Current status of the international shipping market (development trend of international freight in 2023)

China is a big shipping country, and the shipping industry is an important support for national economy, foreign trade and social development. Compared with land transportation and air transportation, shipping has an irreplaceable position in modern cargo transportation due to its advantages of wide coverage, small channel investment, strong transportation capacity, small land occupation and low cost.

Market situation

In the past ten years, my country's rapid economic development has driven the rapid development of the shipping industry. Affected by the new crown epidemic in 2020, the growth rate of water transport freight volume and turnover volume has declined, but the overall growth trend is still maintained. The data shows that my country's water transport freight volume has increased from 6.382 billion tons in 2016 to 7.616 billion tons in 2020, with an average annual compound growth rate of 4.9%. The China Business Industry Research Institute predicts that in 2022, my country's water transport freight volume will reach 8.34 billion tons.

Future trends

1. Industry concentration will gradually increase

Although the overall market size of the shipping industry is huge, there are many companies involved, and the concentration of the dry bulk shipping industry is relatively low; in China, the dry bulk shipping industry is a low-concentration competition type, and there are many companies in the industry, but the scale is generally small, and the risk resistance less capable. Seven departments including the Ministry of Transport promulgated the "Guiding Opinions on Vigorously Promoting the High-quality Development of the Shipping Industry", which proposed to "encourage the merger and reorganization of shipping companies, promote large-scale, intensive, and diversified operations, and enhance risk resistance and international competitiveness." , under the main tone of the policy of building an industry leader, leading enterprises will accelerate the development of industry concentration through a series of methods such as continuous expansion of business scale and mergers and acquisitions, so as to further enhance their anti-risk capabilities and international market competitiveness.

2. Green shipping has become a trend

In recent years, as the environmental pollution and carbon emissions of the shipping industry have been highly concerned by the international community, under the continuous advancement of the "Paris Agreement", countries have successively updated their nationally determined contribution targets, low-carbon environmental protection requirements, standards and standards for the shipping industry. Standards, etc. continue to improve. The sustainable development trend of green, energy-saving, low-carbon and environmental protection in the global shipping industry has become inevitable.

my country has also introduced relevant measures in terms of green shipping and environmentally friendly shipping. In May 2021, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Maritime System", pointing out that it is necessary to improve the ability to prevent and control ship pollution, strengthen the control and monitoring of ship emissions, and carry out research on the application of new technologies for green ships and clean energy , to guide ships to use clean, green, and low-carbon energy, and to promote institutional and technical emission reductions.

3. The shipping industry is developing towards intelligence

With the support of technologies such as big data, Internet of Things, 5G and artificial intelligence, the shipping industry is more closely integrated with emerging technologies. At present, my country's shipping companies are still in their infancy in the popularization of informatization and intelligent applications. In the future, with the maturity of modern information technology, Internet of Things technology, artificial intelligence technology and other advanced technologies, it will be different from traditional shipping in safety supervision, operation services, There is a broad space for imagination in the deep integration and application of ship management and port services. Smart shipping will profoundly affect the organization and mode of shipping, and will eventually significantly improve the level of safety management, operation management, and quality management of ship operations, helping to achieve safe, green, and efficient shipping.