Advantages of Maritime transport

There are many advantages of maritime transport: that is why the main transport mode for global trade is ocean shipping; around 90% of traded goods are carried by ship. For a long time, maritime transport was the most effective mean (and in some cases the only available) for trading.

Nowadays we have planes, trains, trucks… and still, the shipping industry carries 90% of world trade. Shipping is the life blood of the global economy. Without shipping, intercontinental trade, the bulk transport of raw materials, and the import/export of affordable food and manufactured goods would simply not be possible. What are the advantages of maritime transport that make shipping so remarkable?

Flexible and spacious vessels

No matter the size of your shipments, ocean freight companies will accommodate your needs. Containers are filled with smaller shipments, which allows to share the cost of the transport (one container can hold 10,000 beer bottles). Larger loads will fill containers, giving shippers unrivalled bulk choices, or would be transported in special ships if they don’t fit a container.

The largest containership can carry 18.000 containers.

Moreover, shipping allows the transport of goods by bulk: corn, oil or LNG can be easily transported by ship.

One of the most important blessings of maritime transport is that ships will carry every sort of product, no matter the size. You may need to use ships if your company imports or exports sizeable objects, as airplanes typically cannot shipping such products. And if they do, the price of transport is terribly high.

MV-Blue-Marlin-advantages-of-maritime-transport
MV Sea Marlin carries the X-Band Radar

Costs

Shipping offers the foremost competitive freight costs to shippers, specifically over lengthy distances. Shipping trade estimates are often calculated in tonne-miles, as a way of measuring the volume of trade (or “transportation work “, as it is sometimes referred).

Air transport delivery prices are typically 4 to 6 bigger than ocean freight. With statistics like this one, it’s easy to argue that ocean transportation is the least high-priced international delivery possibility.

Environmental performance

Shipping represents 2,6% of overall greenhouse emissions. When in comparison to ocean shipping, air and plenty of alternative types of transportation have lots of higher carbon footprints — an explicit downside for the atmosphere.

Shipping is the least environmentally damaging form of commercial transport and, and compared with land based industry, is a comparatively minor contributor to marine pollution from human activities.

There has been a sizable reduction t in marine pollutants during the last 15 years, specially in regards to the quantity of oil spilled into the sea, despite a big increase in world seaborne trade.

Ships, on the other hand, are the foremost carbon-efficient mode of transportation and produce fewer emissions for each ton-mile of cargo transported than the other means of transport.

also, there has been a substantial reduction in marine pollution over the last 15 years, especially with regard to the amount of oil spilled into the sea, despite a massive increase in world seaborne trade.

Safety

Maritime shipping is the secure means of freight transport with low energy consumption: Containers provide good protection to the products, as a result of once sealed, it’s a physical barrier against atmospheric conditions, temperature variations, fire, theft, and impacts throughout handling. The containers can also be refrigerated. Additionally, maritime transport incorporates a lower energy consumption.

Another advantage of shipping is that it is suitable for hazardous goods: Unlike air freight, sea freight is ideal for shipping dangerous goods.

Advantages

Cost, size, environmental performance and safety are the main advantages of maritime transport over other means of transport. In an ever-growing globalized economy, there is an rising need for shipping greater cargo volumes in the shortest possible period. This has led to the construction of the so-called mega-vessels, with the ability to carry huge quantities of goods into thousands of shipping containers at once. This dynamic benefits the economies of scale and foreign trade, import and export of merchandise and raw materials of all kinds.