The shipping industry is the backbone of globalization and international trade. Seaborne transportation plays a major role in the world’s industries and society, enabling the transport of large volumes of raw and processed material, as well as food, water and technological products.
Seaborne trade continues to expand, bringing benefits for consumers across the world through competitive freight costs. Thanks to the growing efficiency of shipping as a mode of transport and increased economic liberalization, the prospects for the industry’s further growth continue to be strong.
There are over 50,000 merchant ships trading internationally, transporting every kind of cargo. The world fleet is registered in over 150 nations and manned by over a million seafarers of virtually every nationality.
Ships are technically sophisticated, high value assets and the operation of merchant ships generates an estimated annual income of over half a trillion US Dollars in freight rates.
Throughout the last century, the shipping industry has been a general trend of increase in total volume increasing industrialization and the liberalization of national economies have fueled free trade and a growing demand for consumer products. As with all industrial sectors, however, shipping is susceptible to economic downturns. Indeed, following several years of incredibly buoyant shipping markets, for many trades the best in living memory, much of the international shipping industry has fallen prey to the worldwide economic downtown in 2008, translated into a dramatic and abrupt reduction in demand for shipping.
Today, still experiencing a slightly slower growth rate compared to the longer-term historical average, global waterborne trade is forecasted to double in 2035.
Continued population growth in Africa, Asia and South America, and rising urbanization will be one of the strongest drivers of the growing demand for waterborne services during the coming decade.
Growing cross border e-commerce and the fourth industrial revolution will also have the potential to sustain the growth and further reshape maritime trade patterns.
But to sustain that growth, and, at the same time, ensure future profitability for the ship owners and easy access to shipping services for charters and producers in developing countries, the global shipping industry has to increase efficiency, improve processes and perform a fundamental digital transformation.
