The United Nations conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published the 2019 Statistics Manual where it reports current global trade indicators. Regarding the most important indicators, the total value of global trade (exports) stands out at 19.5 trillion dollars and a current decline in the growth of global trade of -2.4% (UNCTAD, 2019). 793 million TEUs were mobilized in ports around the world, increasing by 4.7% between 2017 and 2018 but in a decreasing trend (+ 6.7%) from 2016 to 2017.
In relation to the logistics industry, the containerized maritime transport connectivity section has two indices; the LSCI (Liner Shipping Connectivity Index) and the LSBCI (Liner Shipping Bilateral Connectivitty Index) which are calculated from the number of ships, their container loading capacity , the number of services and companies, the size of the largest ship and in the Bilateral; including the number of transships required to operate and the number of options available to use a single transship.
In Latin America, meanwhile, the top ranked in connectivity are: Panama, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru. In the graphics of the Unctad in Latin America, there are no major changes in this matter in the large economies of the region such as Brazil and Mexico, but it does show a greater decrease in Colombia and Chile, while Ecuador and Paraguay, appear with a greater increase.
Asia remains the main actor in relation to port loading and unloading and its high connectivity with regular sea shipping is reflected in the region’s high contribution to containerized port traffic. In 2018, the ports of the developing economies of Asia and Oceania handled 485 million TEUs, which represents 61% of global port container traffic. As for developing economies, these represent a much smaller percentage of the world’s container traffic: America (7%) and Africa (4%). Developed economies represent around 25% and transition economies less than 1%.
As for landfall of ships including cargo and passenger transfers in 2018, Norway is crowned as the largest host. Data taken from the positioning of ships in the AIS and the location of the ports.’
Reduction of global trade growth
The report shows the declining trend of global trade: trade wars, the oversupply of space in containerized ships and the IMO Sulfur 2020 will have important effects on the industry. Updating ignored environmental costs, growth projections and a search for economies of scale that determine the end of a global trade growth cycle as the column of world development.
