Ferry data studies
Ferry research & data
Original studies built from the 3289 ferry routes, 280 operators and 2621 ports we track worldwide. The numbers update as our network grows — free to read, cite and link.
5 data studies · Last updated Sep 16, 2026
Ferry data study
The world's longest ferry crossings
The longest ferry crossings we track, ranked by the approximate sea distance between their two ports.
View the dataFerry data study
The busiest ferry corridors
Crossings served by the most competing ferry operators — usually the most frequent and most flexible routes to book.
View the dataFerry data study
Ferry operators ranked by route network
The ferry companies with the widest route networks across the regions we cover.
View the dataFerry data study
The most connected ferry ports
The ports and terminals with the most ferry routes — the natural hubs for island-hopping and onward connections.
View the dataFerry data study
International ferry routes
Ferry crossings that connect two different countries — from short straits to longer international sailings.
View the dataWhat the data says right now
Each study below is a ranked table; these are the numbers currently sitting at the top of them. They move when an operator publishes a new season, which is the point of rebuilding the tables from the live database rather than writing them up once.
- Longest crossing
- Davao City to Manila
- 61h dock to dock
- Most contested crossing
- Ios to Santorini
- 5 operators on one route
Crossings that run between two countries — 86 of them — are the subset where a timetable has to survive customs, a border and two sets of holidays, which is why they behave differently from the domestic network.
Using these figures
The tables are free to quote. Cite the study page you took the number from and the date you read it — the figures change when operators publish, and a number without a date stops being checkable. If you need a cut we do not publish, say which one and we will tell you whether the data supports it.
What these studies are not: a passenger census. We hold timetables, not ticket sales, so “busiest” here means departures or operators, never people carried. Where a figure comes from an operator’s own publication rather than our schedule data, the study says so on the page.
How we build these
Every study is generated directly from the structured ferry data on Ferry Schedule Hub — the routes, operators, ports and crossing distances we maintain — and refreshed as that data is updated. Distances are great-circle estimates from port coordinates and are indicative. Airport entries from upstream data feeds are excluded.