The Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics is a Bremen-based independent research foundation with a number of noted publications in shipping. Possibly the best known is its monthly periodical called Shipping Statistics, which is widely used in shipping research and development. For several years now it has also produced a yearbook of shipping statistics.

This edition is in three sections. The first and longest presents data on the shipping market including indicators of supply and demand, ship sailing data, the freight markets and so on. There are also country reports. For example, the 10 tables on the Soviet Union cover fleet structure, age and size, foreign trade, commodities transported by sea, fleet performance and shares of world trade. For other countries the mix of information may be different which creates difficulties of comparison but making good use of what is available. The second section is about world shipbuilding and includes a country by country survey of order books and completions. The final section concentrates on ports with additional information on sea canals.