What are France trade nowcasts?

France trade nowcasts are monthly estimates of import and export values and volumes published by IMF PortWatch, providing real-time insights into French trade activity before official statistics are released.

How are the France port calls and trade volumes estimated?

The estimates are derived from Automated Identification System (AIS) vessel-tracking data, monitoring ship movements to calculate port calls and seaborne trade volumes for France.

Which vessel types are tracked in the France trade nowcast dataset?

The dataset breaks down port calls and estimated volumes by vessel types, including container ships, dry bulk carriers, general cargo ships, ro-ro ships, and tankers.

What is the base year for the France trade volume indices?

The trade value and volume indices in this dataset are indexed to the base year 2024 (2024 = 100), with monthly series starting in 2019.

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France trade nowcasts and port calls

Name: France trade nowcasts and port calls
Creator: IMF PortWatch (IMF and University of Oxford) – estimates from AIS vessel tracking, France
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

France trade nowcasts and monthly port calls from IMF PortWatch, based on ship tracking.

Source: IMF PortWatch (IMF and University of Oxford) – estimates from AIS vessel tracking, FranceLast updated: Sep 15, 2026, 17:22Curated by Bui Thanh PhucAbout this data ↓

Indicator	07-2026	06-2026	05-2026	04-2026	03-2026	02-2026	01-2026	12-2025	11-2025	10-2025	09-2025	08-2025	07-2025	06-2025	05-2025	04-2025	03-2025	02-2025	01-2025	12-2024	11-2024	10-2024	09-2024	08-2024	07-2024	06-2024	05-2024	04-2024	03-2024	02-2024	01-2024	12-2023	11-2023	10-2023	09-2023	08-2023	07-2023
Trade nowcasts6
Trade value (imports and exports)	117.32	118.99	123.17	119.45	121.66	102.78	99.04	104.28	105.07	102.82	109.09	103.16	104.95	103.58	101.56	95.28	105.48	94.69	94.18	97.83	105.54	106.37	101.52	105.68	101.51	100.01	105.92	102.27	99.19	83.58	90.57	87.05	90.16	102.71	94.29	92.7	96.98
Import value	117.25	117.46	127.15	123.75	125.15	103.83	101.1	99.48	105	101.43	109.14	101.49	107	104.2	100.58	93.3	108.37	97.23	94.31	95.1	104.65	108.03	105.31	109.46	99.89	100.47	108.87	101.45	97.67	78.51	90.58	84.15	94.09	103.03	94.14	95.98	97.37
Export value	117.41	120.83	118.36	114.25	117.45	101.51	96.54	110.07	105.15	104.49	109.03	105.17	102.47	102.82	102.73	97.66	102	91.62	94.01	101.13	106.62	104.37	96.95	101.11	103.48	99.46	102.35	103.26	101.02	89.69	90.55	90.54	85.43	102.33	94.47	88.75	96.51
Trade volume (imports and exports)	105.97	107.75	107.39	105.9	109.46	101.19	98.57	106.75	107.36	105.57	111.25	105.77	106.34	104.67	104.17	97.68	105.7	93.92	94.07	98.73	105.96	106.06	101.61	105.26	101.59	100.17	105.18	101.2	98.41	85.14	90.69	87.33	88.55	100.65	92.24	91.5	96.59
Import volume	104.67	105.01	108.29	107.39	109.6	103.54	102.13	103.22	108.98	105.75	112.69	105.28	109.62	106.18	104.59	96.56	109.19	96.38	93.67	95.83	105.16	108.08	106.43	109.54	99.59	100.5	108.22	99.69	96.46	79.7	90.81	84.07	92.02	99.6	90.86	94.58	97.04
Export volume	107.27	110.49	106.5	104.4	109.31	98.85	95.01	110.27	105.75	105.39	109.81	106.25	103.05	103.15	103.75	98.79	102.21	91.46	94.48	101.62	106.77	104.03	96.79	100.98	103.6	99.85	102.14	102.71	100.36	90.58	90.56	90.6	85.08	101.71	93.63	88.42	96.14
Port calls by vessel type5
Container ships	350	345	364	344	342	306	300	331	317	332	339	343	338	314	314	313	299	267	287	289	312	334	323	333	334	334	370	329	339	288	317	302	313	357	340	342	352
Dry bulk carriers	108	100	121	90	114	106	91	119	112	113	101	103	118	81	104	109	103	105	69	79	91	91	88	81	100	107	101	112	137	107	122	116	104	111	100	98	125
General cargo ships	361	387	366	415	396	363	351	388	338	372	420	403	404	440	413	387	433	394	340	374	371	415	389	391	428	430	386	389	405	369	375	365	372	418	389	389	392
