It comes as no surprise that the growth of maritime transportation is strongly correlated
with the growth of international trade as maritime shipping and ports are the main physical
support for international trade transactions. The value of global exports first exceeded $US 1
trillion in 1977 and by 2008, more than $US 16 trillion of merchandises were exported (Figure
1). During the same time period, the share of the world GDP accounted by merchandise trade,
imports and exports combined, surged from 18% to 51%. As expected, major fluctuations in
the value of exports in the 1970s and 1980s were mainly linked with economic cycles. More
recently, the development of containerized maritime transportation was linked to a growing
trade of value-added commodities. From the late 1990s, a growing disconnect took place
between the volume and value of maritime trade, mainly the outcome of the increasing
sophistication of goods manufactured in Pacific Asia, rising energy (oil) prices as well as the
spatial fragmentation of production since parts could be traded several times.