UNCTAD SEES SLUMP IN GROWTH OF WORLD SEABORNE TRADE

UNCTAD SEES SLUMP IN GROWTH OF WORLD SEABORNE TRADE    World seaborne trade has slowed down markedly in 2001, after a boom year in 2000, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, based in Geneva.
   The 2001 growth rate of 3.6 percent is “likely to have slumped considerably in 2001… possibly to as low as 2 percent,” the U.N. body said, citing preliminary projections. The projected decline is mainly attributable to the impact of the economic downturn observed in the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, in Europe, UNCTAD said in a new report, “Review of Maritime Transport 2001.”
   In 2000, world seaborne trade for all commodities reached a record high of 5.88 billion tons.
   The overall share of cargo movements of developing countries in world seaborne trade decreased slightly in 2000. These countries accounted for about half of goods loaded and 30.2 percent of goods unloaded for that year, compared to 50.6 percent and 31.2 percent in 1999, respectively. Oil and other commodities constituted a large proportion of those loaded goods.
   Developing countries’ share of the world merchant fleet increased slightly in 2000, mainly due to increased deadweight tonnage in Asia.
   Developing countries increased their share of the world fleet from 153.6 million deadweight tons in 1999 — accounting for 19.2 percent of the world total — to 157.0 million deadweight tons — representing 19.4 percent. This was primarily the result of a fleet expansion in developing Asian countries, where deadweight tonnage rose from 112.2 million in 1999 to 115.7 million in 2000.
   Developing countries in Asia now own 14.3 percent of world tonnage, accounting for 73.6 percent of the fleet of all developing countries, UNCTAD statistics show. African developing countries, by contrast, own 0.7 percent of world tonnage.
   UNCTAD said that registration of ships by developed market-economy countries and major open-registry countries accounted for 25.2 percent and 48.5 percent of the world fleet, respectively.