Marine Water Desalination Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2033

This report describes and explains the marine water desalination market and covers 2018-2023, termed the historic period, and 2023-2028, 2033F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global marine water desalination market reached a value of nearly $9.35 billion in 2023, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.03% since 2018. The market is expected to grow from $9.35 billion in 2023 to $18.33 billion in 2028 at a rate of 14.40%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.87% from 2028 and reach $36.67 billion in 2033.

Growth in the historic period include increasing demand for renewable energy, increasing industrialization across various sectors and investments in water infrastructure. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were strict government regulations.

Going forward, increasing demand for fresh water, strong economic growth in emerging markets, increasing water scarcity, expansion in the tourism and travel industry and increasing government investments will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the marine water desalination market in the future include high costs of establishing desalination plants.

The marine water desalination market is segmented by type into large tonnage systems and small tonnage systems. The large tonnage systems market was the largest segment of the marine water desalination market segmented by type, accounting for 68.8% or $6.43 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the large tonnage systems segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the marine water desalination market segmented by type, at a CAGR of 14.78% during 2023-2028.

The marine water desalination market is segmented by technology into membrane-based desalination, thermal desalination and other technologies. The membrane-based desalination market was the largest segment of the marine water desalination market segmented by technology, accounting for 64.7% or $6.05 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the membrane-based desalination segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the marine water desalination market segmented by technology, at a CAGR of 14.87% during 2023-2028.

The marine water desalination market is segmented by application into navy application ships, passenger ships, yachts, merchant ships and other applications. The navy application ships market was the largest segment of the marine water desalination market segmented by application, accounting for 30.3% or $2.83 billion of the total in 2023. Going forward, the yachts segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the marine water desalination market segmented by application, at a CAGR of 16.66% during 2023-2028.

Asia-Pacific was the largest region in the marine water desalination market, accounting for 33.6% or $3.14 billion of the total in 2023. It was followed by North America, Middle East and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the marine water desalination market will be Asia-Pacific and Africa where growth will be at CAGRs of 16.15% and 15.56% respectively. These will be followed by Middle East and South America where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 14.63% and 13.67% respectively.

The global marine water desalination market is highly concentrated, with a few large players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up 63.33% of the total market in 2023. Veolia Environnement S.A. was the largest competitor with a 21.41% share of the market, followed by Suez SA with 12.11%, Doosan Corporation with 10.10%, Acciona S.A with 8.47%, Metito Holdings Ltd. with 7.37%, Aquatech International LLC with 0.90%, Water & Environment Technologies Co. Ltd. (WETICO) with 0.88%, IDE Technologies with 0.74%, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. with 0.68% and Xylem Inc. with 0.67%.

The top opportunities in the marine water desalination market segmented by type will arise in the large tonnage systems segment, which will gain $6.38 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the marine water desalination market segmented by technology will arise in the membrane-based desalination segment, which will gain $6.05 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The top opportunities in the marine water desalination market segmented by application will arise in the navy application ships segment, which will gain $2.66 billion of global annual sales by 2028. The marine water desalination market size will gain the most in China at $1.33 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the marine water desalination market include innovative solar-powered desalination technologies to revolutionize freshwater production, strategic partnerships and collaborations among market players, integration of floating desalination to tackle water scarcity and construction of overseas water desalination plant to expand market presence.

Player-adopted strategies in the marine water desalination market include focuses on focus on enhancing its business expertise by new projects, expanding its business through securing new contracts and expanding its business through strategic partnerships.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the marine water desalination companies to focus on advancing solar-powered desalination technologies, focus on integrating innovative floating desalination solutions, focus on large tonnage systems segment, expand in emerging markets, continue to focus on developed markets, focus on expanding distribution channels through strategic partnerships, provide competitively priced offerings, focus on leveraging environmental benefits of desalination technologies, prioritize educational content in promotional campaigns and focus on targeting yacht owners for marine water desalination solutions.