Container Shipping: Global Trends

Abstract

The article explores the status and major trends in the development of container shipping traffic in the world; analyzes the dynamics and structure of container shipping traffic by regions of the world, the largest of which is Asia; determines the dynamics of container freight flows, allocating 20 cities with the largest container freight turnover; defines the role of container shipping in the development of global maritime trade. It is determined that the processing of container freight flows remains concentrated in large ports. The total capacity of the world’s 20 largest ports is growing and makes 347,8 million TEU in 2018. Shanghai remains the most powerful container port in the world, the largest growth is observed in Singapore. Only five ports outside Asia are represented among the top 20 container ports, namely Antwerp, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Rotterdam. Further development of container traffic from China is expected, which in turn may lead to a reduction in volumes and freight flows on the Trans-Pacific route. In the container shipments by sea, there are tendencies to form alliances between terminal operators, line companies for joint operation of berths, which puts new requirements for adaptation and technical equipment of ports. Vertical integration and further expansion of transport lines in terminal operations increases competition between carriers. It is determined that the development of container shipping is facilitated by the growth of economic activity world-wide, restructuring of supply chain in favor of large ships and carrier alliances, digitalization and modernization of transport infrastructure, the newest shipbuilding, economic integration and informatization.

Keywords

• container shipping
• global container flows
• port
• container processing
• sea transport