International shipping from the perspective of international economy and trade

According to the forecast of the International Monetary Fund, the international economic trend in 2006 will continue to grow steadily. The United States and the world will have growth rates of 3.6% and 4.3% respectively, while my country’s GDP growth rate will also remain above 8.5%.

The strong economy has led to an increase in world trade. The total value of international trade in 2003 was US.35 trillion, but in 2004 it rose to US.58 trillion, an increase of 21%. It reached 21.1462 trillion US dollars in 2005. In international trade, the "China factor" is the biggest bright spot. In 2004, the value of my country's imports and exports, exports and imports were 1,154.74 billion U.S. dollars, 593.36 billion U.S. dollars, and 561.38 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 35.7%, 35.4%, and 36% respectively. The total value of imports and exports exceeded 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time. In 2005, the import and export trade volume of goods reached 1422.1 billion U.S. dollars, and both the import and export value accounted for the third place in the world. In addition, China’s share of world trade has increased. The share of exports rose from 6.5% in 2004 to 7.3%, an increase of 0.8%; the share of imports rose from 5.9% to 6.1%, an increase of 0.2%. my country's import and export trade shows a good growth momentum and continues to play an important role in international trade.

International shipping from the international shipping market

The BDI index of the international dry bulk market fell to 845 points in October 2001, the lowest point in the whole year. The index rose slightly in 2002, but the increase was not large, and it closed at 1731 points at the end of the year. In the second half of 2003, there was a sharp rise. It soared to 4470 points in October and closed at 4467 points at the end of the year. In 2004, it maintained a good growth momentum. The highest point for the year reached 6,101 points, and it closed at 4438 points at the end of the year. March 2005 was the highest point of the year at 4,956 points and closed at 2,321 points at the end of the year. Since 2002, the overall volume of dry bulk cargo has shown an accelerated upward trend. As the global economic development has a great demand for bulk basic raw materials, transportation volumes such as iron ore and coal have grown rapidly, and China, as one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, has played a very important role. The average annual growth rate of my country's bulk dry bulk shipping volume in the past 10 years is 17%, which is much higher than the international market level, and 70% of the increase in the world dry bulk shipping market comes from China. Take iron ore as an example. In 2003, my country's import volume reached 148 million tons, accounting for 28.5% of the world's ocean freight. In 2004, the global iron ore shipping volume was 600 million tons, and my country imported 208 million tons, accounting for 34.6%. In 2005, affected by the national regulation and control, the growth rate declined, but there was still a new demand of 60 million tons. The annual import volume reached 248 million tons, a growth rate of about 20%. It can be predicted that, driven by China's huge engine, the international dry bulk shipping market will continue to grow in 2006, with an average annual growth rate of 6%.

In terms of oil transportation, the world economy is highly dependent on oil. According to expert calculations, for every 1% of global economic growth, 400,000 barrels of oil will be needed every day. As the main method of oil transportation, water transportation has completed 92% of the oil trade. In 2003, the global crude oil shipping volume was 1.6 billion tons, and it increased further in 2004. It is estimated that the average growth rate of international crude oil shipping volume from 2005 to 2007 will be about 3%. my country's oil demand has risen sharply in recent years, and in 2004 it has become the world's second largest oil consumer and importer. In 2003, my country imported 91.12 million tons of crude oil, accounting for 5.4% of the global crude oil trade. In 2004, it imported 122 million tons of crude oil, breaking the 100 million tons mark for the first time. Crude oil consumption exceeded 300 million tons in 2005, and the gap between supply and demand will further widen. In 2005, crude oil imports reached 127 million tons. It is expected that my country's demand for oil will maintain a relatively high growth rate in the next few years, and it will have an increasing impact on international oil shipping.

In terms of container transportation, driven by the Pacific route and Asia-Europe route, the container trade volume has increased rapidly since 2002. In 2003, the total volume of international container trade was 79 million TEU, a year-on-year increase of 8.2%. In 2004, the growth rate rose to 11%, which was 87.7 million TEU. In 2005, the volume of the Pacific route will increase by 12%, the Asia-Europe route will increase by 15%, and the Atlantic route will remain stable with a small increase. In 2005, the overall container traffic volume will increase by about 10% on the original basis. my country's container shipping volume accounts for about 20% of the world's total, and it accounts for more than 60% of the volume on the Pacific eastbound route and the Asia-Europe westbound route. my country's container throughput reached 75.8 million TEU in 2005, with a growth rate of 23.7%, which is higher than the world average.

International shipping from the perspective of fleet construction

There are 5,700 dry bulk carriers above 1,000 gross tonnage in the world, with a total of 296.348 million deadweight tons, distributed in hundreds of shipping companies. The Chinese shipping company has 579 ships with 24.405 million dwt; Hong Kong shipping companies have 261 ships with 18.19 million dwt. China and Hong Kong have a total capacity of 42.596 million dwt, accounting for 14.4% of the world. my country has 231 shipping companies engaged in international shipping, with a total capacity of over 22.1 million dwt, ranking ninth in the world. my country's shipping companies have established hundreds of wholly-owned and joint-venture shipping companies and offices abroad, and the proportion of cargoes carried by third countries is increasing.