Ro-ro ships	139	142	143	153	152	135	110	155	145	154	147	123	147	145	147	149	157	132	114	141	136	151	135	114	127	150	160	148	137	128	120	128	133	136	125	119	121
Tankers	676	626	666	686	688	649	640	678	718	673	697	669	698	658	661	651	677	637	625	635	641	693	654	686	740	720	715	703	688	577	564	560	687	690	731	693	648
Estimated import volume by vessel type5
Container ships	2,082,573	2,158,845	2,194,318	2,092,326	2,082,841	1,905,951	2,034,157	1,863,772	2,073,232	2,061,336	2,135,304	2,017,093	2,016,702	2,039,555	1,965,721	1,751,977	1,996,256	1,700,443	1,682,177	1,771,724	2,002,656	2,040,434	1,906,873	2,021,689	1,866,692	1,706,454	2,167,216	1,834,931	1,617,586	1,508,798	1,699,233	1,489,737	1,545,776	1,724,467	1,569,744	1,659,350	1,742,540
Dry bulk carriers	1,762,015	1,347,818	1,885,175	1,427,443	2,210,554	1,913,621	1,192,175	2,122,124	1,235,069	1,437,396	1,793,303	1,945,795	1,938,473	1,497,475	1,827,245	2,086,248	1,482,164	2,153,570	1,498,927	1,212,705	1,791,909	1,836,589	1,654,774	2,287,461	1,493,197	2,134,837	1,516,223	1,847,843	1,534,749	1,317,829	1,599,208	1,788,175	1,203,363	1,787,559	1,549,658	1,532,264	1,614,065
General cargo ships	255,998	277,595	316,255	368,093	326,108	329,099	253,948	329,860	311,985	309,552	299,890	342,209	308,094	327,476	306,234	301,111	309,080	315,459	271,158	271,589	303,670	307,851	354,464	363,413	346,823	407,164	289,364	331,325	401,571	296,717	335,746	285,821	289,218	328,146	294,101	374,987	314,603
Ro-ro ships	60,058	58,373	67,282	66,730	62,893	63,949	57,532	79,457	58,938	71,724	61,753	40,547	65,833	68,880	60,497	65,265	55,680	58,667	56,242	65,765	56,544	75,100	58,012	61,122	53,201	88,468	78,826	79,913	55,540	55,917	77,873	58,160	60,652	61,965	61,344	61,065	58,593
Tankers	7,309,634	6,921,688	6,841,013	7,377,468	7,762,806	7,743,820	7,599,865	7,683,220	8,747,397	7,487,166	8,782,407	7,252,897	8,695,364	7,650,908	7,832,315	7,159,633	9,246,435	7,405,306	7,772,401	7,859,566	7,745,049	8,012,847	8,678,261	7,813,917	7,272,296	7,490,535	7,383,239	7,152,165	8,038,863	5,269,898	5,966,833	6,356,091	8,555,573	8,238,892	7,607,459	7,292,718	7,783,200
Estimated export volume by vessel type5
Container ships	2,102,418	2,123,947	2,013,076	1,975,399	2,046,512	1,865,051	1,756,424	2,098,269	2,025,513	1,994,096	2,051,213	1,988,647	1,943,596	1,885,266	1,901,556	1,850,648	1,837,440	1,661,824	1,796,500	1,893,767	2,066,451	1,949,618	1,931,920	1,942,241	1,922,764	1,815,401	1,938,424	1,841,723	1,816,631	1,599,772	1,674,677	1,648,145	1,532,685	1,861,751	1,649,513	1,579,460	1,791,653
Dry bulk carriers	1,209,348	802,566	890,034	950,215	1,213,008	1,058,089	1,171,294	858,794	1,061,176	1,314,637	954,984	1,205,928	1,002,133	770,291	792,413	925,958	997,296	827,093	471,803	452,377	500,555	355,123	574,401	483,332	1,070,289	842,909	934,371	1,020,955	1,943,247	1,636,511	1,614,985	1,271,155	838,638	908,984	977,783	1,101,754	1,539,869
General cargo ships	343,726	438,053	471,863	430,548	416,972	368,661	362,196	383,973	353,813	335,537	421,474	412,497	413,175	461,660	477,389	404,192	456,867	402,427	374,765	431,421	359,914	437,882	308,410	352,527	417,890	458,041	402,080	466,551	405,722	426,122	340,451	379,304	363,091	422,745	405,593	356,037	334,677
Ro-ro ships	37,943	45,782	36,818	54,072	58,771	52,725	27,566	40,485	34,223	50,825	40,828	44,094	43,598	43,746	43,554	49,716	59,960	42,163	36,682	45,175	47,439	51,941	38,958	31,694	43,748	30,911	39,245	46,986	51,013	36,889	42,322	38,632	38,073	42,484	30,514	34,530	52,834
Tankers	1,596,653	1,487,365	1,362,488	1,385,289	1,735,332	1,505,243	1,876,800	2,240,767	2,008,558	2,075,738	2,108,344	1,701,805	1,490,046	1,764,782	1,583,341	1,413,189	1,730,685	1,589,675	1,610,981	1,811,850	2,035,912	1,805,904	1,414,652	2,023,573	1,730,413	1,732,441	1,529,034	1,812,037	1,415,612	1,249,406	1,306,520	1,467,879	1,650,019	1,888,203	2,104,982	1,923,047	1,560,602

