Development and Globalization: - Unctad

OVERVIEW DEFINITIONS
International trade in goods is conducted mainly by sea, and
transport also plays a major role in international trade in
services. Between 1968 and 2003, the world merchant fleet
grew from 260 to 844 million DWT at an average annual
rate of 3.5%.
The world merchant fleet is specialized. In 1970, 67% of the
fleet consisted of tankers (45%) and bulk carriers (22%) for
carrying dry bulks (goods such as iron ore, coal and grain).
More recently, use of containers has given birth to the
container ship, whose share in the world fleet has grown
from 2% in 1980 to 10% in 2003. Meanwhile the share of
tankers and bulk carriers has risen to 71%.
The structure of the world merchant fleet by group of
country of registration has also changed over the years.
Between 1968 and 2003, developing countries' share rose
from 7% to 25%, and the share of open-registry countries
increased from 19% to 47%. During this period, the shares
of developed countries and Central and Eastern European
countries decreased from 66% to 25% and from 7% to 2%,
respectively. Most of the tonnage registered in openregistry
countries in fact belongs to owners from developed
countries, in the sense that they reap the benefits of
ownership. At the beginning of 2003, 64 % of the fleet -
measured in DWT - from 35 most important maritime
countries and territories was registered under a foreign flag.
Between 1980 and 2000, the world freight ratio decreased
slightly from 6.4 to 6.2%. The ratio for developed countries
decreased from 5.5 to 5.2%, while the ratio for developing
countries decreased from 10.4 to 8.8%. During this period,
the freight ratio for countries in Africa and Oceania
remained above 10%.
To learn more
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4.3 International trade in services
● DWT (deadweight tons) is weight measure of a vessel's
carrying capacity. It includes cargo, fuel and stores.
● A ship owner who registers his or her vessel in an
Open-registry country does not need to have any
connection with the country of registry. The number of
open-registry countries has varied over the years, but six
(the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cyprus, Liberia, Malta and
Panama) consistently appear in this group.
● Freight ratio represents freight costs as a percentage of
a country's import bill.
DATA SOURCES
[1] UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport 2003.Discussion Paper No. 159.
Key developments affecting shipping, ports and multimodal transport are reviewed in UNCTAD's annual Review of Maritime
Transport. For information on technical aspects of shipping, including security, see www.imo.org. To read about seafarers'
working conditions, see www.ilo.org. For daily shipping highlights with in-depth coverage of tankers and bulk traffics, see
www.lloydlist.com, and for coverage of containerized traffic see www.ci-online.co.uk. See also Maritime Economics by
Martin Stopford.