Highlights

The Review of Maritime Transport, an annual publication prepared by the UNCTAD secretariat, identifies major developments in world maritime transport and provides worldwide statistical data. Emphasis is given to the development of maritime activities in developing countries as compared with other groups of countries, and to the correlation between development of global trade and maritime transport activities in general. Regional developments in trade and transport networks in East Asia, China and Japan are the subjects of this year´s special chapter.

The 2001 Review illustrates that:

• Global cargo movements of developing countries decreased marginally in 2000, while their share of the world merchant fleet increased slightly, mainly owing to an increase in deadweight tonnage in Asia;

• Merchandise trade in East Asia had a booming year in 2000. Most of the major countries in the region achieved double-digit growth in the volume of exports and imports. The primary reason was strong demand in the United States, the main market for that region after the European Union.

• The merchant fleet of developing countries in East Asia tends to be younger that the world average. (This applies to all types of vessels except general cargo vessels.) The modern and efficient characteristics of the East Asian fleet reflect the region´s competitiveness and the importance it attaches to trade and transport.