Latest reading

Trade value (imports and exports) stood at 117.32 in Jul 2026. That is −1.4% from Jun 2026 and +11.8% from a year earlier. The series on this page is monthly and runs from Jan 2019 to Jul 2026. Source: IMF PortWatch (IMF and University of Oxford) – estimates from AIS vessel tracking, France.

Latest: 117.32; Jul 2026
vs previous period: −1.4%; Jun 2026
vs a year earlier: +11.8%

About this data

France trade nowcasts and monthly port calls from IMF PortWatch, based on ship tracking. This monthly dataset provides estimated import and export values and volumes, indexed to 2024 = 100. It includes port calls and seaborne trade volumes by vessel type, such as container ships, tankers, and dry bulk carriers. The estimates are derived from AIS vessel tracking and are available since 2019.

Frequently asked questions

What are France trade nowcasts?: France trade nowcasts are monthly estimates of import and export values and volumes published by IMF PortWatch, providing real-time insights into French trade activity before official statistics are released.
How are the France port calls and trade volumes estimated?: The estimates are derived from Automated Identification System (AIS) vessel-tracking data, monitoring ship movements to calculate port calls and seaborne trade volumes for France.
Which vessel types are tracked in the France trade nowcast dataset?: The dataset breaks down port calls and estimated volumes by vessel types, including container ships, dry bulk carriers, general cargo ships, ro-ro ships, and tankers.
What is the base year for the France trade volume indices?: The trade value and volume indices in this dataset are indexed to the base year 2024 (2024 = 100), with monthly series starting in 2019.