Indian maritime university

Arun
Darshan
Gladwin
Ceejan
Riza
Shalu

How do our goods get

to the shops?

Understanding global ocean trade

and its impact on the world.

How does your

bedroom contain
things from all over
the world?
How do teenagers in
Los Angeles wear Ugg
boots made in
Australia, or students
in London receive
iPods from China for
their birthdays, or
kids in Rotterdam eat
Ecuadorian bananas
for lunch?

The answer is
global ocean
trade

So how does that work?

Container shipping is the main way to transport
goods around the world it enables global trade.

The
answer
is
Everything from door handles
and
strawberries,
global trade

to make-up and computers, have seen the inside

of a container. Without container shipping
connecting the world we would not have the
variety of goods we have today!

What is container
shipping?
Container shipping is different from conventional
shipping because it uses containers of various
sizes 20 foot (6.09 m), 40 foot (12.18 m) , 45
foot (13.7 m), 48 foot (14.6 m), and 53 foot
(16.15 m) to load, transport, and unload goods.
Container shipping is a highly efficient method of
transporting goods. The container has made it
possible for large ships to be designed to
transport huge quantities of material, increasing
global trade dramatically.
Container ports are specially designed to load and
unload the containers quickly and efficiently. This
makes the import and export of goods affordable
for manufacturers and traders.
Before the invention of container shipping, goods
were unpacked and loaded onto the ships at the
port, taking up much more time, manpower and
money.

Maritime transport is divided

into three cargo groups:

The liquid bulk cargo, for the transport of

crude oil its products and other liquids.
The solid bulk cargo, for the transport of
minerals and especially those the world
most needs, wheat and other grains;
essential to feed the whole humanity.
And the third group is the general cargo,
consisting of manufactured products that
until the 1960s, were transported loose in
the holds of ships; when a wise shipping
business executive, generalized the
construction and the use of ships built with
modular holds to accommodate the
containers boxes transported by trucks on
the United State of America highways

What can container

ships carry?

A standard container can hold

24,914 tin cans

Facts about containers

Container capacity is measured in twenty-foot

equivalent units (TEU). This is the size of the
standard 20-foot long (6.09 m) container.
Another standard size is the forty-foot (12.18 m)
container (i.e. two TEUs). A forty-foot
equivalent unit (FEU) can be loaded with about
20 tons of cargo.

Different containers
for different cargoes
In addition to standard containers, there are also
specialized types of equipment:
Open tops are used for easy load of cargo such
as logs, machinery and odd sized goods.
Flat racks can be used for boats, vehicles,
machinery or industrial equipment.
Open sides may be used for vegetables such as
onions and potatoes.
Tank containers transport many types of
liquids such as chemicals, wine and vegetable
oil.

How can container ships keep

food fresh?
Have you ever wondered how you can eat lamb
from New Zealand or sea food from Norway?

Special reefer containers exist that can

control temperatures, allowing everything
from meat, fruit and vegetables, to dairy
products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals to
travel across the world.
Reefers can keep goods frozen at
temperatures as low as -60C. However, they
can also preserve goods at warmer
temperatures if that is necessary.

How do the boxes

fit on the ship?

The containers are stacked on the ship with up

to 8 containers stacked on top of each other on
deck. Below the deck a ship can stack up to 11
containers on top of each other.
To make sure that the containers stay in
place during the voyage, twist locks are used
to connect the containers. A twist lock is a
device used for connecting two containers at
the corner posts through an interlocking
mechanism.

What are the advantages

of container shipping?
It allows us to meet the needs of the worlds
growing population by importing and exporting
goods.

It provides consumers with more choice.

It lets us experience goods from entirely

different cultures.

It helps modern industries such as

electronics and clothing to flourish.
It connects countries, peoples and markets.
It boosts economies and increases employment.
To give you an example: China has become one of
the main suppliers to the world and handles more
containers than any other nation.

Shipping Agents
An agent can act for any of the parties involved in the voyage and in
any capacity as agreed between the agent and his principal.

