Statistical Monitoring of Development of the International Container Shipping Market
The research is aimed at statistical monitoring the global container shipping market, identifying the problems of this market and finding ways to solve them. A statistical survey of the world’s container shipping market has found that 4/5 of all traffic is carried out by sea, 1/3 of them is carried out by means of containers. It is defined that further increases in the price of oil may negatively affect the profitability of maritime carriers and the overall dynamics of global demand for container shipments. The introduction of new environmental restrictions on the content of sulphur in ship fuel from the beginning of 2020 (the so-called IMO-2020 norms) has led to a revitalization of the process of fleet modernization together with investments in the installation of ship exhaust cleaning systems. The activities of terminal and line operators have been revised in terms of development strategy with the shift of priorities to the adjacent segment - logistics (Maersk, DP World, Cosco, Contship Italia). This tendency has led to an increase in interest in feeder operations and, as a result, an increase in demand for the construction of small feeder container ships. The direct dependence of the container market on politics has been indicated. The «trade war» between the USA and China impacts the development of the container shipping market in the regional aspect. The unfavorable situation in the Asia-Europe transport market segment was largely due to political instability in Europe. It is determined that, despite the active integration of carriers into enlarged alliances and the creation of multimodal corridors of delivery of goods, most market participants recognize that the Asia-Europe railway corridor becomes a full-fledged and sometimes more profitable option for container shipping.