Explanatory notes

摘要

The cargo flows shown in figures 1-5 come from MDS Transmodal's (MDS T) World Cargo Database, which describes global trade by tonnage and value for around 3,000 commodities between each country on a quarterly basis.rnIn order to convert tonnages into TEU, the proportion of each commodity that is containerised is estimated, as is the container stowage factor of that commodity. The period covered is 1996-2010, and forecasts are based on detailed country x country x commodity trends.