Maritime transport indicators

by Sonia Blachier · June 7, 2021

Map 1. Liner shipping connectivity, 2021-2022

Notes: Top 10 overall connected economies are shown in the default selection. Data on bilateral connectivity are not available for all economies.

^a As indicated by the LSBCIliner shipping bilateral connectivity index Q1 2021.
^b As indicated by the LSCIliner shipping connectivity index Q1 2022.
^c Change of less than 5 per cent, year-on-year.

Liner shipping connectivity throughout the world

In the third quarter of 2022, China was the economy best connected to the global liner shipping network, as measured by the LSCI. The Republic of Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and the United States of America followed next in the rankings. Regional leaders included: Spain and the Netherlands in Europe; Panama and Colombia in Latin America and the Caribbean; Morocco and Egypt in Africa; and Sri Lanka and India in Southern Asia. Among the least connected 30 economies, 18 are SIDSsmall island developing States, four of which are also LDCsleast developed countries. An additional three are coastal LDCs.

In 2021, 17 of the top 20 bilateral connections were intra-regional within Europe or within Eastern and South-Eastern Asia. The only inter-regional connections among the top 20 were between the United States of America and highly connected economies in the regions mentioned above: China in Asia as well as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in Europe.

Figure 1. Liner shipping connectivity index, top five economies

(China Q1 2006=100)

Port container traffic

Figure 2. World container port throughput

(Millions of twenty-foot equivalent units)

In 2020, 798.9 million TEUs of containers were handled in ports worldwide. World container port throughput declined by 1.0 per cent between 2019 and 2020. This reduction was moderate in comparison to other shipping market segments and total seaborne trade (see on the World seaborne trade page). It reflected the resilience of containerized trade amid the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asia’s leading role as a global maritime freight loading and discharging centre (see on the World seaborne trade page) and its high liner shipping connectivity is mirrored in the region’s high contribution to containerized port throughput. In 2020, ports in developing economies of Asia and Oceania handled 62 per cent of the world port container traffic. The shares of the developing Americas and developing Africa were significantly lower, at less than 7 per cent each.

Port calls

Globally, 4.3 million port calls were recorded in 2021. The economy that recorded most port calls of ships in 2021 was Norway. As a median, cargo-carrying ships left Norwegian ports 10 hours after their arrival.¹

Figure 3. Containerized port traffic by group of economies, 2020

(Millions of twenty-foot equivalent units)

Concepts and definitions

The liner shipping connectivity index (LSCI) indicates a country’s position within global liner shipping networks. It is calculated from the number of ship calls, their container carrying capacity, the number of services and companies, the size of the largest ship, and the number of other countries connected through direct liner shipping services.

The liner shipping bilateral connectivity index (LSBCI) is calculated from five components, including the number of transshipments required to trade and the connections available using one transshipment.

Port container traffic is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). One TEUtwenty-foot equivalent unit represents the volume of a standard 20-feet long intermodal container.

The number of port calls and the time spent in ports are derived from combining automatic identification system data with port mapping intelligence. These data cover ships of 1000 gtgross tons and above.

Summary tables

Table 1. Liner shipping connectivity index of most connected economies, by region

(China Q1 2006=100)

Table 2. Time at port, by market segment, in the top 20 economies by port call, 2021

Note: Economies are ranked by number of port calls. Number of port calls includes arrivals of ferries, roll-on roll-off and passenger ships, for which the time in port is not computed.

Table 3. Liner shipping connectivity of the world’s seven most connected economies

Note: All index values refer to the value at Q1 of the indicated year.

Notes

For further analyses on that topic, see -—
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References

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