International Liner Shipping Industry Launches New Industry Information Website

December 9, 2009: Today the liner shipping industry announced the launch of a redesigned website to provide the public with a more comprehensive explanation of the industry, its contribution to trading nations' economic health, and the status of current policy issues, such as the environment and security. The effort has been undertaken by the World Shipping Council (WSC) and can be accessed at www.worldshipping.org. WSC undertook this initiative as continuation of the public awareness campaign that the industry started in late 2007 with the creation of the Container Shipping Information Service (CSIS). The CSIS work is being carried forward by WSC.

Ocean carriers appreciate the importance of increasing awareness among the general public about the liner shipping industry, its importance to people's everyday lives, and the issues involved in improving maritime environmental quality and supply chain security. Over the last decade, the WSC has established itself as a respected source for information about the industry. Today's launch of the new website marks a significant step in our industry's efforts to expand the scope, content, and availability of information about the liner shipping industry, said Ron Widdows, Chairman of the World Shipping Council and Group President and CEO of NOL.

In preparation for the new website, the WSC engaged IHS Global Insight, a recognized global leader in economic and financial analysis and forecasting, to conduct an independent assessment of the economic contribution of the liner shipping industry. The results of that extensive study are used throughout the website, and a copy of the full report can be downloaded at: http://www.worldshipping.org/pdf/Liner_Industry_Valuation_Study.pdf

Key findings using 2007 as a base year include:

The annual global economic contribution of the liner shipping industry was:

-- Direct gross output or GDP Contribution US$ 183.3 Billion

-- Direct capital expenditure US$ 29.4 Billion

-- Direct jobs 4.2 million

-- Compensation to those employees US$ 27.2 Billion

Full annual economic impact, including indirect and induced effects:

-- US$ 436.6 Billion

-- 13.5 million jobs

-- Cargo transported by the liner shipping industry represents about one-third of the value of total global trade, equating to more than US$ 4.6 trillion worth of goods.

-- Workers at ports world-wide loaded and unloaded cargo for more than 10,000 liner vessel-stops per week, with the average ship making 2.1 port calls per week.

-- Liner shipping companies deployed more than 400 services providing regularly scheduled service, usually weekly, connecting all countries of the world.

-- In mid-2008, there were more than 17.8 million containers in the world fleet, which cost the industry US$ 80.1 billion to purchase.

-- In the United States alone, the industry spends US$ 869 million per year to operate the fleet of chassis used to move containers over land.

-- The liner shipping industry has spent over US$ 236 billion in more than a dozen countries on the purchase of new vessels.

Paul Bingham, Principal, IHS Global Insight said, We were very interested to perform this study because it has never been done before. A number of people, including ourselves, have looked at the value of global maritime transportation but no one has studied the importance of the liner component that hs now become so critical to global trade. We found we were able to use our existing models to calculate the economic contribution and were able to supplement those calclations with operational data from our sister company, Lloyd's Register Fairplay and other sources.

In addition to the valuation study results, the new website will provide the public more information in one place than has been available before. It contains former content from www.shipsandboxes.com, www.worldshipping.org and a significant amount of newly developed content.

Commercial data relating to individual companies and their services or pricing can be obtained directly from member carriers, all of whom are listed on the WSC website, with links to their respective websites.

Trade data, like that made available for the European trades by Container Trade Statistics Ltd., can be accessed through a link on the new WSC website. Links to other useful resources are also included.

We are pleased to undertake this initiative on behalf of the industry. The website will contain updated and expanded content as well as refer users to other helpful sources. Our goal is to ensure that someone seeking information about the industry is able to easily get what they need. The new website's design and content were developed with that goal in mind. We welcome user feedback, which can be sent to us at info@worldshipping.org, said Chris Koch, President and CEO of the World Shipping Council.