OECD/ITF Joint Transport Research Centre Discussion Papers

ISSN :
2070-8270 (en ligne)
DOI :
10.1787/20708270
Cacher / Voir l'abstract
The International Transport Forum at the OECD is an intergovernmental organisation with 52 member countries. It acts as a strategic think tank for transport policy and organizes an annual summit of ministers. Our work is underpinned by economic research, statistics collection and policy analysis, often undertaken in collaboration with many of the world's leading research figures in academia, business and government. This series of Discussion Papers is intended to disseminate the International Transport Forum’s research findings rapidly among specialists in the field concerned.
 

Empirical Evidence for Integration and Disintegration of Maritime Shipping, Port and Logistics Activities You or your institution have access to this content

Auteur(s):
Antoine Frémont1
Author Affiliations
  • 1: Institut national de recherche sur les transports et leur sécurité, France

Date de publication
01 jan 2009
Bibliographic information
No:
2009/01
Pages
35
DOI
10.1787/227565346707

Cacher / Voir l'abstract

In 50 years, containerisation has become the backbone of globalisation. That it has done so can be attributed to the beneficial interaction of three broad types of factor: technical, economic and organisational. In the beginning, containerisation was nothing more than a simple technical innovation. However, as an intermodal tool, the container paved the way for new and long-term organisational models in the transport sector. These organisational factors challenged transport actors, who had to redefine the demarcation lines between their respective businesses in order to bring reliable door-to-door transport chains with a global reach into operation. The opportunities that containerisation offered would have remained a dead letter had they not coincided with the deep upheavals in economic factors since the 1970s. The very strong growth in international trade in manufactured products, systematically higher than growth in international trade overall -- itself higher than GDP growth -- marks a deeper division in international labour, which was made possible only through the support of a strong transport system.
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