subject: Shipping hazards [print this page] Shipping hazards Shipping hazards
Merchant shipping is an essential component of the world's economy. The international shipping industry accounts for some 90% of all world trade, turning financial deals and arrangements into the physical import and export of goods - a process essential for the modern world.
For the most part, the shipping industry will go largely unnoticed by the public eye. It's only very rarely that the world of maritime news, of shipping forecasts, favourable weather conditions, or the politics of shipping lanes and international waters crosses over into the mainstream agenda.
When it does, it's generally only the most dramatic events; pirate attacks, smuggling interceptions or maritime disasters - and even then, the latter will only gain attention if it's a major event. Hundreds of smaller incidents will go completely unnoticed outside of the ocean faring community.
Yet shipping is an industry on a truly global scale. As of the first of July 2009, the total size of the fleet of merchant ships was made up of 53,005 vessels officially registered in over 150 nations. Whilst this figure includes the passenger ships that form the most likely point of contact between the public and the maritime world, this sector only accounted for 13% of the total number of ships (2,502 vessels).
This figure is dwarfed by the sheer number of freight vessels, which come in a huge variety of sizes. The largest of these are the tankers (27%, 14,095 ships) and the container ships (9%, 4,678). These are closely followed by bulk carriers - the ships which carry unpackaged bulk cargo - which make up 15% (7,787) of the world's merchant navy, with the remaining 31% accounted for by the 17,104 'general cargo ships'; barges, coasters, reefer ships and the like.
Combined, these vessels carry a bewildering quantity of cargo around the world. Given the huge variety in cargo that the shipping industry handles every day, it's quite hard to actually quantify the amount. Heavier, bulkier cargo is not necessarily worth more than smaller amounts of lighter products. Placing a value upon the sheer tonnage of freight is nearly impossible.
The closest possible figures come from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, yet are likely only a gross approximation of the maritime trade. Still, they give some sense of the scale of the industry. In 2008, it was estimated that the industry transported over 7.7 thousand million tonnes of cargo.
Although in a world connected by air travel and the internet, there's something of a tendency to view seaborne trade as somewhat archaic, the shipping industry has far from decreased with the advent of global industrialism and consumer goods. Combined with a gradual liberalisation of national economies and the growth of free trade, the total amount of seaborne trade is believed to have quadrupled over the past four decades.
In 1968, the best estimates indicated that just over 8 thousand billion tonne-miles (weight transported over distance) were carried by the shipping industry. In 2008, this had grown to over 32 thousand billion miles.
This is an industry which operates on a vast scale. One useful way of considering this is to consider how the cost of shipping eventually translates to the shelf price of a product; to be brief, it's extremely small. In terms of raw materials for production elsewhere, the typical cost of transporting a tonne of iron ore from Australia to Europe would be around $12. The typical cost of transporting a 20 foot container from Asia to Europe - which would contain around 20 tonnes of cargo, likely lightweight consumer goods - is the same as the economy airfare for a single person travelling the same journey.
By the time the goods reach the consumer, shipping costs are incredibly marginal. For each kilo of coffee worth around $15.00 on average, shipping costs make up just $0.15 of the shelf price. This would be impossible without the sheer scale and size of the industry.
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