World seaborne trade

In 2021, international maritime trade bounced back by an estimated 3.2 per cent from 2020. Shipments reached 11.0 billion tons, a volume slightly below pre-pandemic levels.

Asia remained the world-leading maritime freight area with Asian ports, in both developed and developing regions, loading around 4.6 billion tons of goods, or about 42 per cent of total goods loaded in ports worldwide. About 7.1 billion tons, equivalent to 64 per cent of total goods discharged worldwide, were received by Asian ports in 2021.

In 1970, more than half of global seaborne trade was tanker cargo. In 2021, almost three-quarters of loaded goods were dry cargo, including bulk and cargo shipped in containers. Of the total maritime freight shipped internationally in 2021, 8.0 billion tons was dry cargo.¹

In 2021, developing economies still accounted for the majority of global seaborne trade. Asian developing economies alone discharged 50 per cent and loaded 35 per cent of the world total. Participation in globalized manufacturing and containerized trade has generally been concentrated in Asia, notably in China and neighbouring East Asian economies. Other developing regions did not contribute equally, a reflection of their varying degrees of integration into global value chains and manufacturing networks.

Developing economies reported a maritime trade deficit of 648 million tons in 2021 while developed economies had a maritime trade surplus. This is a reversal of roles from 2010 when the developing economies had a maritime trade surplus of similar magnitude.

The maritime trade deficit for developing economies can be attributed to discharging dry cargo including bulk and containerized goods more than loading. This in turn is concentrated in the developing economies of Asia. For other cargo types and in other geographical areas developing economies often have a maritime trade surplus.

This parallels the development in the composition of seaborne trade. There were 2.2 billion tons more goods traded by sea in 2021 than in 2011. Of that added volume, 92 per cent was dry cargo.