Globalisation
Container shipping could lay claim to being the world’s first truly global industry. Likewise it could claim to be the industry which, more than any other, makes it possible for a truly global economy to work. It connects countries, markets, businesses and people, allowing them to buy and sell goods on a scale not previously possible. And as consumers, we have become used to seeing goods from all parts of the globe in our shops, no matter the time of year.
To put this into perspective, the first ship to carry cargo in containers as we know them travelled between Port Newark and Houston in the USA in 1956. Just 50 years later and most of the world’s manufactured goods are carried in containers, calling at container ports in over 200 countries. The equivalent of about 141 million loaded twenty-foot containers were moved across the oceans in 2007*.
Quite simply, it is now impossible to imagine world trade, and ultimately our lives as consumers, without container shipping.
Distances travelled are, quite literally, astronomical. In one year on average, a container ship travels nearly 300,000 kilometres or 186,411 miles. That is more than seven times around the world, or three-quarters of the distance to the moon. This means that in a typical container ship’s lifetime – about 26 years – it travels the equivalent distance to the moon and back nearly ten times. Multiply that by today’s 4,000 container ships and the real scale becomes apparent.
But is this a good thing?
The reality is that the needs of a rapidly growing world population can only be met by transporting goods and resources between countries. The container shipping industry has made this process more efficient and changed the shape of the world economy. This benefits consumers by creating choice, boosting economies and creating employment. Costs for the consumer are kept down and efficiencies are improved. This in turn minimises impact on the environment.
Consider the efficiency that enables a 30-ton container to travel from a factory in Malaysia, to be loaded aboard a ship and then be carried over 9,000 miles or 14,484 kilometres to Los Angeles in about 16 days. Combine this with the economic effectiveness that can allow a bicycle to be shipped from Thailand to the UK in a container for about US$10. The result is an industry with the power to connect economies, businesses and consumers around the world at speeds and levels never seen before.
Containerisation has enabled developing countries to establish strong positions as suppliers. The USA, for example, imported four times as many varieties of goods in 2002 as in 1972. Asia has become a lead supplier of many household and office 
Such is the span of this ‘hidden’ industry that from cars to clothing, almost everything and anything in a typical home or business, will have seen the inside of a container at some point in its life.
* Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd
