Shipping Investing Around The World Creates Lasting Benefits

Since the turn of the century, there have been trillions of dollars spent on the upgrading and modernizing of global port infrastructures and it is expected that more even more trillions will be invested before the year 2020. The main reason the transport shipping industry is going through this massive transformation and restructuring is to keep up to the growing global economy. Since the year 2000, the world’s economic GDP has almost doubled due mostly to the rise of the emerging economies and it’s expected to double again before the end of this decade, as prosperity spreads around the world and the global consumer base increases.

With approximately 90 percent of the world’s consumer goods shipped by sea, it is imperative that shipping industry tries to keep up with the expected growth or the whole global economic system will simply not function, as efficiently as possible. In anticipation of the rising demand, the shipping industry has embarked on a new era of giant container vessels that are able to carry more than twice the amount of containers, as ever before. As a result, most countries and regions around the have had little choice but to upgrade their port systems in order to be able to accommodate the huge cargo ships, that now traverse the world's oceans and seas.

These infrastructure investments, although they number collectively in the trillions of dollars, are expected to pay off in the long run, putting the regions in a competitive position, as well in the short term by creating jobs and stimulating local economies. As a result, these investments are also contributing to generating prosperity in many countries around the world which continues to add to the growth of the overall global economy. For every dollar invested in the shipping industry and port infrastructures the return on investment is a high and has everlasting positive effects both locally and globally. In fact, many analysts believe these global port infrastructure investments over the last ten years have been the main driving force behind many once under-developed economies, now emerging as viable contributors to the global economy.      

As these emerging markets, such as China, India, Brazil, UAE and Africa, to name a few, begin to increase their prosperity levels, the consumer demand around the world could easily double in the next few years, as all these new markets represent half of the global population base. This probability is not lost on the shipping industry and world leaders as they prepare for what is expected to be a new, more inclusive and prosperous era of the global economy; just on the horizon. One of the signs of the times will be the fleets of giant post-panamax vessels streaming through the newly finished Panama Canal expansion in 2015, loaded up with rows and rows of shipping containers. With so many opportunities ahead, it is no wonder an increasing number of regions are spending so much money, to prepare for the future.