The humble steel box, the standardised steel 20 ft X 8 ft (TEU) shipping container, has been central to the spectacular rise in global trade and the emergence of the global value chains (GVCs).
The graphic below shows how the global container traffic has risen more than ten-fold over the past three decades and doubled since 2015.
The article points to a reversal in the global shipping industry. For long the trend was towards off-shoring and expansion of GVCs, leading to even-growing Panamax ships to facilitate intercontinental trade. Ships capable of carrying over 20000 containers are now available.
But the trend of decline in trade and the re-shoring of economic activities is thought to shift attention towards shorter-distance regional traffic. The FT article writes,
That will put the emphasis on vessels that are quick to load and unload, rather than ones that can carry boxes at minimal cost over thousands of miles.
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