**1. Overview of Maritime Transport:**
– Merchant navy operates ships for transporting passengers or cargo.
– In 2010, there were 38,988 merchant ships globally.
– Professional mariners are known as merchant seamen.
– A quarter of all merchant mariners were born in the Philippines.
– Merchant shipping includes water transport via rivers and canals.
**2. Types of Ships and Vessels in Maritime Transport:**
– Bulk carriers transport bulk cargo like ore and food staples.
– Container ships use containerization for cargo transport.
– Cruise ships are for pleasure voyages.
– Multi-purpose ships handle various types of goods.
– Ocean liners operate on long-distance maritime routes.
**3. Specialized Ships in Maritime Transport:**
– Refrigerated ships transport perishable goods.
– Container ships are key for intermodal freight transport.
– Cruise ships cater to millions for pleasure voyages.
– Multi-purpose ships offer trading flexibility.
– Ocean liners were vital before air travel for passenger transport.
**4. Maritime Transport Operations and Crew:**
– Roll-on/roll-off ships for wheeled cargo.
– Tankers for fluids like crude oil.
– Barges for river and canal transport.
– Dredgers for excavating in shallow waters.
– Ferries for passengers, vehicles, and freight.
**5. Impact and Infrastructure of Maritime Transport:**
– Shipping contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
– Ports need infrastructure like docks, cranes, and equipment.
– Maritime labor conventions ensure seafarers’ safety.
– Canals without water sources are inefficient.
– Scholarly works and reports inform on maritime trends and innovations.
Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throughout recorded history. The advent of aviation has diminished the importance of sea travel for passengers, though it is still popular for short trips and pleasure cruises. Transport by water is cheaper than transport by air or ground, but significantly slower for longer distances. Maritime transport accounts for roughly 80% of international trade, according to UNCTAD in 2020.
Maritime transport can be realized over any distance by boat, ship, sailboat or barge, over oceans and lakes, through canals or along rivers. Shipping may be for commerce, recreation, or military purposes. While extensive inland shipping is less critical today, the major waterways of the world including many canals are still very important and are integral parts of worldwide economies. Particularly, especially any material can be moved by water; however, water transport becomes impractical when material delivery is time-critical such as various types of perishable produce. Still, water transport is highly cost effective with regular schedulable cargoes, such as trans-oceanic shipping of consumer products – and especially for heavy loads or bulk cargos, such as coal, coke, ores, or grains. Arguably, the industrial revolution had its first impacts where cheap water transport by canal, navigations, or shipping by all types of watercraft on natural waterways supported cost-effective bulk transport.
Containerization revolutionized maritime transport starting in the 1970s. "General cargo" includes goods packaged in boxes, cases, pallets, and barrels. When a cargo is carried in more than one mode, it is intermodal or co-modal.