UK SIC 2007 · 50200
Sea and coastal freight water transport (SIC code 50200)
Sea and coastal freight water transport is UK SIC code 50200. It sits in division 50 (Water transport) of the SIC 2007 list. On the August 2026 Companies House register, 3,476 active UK companies list 50200 among their SIC codes. 2,132 of them list it first. That makes it the most used code in its division.
Division 50: Water transport
Division 50 belongs to companies that actually run vessels. They carry cargo or passengers at sea, along the coast or on inland waterways. The working code on the UK register is 50200, sea and coastal freight water transport. Ship owners, operators and charterers moving goods use it, as do workboat and offshore support businesses. Passenger operations, including ferries and charter boats, use the division's passenger codes. Inland waterway carriers have their own set. The vessel is what ties this division together. Firms that arrange shipping without running ships belong elsewhere.
Related SIC codes
Who prospects SIC 50200 companies
This is a specialist patch, and the people selling into it know the industry. Marine insurers and P&I intermediaries lead the way. Ship management and crewing agencies, maritime solicitors, dry dock and repair yards, and survey and classification providers follow. Port-side suppliers build lists here too, from bunkering to chandlery. A newly incorporated vessel operator usually means a ship purchase or a new charter. Insurance, finance, registration and crewing all get sorted at once. That makes incorporation date the single most useful signal in this division.
Lead generation for commercial & B2B services →How to read SIC 50200
SIC 50200 is a five-digit code, and the digits are not arbitrary. The first two, 50, are the division, water transport. Add the third and you have group 502; the fourth narrows it to a class, and the fifth to the subclass, which is the level Companies House actually asks a company to pick. The whole division sits under section H, transportation and storage, the broadest tier there is. Reading a code left to right therefore goes from a whole sector down to one activity.
More on how SIC 50200 is built
A company chooses its own codes when it incorporates and can change them on any confirmation statement. It may list up to four, and Companies House does not check whether they are right. That is why 50200 is worth reading as a claim the company made about itself rather than as a verified fact, and why the first-position and any-position counts above differ.
Measured on the August 2026 register, the busiest registered-office post towns for 50200 are London (1,143), Wembley (151), Beckenham (59), Manchester (56) and Liverpool (49). Those are registered-office locations, which is where the paperwork sits rather than necessarily where the work happens, so treat them as where to start looking rather than as a service area.
Using SIC 50200 as a filter
3,476 companies is 0.07 per cent of the 5,190,464 active companies on the UK register, and ranks 50200 most used of the 2 codes we track in division 50. That is the pool before any filter. Whether it is a big market for you depends on what you sell, but it is the number every other filter on this page cuts down from.
More on filtering by SIC 50200
2,132 companies put 50200 first and a further 1,344, 39 per cent, list it in one of their other three SIC slots. That gap is the difference between a tight list and a broad one. First-code-only is the safer filter when you are writing to them; matching any position is worth it when you need the volume.
The population is concentrated: the five busiest post towns hold 42 per cent of it, and London alone accounts for 33 per cent. If you sell nationally, those five towns are most of the market. If you sell locally and you are not in one of them, expect a much smaller pool and widen the radius early.
In practice the code on its own is rarely the whole filter. Pair 50200 with an incorporation date to catch companies in their first months, when they are still choosing suppliers, or with a filing deadline to reach them while the year end is on their mind. A worked example for this code: 50200, registered office in London, incorporated in the last ninety days, which turns a 3,476 company pool into a list you can write to in an afternoon. Add the poor-website filter if what you sell is a website, or a recent change of officer if you sell to whoever just took the job. Every company you pull carries the Companies House record, the director's name, a verified website and a verified email, and the ones we cannot complete are not charged.
Where SIC 50200 clusters in the UK
ACTIVE COMPANIES BY REGISTERED-OFFICE POST TOWN · COMPANIES HOUSE REGISTER, AUGUST 2026
SIC 50200 companies, as leads
Live rows from the enriched register. Email and phone values are withheld until you sign up.
Tell us who you sell to. We find them, with a real email. 25 free leads, no card.
About SIC 50200
How many UK companies use SIC code 50200?
3,476 active UK companies list 50200 (Sea and coastal freight water transport) among their registered SIC codes. Each company may register up to four. Of those, 2,132 put it first. The figures come from the August 2026 Companies House register snapshot, and count active companies only.
Does a freight forwarder arranging sea shipments register under 50200?
No. Division 50 is for companies that operate vessels. A forwarder, shipping agent or NVOCC books space on other people's ships. That belongs in division 52, normally under 52290, other transportation support activities. If your company operates vessels and also arranges third-party freight, register codes from both divisions, up to four in total.
Which code suits a workboat, charter or crew transfer vessel business?
If the vessel carries goods or equipment, or supports offshore work, 50200 is the usual fit. If it carries passengers for hire, whether ferry runs or leisure charters, use the sea and coastal passenger code 50100 instead. Companies House does not check the choice. Pick the one that matches most of your revenue and adjust it later on a confirmation statement.
Find UK SIC 50200 companies
✓ No card · ✓ 25 free leads · ✓ Cancel anytime