Ed Richardson WORLD SEABORNE trade contracted in 2001 fell from 5.89 billion to 5.83 billion tons, following 15 consecutive years of growth, reports UNCTAD’s Review of Maritime Transport, 2002. The negative growth rate in 2001 of minus one per cent contrasts sharply with the healthy 3.9% recorded for 2000 and is mainly attributable to the economic downturn in the US, Japan and to a lesser extent Europe. The report predicts that global maritime trade growth will have remained flat in 2002. Asian countries had the biggest share (36.8%) of total tonnage of world seaborne exports, owing in large part to exports of crude oil from Western Asia and of manufactured goods from East and South-East Asia.
