Shipping companies have always been applauded for their contribution towards international trade. The global marketplace is highly dependent upon the shipping businesses that facilitate different countries to import and export anything to everything existing on this planet. It can be easily said that the shipping and cargo industry has enjoyed a glorious history right from its inception.
Trade ships of various kinds are operating in thousands around the world. The importance of this industry is expected to keep on rising with growing popularity of the concept of global marketplace. Here is a discussion providing an overview of the cargo shipping businesses.
Three Big Advantages
There are three main advantages that make shipping a superior mode of transportation over other modes:
- Ships of different types can be used to transport cargo which may be of any size or weight.
- Ships contribute less towards the environmental pollution as compared to the land based transportation modes.
- Despite of their growing demand, ships have always been the cheapest mode of connecting the trading company across the globe.
Cyclic Highs and Lows
An interesting aspect of shipping companies is that they experience cyclic highs and lows that are directly linked to the fluctuations in the global economy. Even then, the demand for services offered by shipping businesses has never gone down. The recent global recession is the fresh example which affected the shipping industry at the global level. The countries supplying different types of consumer goods to the world had to suffer due to the downturn. However, the year 2010 saw improvement in the situation and the shipping industry once again headed towards its cyclic boom.
Types of Cargo Ships
The trade ships operated by the shipping companies can be primarily divided into three main categories:
- Dry bulk carrying ships, which carry goods like coal steel, grains and less weighing goods.
- Wet bulk ships that carry crude oil, liquid chemicals and paints and other goods in liquid form.
- Container ships that carry finished goods from the manufacturing countries to the countries where they are consumed.
While dry bulk ships stayed in good form during the recession period and also in the beginning of 2010, the wet bulk ships showed moderate performance. It was the container ships that recorded the adverse effects of recession period. Though, one can expect the things to improve for container ships with the passage of time.
Shipping Business Ownership Statistics
In terms of dead weight tonnage, the shipping companies located in Greece are currently leading the shipping industry. They are followed by the companies located in Japan, Norway, Germany, China and the USA. Panama leads the world in terms of total registered tonnage of 173 million tons. It is followed by Liberia with a round 80 million tons and Bahamas with 47 million tons.
More than 1 million shipping companies are managing nearly 50,000 trading ships of various types around the world. This is indeed a good proof to confirm that cargo shipping industry is the main supporter of the international trade.
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