World Maritime Day Celebrates the All-Importance of Shipping Industry

Celebrated this year on September 29, Worldwide Maritime Day, an official United Nations day, put the spotlight on the importance of shipping and maritime activities around the globe. This year’s theme, “Shipping: Indispensable to the World,” focused on the critical link between shipping and the everyday lives of people throughout the world.

Approximately 80% percent of global trade by volume and over 70% of global trade by value are carried by sea and are handled by ports worldwide, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development.  These shares are even higher for most developing countries.

Moreover, at the beginning of 2015, the world’s commercial fleet consisted of nearly 90,000 vessels, with a total carrying capacity of some 1.75 billion dwt. This fleet is registered in more than 150 nations and is manned by more than a million seafarers of virtually every nationality. It is this fleet that enables the import and export of goods, on the scale necessary to sustain the modern world, to take place. For example, a single ship can carry enough grain to feed nearly four million people for a month. Or, one ship can haul enough oil to heat an entire city for a year, and others can carry the same amount of finished goods as nearly 20,000 heavy trucks on the road. People all over the world rely on ships to transport the commodities, fuel, foodstuffs, goods and products vital in their everyday lives.

“As the World Maritime Day theme for 2016 so rightly acknowledges, shipping is indispensable to the world, and is set to remain central to world economic growth as we make the inevitable transition towards an era of clean and sustainable development,” said the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack Lim in his annual World Maritime Day message. “This is a message that needs, and deserves, a wider audience.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message also underscored the shipping industry’ far-reaching contribution to society, stating, “The importance of shipping in supporting and sustaining today’s global society makes it indispensable to the world, and to meeting the challenge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Shipping and the Developing World

Over the past 50 years or so, the world has experienced unprecedented escalation in international trade and is becoming increasingly interconnected. This globalization has been made possible by the progressive dismantling of barriers to trade and capital mobility, technological advances, and steadily declining costs of transport, communication and information technology. As a result, growth can be accelerated, skills and technology can be more evenly dispersed, and both individuals and countries can take advantage of previously unimagined economic opportunities. Shipping has been key to helping ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world’s people. Maritime activity, for example, provides an important source of invisible income to many developing countries. In fact, according to the IMO, developing countries now lead the world in some of shipping’s most important ancillary businesses, including the registration of ships, the supply of seagoing personnel and ship recycling. They also play a significant part in ship owning and operating, shipbuilding and repair and port services, among others.

Roanoke Trade is proud of its commitment to enhance the future of the shipping industry by providing total insurance solutions, surety bonds, and an ATA Carnet program, that address the various risks faced by this all-important sector. For more information about our solutions and programs, please contact one of our professionals at 1-800-ROANOKE (800-762-6653).