More than 90% of Global Trade Carried by Sea

The transport cost element in the shelf price of consumer goods varies from product to product, but is ultimately marginal. For example, transport costs account for only around 2% of the shelf price of a television set and only around 1.2% of a kilo of coffee.


There are more than 45,000 merchant ships trading internationally today, transporting every kind of cargo. The world fleet is registered in over 150 nations, and manned by over one and a quarter million seafarers of virtually every nationality. Without international shipping, half the world would freeze and the other half would starve.