The Boons of Maritime Trade Over Others

For centuries, since the birth of trade, Be it domestic or international, the roads were every merchant's first choice to get his goods across, but as the world got bigger, modern civilization which we know took roots, roads simply weren’t cutting it to reach most parts of the world, and often these roads were rife with possibilities of theft or they were just too much time-consuming. This is where maritime trade emerged and started to flourish, from the largest conglomerate of the 16^th century, the East India Company to modern gigantic carriers which can reach any shore of the world in less than a week, businesses truly started to flourish over the seas.

Around The World Through The Oceans

The rise in capitalism and consumerism, and of course, increased standard of living has given rise to innumerable amount of commodities which cannot be manufactured in one corner of the world, the raw materials of the finished products most cases are sourced from various parts of the world, we have reached a point where roadway trade is not economical for most choices of international trade. The seas are the most economical way of transport which allows cargoes of the highest quantity to be transferred.

The Cost Of Roads and Airways

The trade by land, is costly, let me explain with an example, if you want to transport a commodity from Portugal to Germany, the goods first have to pass through Spain, and then it has to go to France and then end up at Germany, it has to pay duty and additional cost as mandated by the laws of that country they pass through, and these costs may or may not be passed on to the consumer, but it’ll end up costing the business quite a lot of money, but if this very trade were to be carried out by seas, the commodity can directly be shipped to the coast of Germany, and the costs can be significantly cut and the commodities don’t need to have unnecessary particulars in pricing.

Trade by air is a luxury and they have a limit on how much they can carry but not the waters, the shipping industry has evolved in tandem with the global revolution, companies don’t need to have their own fleet of ships or deal with the red tape of international borders, the global process has greatly simplified over time, the process has been simplified over time if you observe any thriving economy, like India, China, Japan, USA, Canada etc they all have a long coastline with ports which are managed by governments or private entities with strong security and warehouse facilities for the goods which reach their port until they get circulated in the market.

There is a whole industry dedicated to making these heavy-duty ships and these are responsible for nearly USD 14 Trillion worth of trade as per 2019 data, the weather is not an issue as the technology has improved and they are capable of retrieving weather data without many issues. The safety of sea transportation has only gotten better over time, Shipping by sea is the number one choice of trade for any company who wants to send their goods overseas.

The Fragility of Global Trade in Face of Unprecedented Disaster

The pandemic which hit the world in 2019 showed how fragile global trade was, and nothing was spared, the shipping industry was hit the worst, with restrictions on international trade, that was the only time in peace which showed how the world stood still, just goes to show how big of a magnitude it must take to halt the shipping industry. This was the only time in recent history where the ships never sailed for a short duration.

End notes

Though the oceans are wide and touch land at every corner, there are some landlocked countries which cannot reap these benefits and these nations are locked out from one of the biggest means of having a global economy, but some nations have resorted to the kind of business which no one else can offer, for example, Switzerland, the neutral nation, well known for its banks, is also well known for their luxury products, such as the famous Swiss army knife, Swiss chocolates and most famous of all their luxury wrist watches, these countries are capitalizing on offering high-quality luxuries which cannot be found anywhere and price is just a number for them, the quality of goods they produce is worth all the duties the customer has to pay, but this is the case of an exception to the rule, landlocked nations must form diplomatic agreements with their neighbouring nations to access their ships and international waters. The waters not only keep humans alive but also the lifeblood of any nation’s economy.