7 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to ships and boats in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 8901, 8903, 8905, 8904 and 8902; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), up 18.8% from 2023.
- Since November 2023, 561 companies have won 964 public supply contracts for ships and boats in 30 European countries, in 656 award notices from 417 public buyers.
- 17% of these awards went to a company registered in a different country from the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Finland.
- The five companies that win most often hold 6% of all awards across Europe.
- 36.4% of the awards whose notice states the number of tenders received a single bid.
In proportion
All public purchasing in the EU-27 — general government spending on goods, services and investment, the measure the OECD and the European Commission use for public procurement — came to €2.93 trillion in 2025, 15.5% of GDP (Eurostat). Award notices on TED cover only the contracts above the EU thresholds, so they show who wins, not the whole of that spending.
Source: Eurostat, government finance statistics (gov_10a_main, gov_10a_exp) and GDP (nama_10_gdp), retrieved 9 November 2026.
Updated · counted daily from contract award notices on TED and Eurostat international trade data · figures as JSON · free to quote with attribution (CC BY 4.0)
How to cite: Cresques, "Ships and boats market in Europe", https://cresques.com/markets/europe/345-ships-and-boats, from TED contract award notices (© European Union) and Eurostat Comext, updated 13 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
CPV group 345 across the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein: how much public buyers award, who wins, where from, and how the market splits by country.
The market in numbers
Public supply contracts in Europe: award notices published on TED from 2023-11 to 2026-11, by publication year.
- Contracts awarded
- 964
- in 656 award notices
- Awarded value
- €2.2B
- from 68% of awards with a published value
- Winning companies
- 561
- with at least one award
- Public buyers
- 417
- hospitals, cities, agencies
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | 12 |
| 2024 | 260 |
| 2025 | 373 |
| 2026 | 319 |
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | €14.5M |
| 2024 | €528M |
| 2025 | €599.2M |
| 2026 | €1B |
- Ports34
- Other40
Table view
| Cities, regions and central administration | 375 |
| Armed forces and defence agencies | 206 |
| Police, fire services and prisons | 133 |
| Universities, schools and research | 72 |
| Environment and waste | 51 |
| Ports | 34 |
| Culture, sport and religion | 31 |
| Economic affairs | 22 |
| Other | 40 |
- Spain11465 companies
- Estonia10438 companies
- France10273 companies
- Romania9534 companies
- Germany8654 companies
- Poland6839 companies
- Ireland6138 companies
- Sweden5538 companies
- Italy3429 companies
- Netherlands3022 companies
Table view
| Spain | 114 |
| Estonia | 104 |
| France | 102 |
| Romania | 95 |
| Germany | 86 |
| Poland | 68 |
| Ireland | 61 |
| Sweden | 55 |
| Italy | 34 |
| Netherlands | 30 |
- Large companies
- Medium-sized
- Small
- Micro
- SME (size not stated)
- Size not stated
Table view
| Large companies | 69 · 7.2% |
| Medium-sized | 112 · 11.6% |
| Small | 149 · 15.5% |
| Micro | 56 · 5.8% |
| SME (size not stated) | 266 · 27.6% |
| Size not stated | 312 · 32.4% |
- Finland29
- United Kingdom28
- France14
- Germany14
- Netherlands12
- Estonia10
Table view
| Finland | 29 |
| United Kingdom | 28 |
| France | 14 |
| Germany | 14 |
| Netherlands | 12 |
| Estonia | 10 |
Table view
| 2023 | €19B |
| 2024 | €22B |
| 2025 | €23B |
Imports: Eurostat Comext, customs headings 8901, 8903, 8905, 8904, 8902 (only headings whose trade is mainly this category); all buyers, not only public ones.
Awards to companies registered in the buyer's own country
83%
164 awards went to companies registered elsewhere.
Share of the 5 biggest winners
6%
Of all awards; a high share means a concentrated market.
Lots with a single bid
36.4%
Among 877 awards whose notice states the number of tenders.
How we count: one award per procedure, lot and winning company, from live contract award notices; a joint procurement counts on every buyer's market. Values are the awarded amounts published in the notice (framework ceilings and estimates are never added), converted to euro at the ECB yearly average. Company size is the SME flag of the notice (eForms BT-165). Read the methodology.
Companies winning most often across Europe
- 1.Vanguard Marine Lda.Portugal · 11 notices
Companies with a public page whose main category is this group, by award notices; a market map in Cresques covers one country and, on paid plans, lists every winner there.
Country pages
Countries with fewer than 25 winning companies in this group have no separate page; their awards are counted above.
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Pick a country and see who wins there
A Cresques market map for one country and this category shows the companies that win these contracts there: how often, for how many buyers and for how much, and whether the leading ones are distributors or manufacturers.
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Questions
- How big is the ships and boats market in Europe?
- In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 373 supply contracts for ships and boats through award notices on TED; the 220 of them that state a value (59%) add up to €599 million. EU countries together imported €22.7 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to ships and boats in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 8901, 8903, 8905, 8904 and 8902; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), up 18.8% from 2023.
- How many public contracts for ships and boats are awarded in Europe?
- Since November 2023 public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 964 supply contracts for ships and boats in 656 TED award notices; the 653 awards with a published value add up to €2.2B.
- Which countries buy the most ships and boats through public tenders?
- Spain (114 awards), Estonia (104 awards), France (102 awards) lead; 561 companies won at least one award across Europe.
- How often do foreign suppliers win ships and boats contracts?
- 17.0% of the awards went to a company registered in another country than the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Finland.
Source: contract award notices on TED — Tenders Electronic Daily (ted.europa.eu), © European Union, published since November 2023; processed by Cresques. Numbers updated 2026-11-13.