MAIN CATEGORIES OF SHIP AGENT:

PORT AGENT: organises and coordinates the port call,
acting on behalf of the owner or operator of the vessel.
CARGO AGENT: solicits cargo on behalf of the owner, or
operator, usually within a defined geographical area.
OWNERS/CHARTERERS AGENT: acts for another party
that has an interest in the port call. The specific duties
undertaken vary depending on the relationship between
the parties

Shipping Agents

THE PORT AGENT

The port agent is central to all trades and is
responsible for organising, overseeing and
coordinating all aspects of the port call, from
booking berth allocations and services ahead of the
vessels arrival to finalising the accounts and other
paperwork after the vessel has sailed. Functioning
as the de facto port single window, the agent is the
conduit for all information exchanged between the
vessel and the shore.

Shipping Agents

THE CARGO AGENT

Operating primarily in the liner and break bulk trades, the
cargo (or liner) agent is responsible for securing cargo for
the line or ship operator. This requires the agent to be in
regular contact with local shippers and be ready to
provide information on vessel schedules, competitive
rates and conditions of carriage. The agent may also offer
or provide inland transportation, customs clearance and
other related services.
The cargo agent may be independent and represent more
than one principal but in many cases the agent is tied to,
or is often a subsidiary of, one specific principal.

Shipping Agents

THE OWNERS/CHARTERERS AGENT

Depending on the circumstances of the port call, there
may be more than one agent attending the vessel. One
party may decide that their best interests will be
represented by appointing their own independent
representative, rather than using the primary nominated
agent. The exact role and responsibilities of this second
agent (and indeed the title under which they operate) will
be determined on a case by case basis.

Why dont we just transport goods

by airplane isnt that faster?
Transporting goods by
container ship is also
better for the
environment.

Container shipping is
the most efficient way
to transport large
volumes of goods
across the world.
While airplanes are
faster, container ships
can carry more goods
in one trip. It would
take hundreds of
airplanes to carry all
the goods that can fit
on just one large
container ship.

It is estimated that on
average a container ship
emits around 40 times
less CO2 than a large
freight aircraft and three
times less than a heavy
truck.

Transporting goods in
large volumes makes
it cheaper - we call
this economies of
scale.

Container shipping is also

estimated to be two and
a half times more energy
efficient than rail and 7
times more so than road.

Few people know very much about container

shipping, but the scale of the industry is huge
and involves the whole world. The ships
themselves are also massive in size.

Big, impressive facts that you

might not know
The worlds biggest container ships are about 1,504
feet long - thats nearly 458 meters or the distance
around an Olympic running track.
Many container ships can comfortably carry more than
8,000 containers.

Container ships have the capacity to carry

several warehouses-worth of goods.

How did container

shipping start?
For as long as people have been sailing the oceans they have been trading with
other countries. The great empires of the world, from the Egyptians to the British
Empire, were all built on ocean trade.

As far back as 1792, boxes similar to modern containers emerged in England and these were transported with horse
and wagon and later moved via rail.

The U.S. government used containers during the Second World War.

Modern container shipping begun in 1956, when Malcolm McLean, a trucking

entrepreneur from North Carolina, U.S., bought a steamship company with the
idea of transporting entire truck trailers with their cargo still inside.

Various companies in the U.S. began to adopt containerisation. In 1966, the

vessel Fairland owned by Sea-Land sailed from the U.S. to Rotterdam in the
Netherlands with 256 containers. This was the first international voyage of a
container ship.

During the 1970s container shipping expanded dramatically and ports were
established in every continent in the world. This was the beginning of the
expansion that made container shipping the backbone of global trade.

The journey
our belongings
make
You probably do not realise the incredible journey your
clothes have been on even the t-shirt you wear has
been on a global adventure.

The cotton is grown

in Africa
loaded into containers
and transported to
factories in China, where
it is spun, woven and
made into a variety of
t-shirts.

 containers full of t-shirts are then

shipped to Europe and the U.S., where
they are placed in shops for consumers to
buy.

So, that is the story of how your

favorite things are transported to
the shops.

The next time you buy something,

take a look at the label to see
where it is produced and imagine
the incredible journey it has made
around the world.