The importance of shipping in the transportation industry

Did you know that the international shipping industry is accountable for transporting 90% of world trade? As the agent for Evergreen Line, Greencarrier Liner Agency sees many benefits of using the sea as a transportation route. In this article, we have gathered some interesting facts describing the importance of the shipping industry. 

Shipping industry – relevant in the past, present and the future

The shipping industry is one of our oldest industries and still plays an important role in our modern society. Today, over 55 000 cargo ships are active in international trade. The fleet is represented in over 150 countries, crewed with over 1.5 million sailors working around the world. The different types of cargo being transported are goods for consumers, food, raw material, cars and fuel, just to name a few.

Short facts about the greatness of the shipping industry

It is not every day that the greatness of the shipping industry comes to mind. To give you a better understanding for the importance of shipping in the transportation industry, we want to highlight eight interesting facts:

• About 20 million containers are traveling across the oceans every day. If we lined up all the world’s containers, the line of containers would stretch halfway around the planet.

• Greencarrier Liner Agency’s principal Evergreen Line ranks top five within the biggest container fleets in the world, with over 189 ships and approximately 990,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit).

• The engine in a container ship can have up to 1000 times more power than an engine in a family car.

• Even though container ships are large, most of them have a rather small crew of approximately 13-24 crewmembers.

• A container ship travels enormous distances across the oceans every year. One year of traveling could be compared with the distance of traveling three-quarters of the way to the moon and back.

• The standard shipping container (20′) contains 33,1 cubic meters. The 40′ high cube shipping container can hold 76,2 cubic meters. What does this mean? Well, for size reference, you can fill a 40′ high cube container with 8443 shoeboxes.

• Containers are marked with a BIC code, which you can compare to a license plate on a car. The BIC code is made in a standard format [XXX-U-123456-1]. “XXX” signify the owner and “U” defines the container’s category (U= Freight Container, J= Freight related equipment, Z= trailers or chassis). The six following digits are a unique serial number and the last number is a check digit.

• At Greencarrier Liner Agency and Evergreen Line, we believe in the importance of environmental protection and take many actions to minimise the environmental impact of our operations. The shipping industry produces the smallest amount of CO2 emissions per mile and per ton of transported cargo. Although shipping still produces a significant amount of CO2 emissions, this transport type is still known as the most efficient within commercial cargo.

A transportation partner that takes responsibility for the environment

For Greencarrier Liner Agency’s principal Evergreen Line, the environment is an integral and essential part of the daily work. Environment is always on Evergreen’s agenda, and our ambition is to be the frontrunner in the transport industry and a partner who provides eco-friendly alternatives to traditional transport solutions. Our environmental responsibility includes caring for the environment across all levels of our organisation. Therefore, we find the shipping industry to be a truly good transportation alternative for both our customers and the environment.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Please visit our website to read more about how we invest in the environment or how we work with environmental actions to minimise emissions of vessels. Don’t forget to share your thoughts on our social media channels.