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.

Developments in the sub-Saharan African economic area and maritime transport are the subject of the special chapter in the 2000 edition.

The 2000 Review illustrates that:

• Developing countries maintained a steady share in global cargo movements and boosted their share of the world merchant fleet, mainly owing to an increase in deadweight tonnage in Asia;

• While trade in sub-Saharan Africa has risen, the region´s total merchant fleet has declined; and, in general,

• African shipping and trade are impeded by aging fleets and the high costs of freight and inland transport.

The Review concludes that in 1999 the 15 landlocked nations continued to suffer from excessive transport costs. High transport costs for imports inflated the consumer prices of imported goods, while high export transport costs undermined the countries´ competitiveness in foreign markets.