Critical Developments of Global Transport Networks in the Maritime Industry

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International Transport Systems
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Introduction
Transport is one of the critical components that facilitate the global economy. This is
because it supports a wide range of movements from passengers to freight between different
countries. The global economy is highly dependent on the movement of raw materials from the
source country to where needed. Additionally, transport facilitates the import and exportation of
finished goods. The affordability, diversification, and availability of goods in the global market
depend highly on the capacity to transport them. For example, a digital camera manufactured in
China passes through multiple stages in the transport system with modes such as trains, trucks,
container ships, and air freights for it to reach the global market. The circulation of people and
goods within the global economy is highly supported by the transport systems. The emergence of
the global transport system is as old as trade itself. Transportation has always been there to
support the activity of trade. The two functions are mutually dependent on each other. They exist
under the symbiotic relationship. What has changed is not the purpose but the speed, efficiency,
volume, and capacity. However, the global-oriented economic systems were first permitted under
maritime transport. Maritime transport involves the movement of people and goods over water
bodies such as oceans and seas. Critical infrastructures under this mode of transport include ports
and harbors that facilitate docking of ships. Over the years, the maritime industry has seen
critical developments in the ways of operations. This has shaped the international maritime trade
patterns such as containerization and trade liberalization. Additionally, the private sector has also
taken an interest in the shipping industry. The global connectivity, intensified manufacturing of
goods, trade between nations as well as the extension in supply chains has seen a huge
development in the maritime transportation system. This essay will address the critical
development of global transport networks of the maritime industry.

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The maritime industry is perhaps the most globalized form of transport. This mode of
transport is dominated by heavy bulk cargo. In 2015, bulk cargo accounted for 70 percent of the
ton in miles of goods shipped (Valentine, Benamara, and Hoffmann, 2013, pp.230).
Traditionally, maritime transportation network encountered two problems in their operations.
First, this mode of transportation was slow with the ship averaging the speed of 15 knots for
cargo ships which is equivalent to 26 kilometers per hour (Talley, and Ng, 2013, pp.315).
Another problem was that the ship encountered huge delays at the ports while loading and
unloading. These problems constrained the ships from making rapid deliveries, especially on
short distances. However, the industry has seen major technical innovation that has significantly
improved global trade (Shi, and Li, 2017, pp.160). These improvements have been experienced
in port operations and also better cargo couriers. There has been a significant growth in the
number of ships and an increase in their size. A bigger size results to a higher capacity of the
ship to carry more goods (Christiansen, et al., 2014, pp.190). For example, each time the ship
size is doubled, its capacity to carry more goods is tripled. The economies of scale have
attributed mostly to the increase in the vessels sizes. This is because of larger ships results to
reduced cost of crew maintenance, reduce fuel, insurance and the cost of maintaining the vessel.
This growth has also seen ports increase in size to accommodate the larger vessels. This has
improved the global trade by providing the capacity for transportation of additional goods. The
speed of ships has also been addressed to facilitate improved transportation. The recent ships
have seen an improvement from 26kilometers per hour to 55 kilometers per hour. This is because
the propulsion mechanism of the ships has been improved courtesy of advanced technology.
There has been a shift from sailing to use of steam, to diesel to gas propelled turbines and
recently nuclear technology. However, nuclear technology is only limited to military ships as the