World Air Cargo and Maritime Traffic
After years of growth, both maritime and air cargo traffic fell in 2009.
Air cargo is only one part of the global goods distribution network. Shippers demand that shipments arrive at their destination on time, undamaged, and at a reasonable price, regardless of transportation mode. Different transport modes-road, rail, maritime, and air-can often move the same commodities. But shippers usually have only two choices for intercontinental freight: air and maritime. Maritime transport offers the primary benefit of low cost; air transport offers the benefits of speed and reliability.
The maritime industry, as measured in tonne-kilometers of goods transported, is much larger than the air cargo industry. In 2009, the world maritime industry generated an estimated total of 60 trillion RTKs compared to 166.8 billion RTKs for the air cargo industry. However, this maritime traffic includes the movement of bulk commodities such as oil, metal ores, and grains, most of which cannot be directly compared to the high-value dry commodities associated with transport by air. A better comparison of the air and maritime modes can be made using the remaining maritime dry cargo after bulk commodities have been subtracted, which totaled about 16.9 trillion RTKs in 2009.
Containership transport, a segment of maritime dry cargo, is one of the fastest growing forms of freight transport. Since the late 1980s, globalization and regional specialization of industry, particularly in Asia, have driven rapid growth in freight flows on containerships. As of 2009, worldwide containership traffic is estimated to have totaled 6.2 trillion RTKs, representing about a third of world maritime dry cargo. From 1999 to 2007, containership traffic averaged 9.9% growth per year in terms of tonne-kilometers.
The global economic downturn, which began in 2008, led to the worst freight transport downturn since the early 1930s. All major trade lanes were affected, and both air and maritime cargo had major declines. In 2009, world air cargo traffic fell by 11.3%. According to preliminary estimates by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, total world maritime freight traffic fell by 4.5% in 2009 compared to 2008. Containership freight, which dropped 6.9%, was more adversely affected than maritime transport of bulk commodities. The ongoing infrastructure and construction boom in China and, to a lesser extent, in India partially offset decreased demand for bulk commodities in other regions.
The containership industry responded to deteriorating economic conditions by reducing capacity. At the beginning of 2010, 11.6% of the world containership fleet was idle. Changes in operations such as "slow steaming," decreased ports of call, reduced frequencies, and service consolidation with alliance partners also helped the industry cope with the decreased demand.
Starting in late 2009, an economic recovery began, which led to a shipping boom in the first half of 2010. Ships were returned to service, and by mid-2010 only 2% of the world containership fleet remained idle. As economic recovery continues, it is expected that growth of both the maritime and air cargo industries will return to previous levels. However, some changes in containership operations, such as slow steaming and reduced frequencies, remain in place. These practices, along with reduced capital available for trade finance, may lead to some supply chain restructuring. Restructured supply chains might include a larger air cargo component, although the extent and impact of any supply chain changes are not certain.