英语论文网

of shipping. Containerization has definitely had a big impact on the business of shipping. Without containerization China would not have emerged as a large scale shipper of consumer goods. China has played an irreplaceable part in this respect. China has attracted more and more foreign investments in its industry sector, which has established it as a factory for the world production activities. Furthermore, the rising proportion of freights shipped that are highly suitable for container transport like final goods and intermediate goods, as well as some traditional general cargoes, is another positive factor for increasing the demand of liner shipping. Increasing exports and technological developments have led to an increase in the growth of this sector. Size of the container ships and average speed has also progressively increased. Maersk Line has recently ordered a series of 18000 TEU vessels (Malacca Max) to achieve more economies of scale. A major slowdown in the world’s leading economies would have a negative effect on international trade and hence on container shipping. Terrorism risk might also lead to a slowdown of international trade and this is very much relevant for import containers to the USA where there is a serious concern that a “dirty” bomb might be placed in one of the containers. This has led to the USA implementing the 100% scan for all import containers to the USA. The cost and time lost on account of these extra security procedures is costing the industry a lot of money and has increased the cost of shipping containers to the USA. These increased costs might cause a downward adjustment of consumer’s purchasing trends and might cause a slowdown of imports into the USA. The growth in the demand for this sector has been about 10% per annum over the last few years but recently it has fallen down to around 5%. In 2007 the Far East – Europe trade grew by 20% but in 2008 – 2009 these numbers have fallen. “Gerry Wang, CEO of Seaspan has described container ship system as “ocean highways” greatly important for the stimulation of world trade, connecting producers and consumers” (Lorange, 2010). In comparison with traditional general cargo vessels, shorter handling time at terminals and safer, higher quality transport are main decisive influences of container shipping success. More cargo owners with goods of high value tend to choose this form of transport. Not only do these factors lower costs, but also reduces containers’ turnaround times at terminals, which reduce capacity bottlenecks in the ports. Because of this, more and more major ports in the world increase their degree of containerization. However, with the increasing domination of faster and larger vessels in the global shipping, the expansion of port and improvement of its facilities cannot catch up with such rapid growth of ships that capacity bottlenecks in the ports will impose negative impact on liner shipping demand. For example congestion in and outside the ports results in longer turnaround times further affecting shipping demand. Thus efficient harbor facilities for high cargo handling efficiency, favorable collection and distribution system in port and better connections to the hinterland are important driving forces for more demand of efficient liner shipping. So the future economic development of China will be of prime importance for container shipping. Also the economic development of Japan, USA and the countries of the EU will also play an important ro