GLOBAL FORCE

摘要

The international financial and economic crises of the past few years have significantly impacted on seaborne trade, balanced by the ongoing growth in China that itself is now less certain. The dynamics are also shaped by developments such as the enlargements of both the Panama and Suez canals, the former allowing larger ships to pass through, the latter speeding transits. So how have these events affected the world fleet since 2010? Despite this mix of positives and negatives, overall there continues to be steady progress in almost all sectors of the world fleet, although some areas have seen faster growth than others. According to the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL), and its analysis of Clarkson Research and IHS data, the world fleet of vessels over 300gt had risen to 50,422 vessels aggregating 1.6 billion dwtatthe beginning of 2015: an increase of 3.5% in tonnage overthe previous year.