Almost 90% of everything we see in shops travels the ocean on huge ships the length of football fields and the height of Niagara Falls. These ships and boxes belong to a business that feeds, clothes, warms, and supplies us. They have fueled if not created globalization. Here are some curious facts about this essential industry.
Shipping is the greenest mass transport
In comparison to greenhouse effect emitted by other means of mass transport, shipping has significantly less negative ecological impact and consumes less energy than moving goods by plane or truck.
Sending a container from Shanghai to Le Havre (France) emits fewer greenhouse gases than the truck that takes the container on to Lyon. Though, since the shipping industry is extremely large, its overall effect of ecology makes it one of the most polluting industries in the world.
Shipping is safe
To this day shipping is the safest means of commercial transport. It was one of the first industries that adopted now widely known international safety standards (in the 19th century). The safety regulations are developed and installed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Shipworker demographics are extremely predictable
Global shipping industry now employs around 1.5 million seafarers. On average, the typical shipworker is a male Filipino; this nation makes up one third of all shipworkers. Shipping is a male-dominated industry, and men constitute 98 percent of the work force. The average annual salary of a maritime worker ranges from $45,000 to $65,000.
Container inspection is rare
Many modern series films feature dockworkers smuggling drugs and migrants via shipping containers. These practices are feasible due to a low actual check rate of containers arriving to ports. Due to a massive turnover of ports only 5% of the containers shipped to U.S. ports are subject to physical inspection, and that number is even lower in Europe.
Communication challenges
Around 33% of ship crews in the world have no access to any kind of communication means while they are on the open sea. When ships are out at sea, only 10% of crews have any kind of available internet, often leaving crews lampooned from friends and family, as well as entertainment, for weeks on end. However, the revolutionary quantum internet which uses ships as transmitters of the World Wide Web could change all this.
Types of merchant vessels
The global fleet consists of 6 types of ships: tankers, passenger ships, container ships, fishing vessels, bulk carriers and general cargo ships. Modern fleet counts more than 55,000 merchant ships carrying cargo around the world and this number grows every year.
Tons of bananas
The largest ship can store almost 21,500 containers (6 identical OOCL vessels delivered in 2017-2018). That means it can carry more than 900 million bananas.
Powerful
A container ship engine has about 1,000 times more power than an average family car. Nevertheless, big container ships only travel at 23 knots at peak. That means they travel 26.5 miles per hour.
A long journey
In one year, an average container ship travels the equivalent of 75% of the way to the moon and back during its regular travel across the ocean.
Biggest fleets
Germany, Japan and Greece are the 3 countries with the biggest fleet based on total dead weight tonnage controlled by parent companies located in these countries.
Largest port
The Port of Shanghai is the busiest port in the world. In 2010, Shanghai port overtook the Port of Singapore to become the world’s busiest container port. Shanghai’s port handled 29.05 million TEUs, whereas Singapore’s was a half million TEU’s behind. In 2016, Shanghai port set a historic record by handling over 37 million TEUs.