Transporting massive amounts of containers across the high seas has much in common with the business of rearing dairy cows or growing wheat – and alternative thinking about agriculture holds lessons for the maritime industry, says Olaf Merk I have not always worked on maritime transport. One of my first assignments at the OECD was to conduct a Rural Policy Review of the Netherlands. This … Continue reading Why container shipping is a lot like farming
The Coronavirus is the most recent in a list of global pandemics – and it is the most impactful. The human and economic costs of Covid-19 go far beyond those of Sars, the Swine flu or Ebola. Its immediate impact on transport activity has been nothing short of dramatic. Will it also change human mobility and freight transport in the long run? Continue reading Global pandemics and transport systems in an age of disruptions
Maritime transport is dominated by shipping line consortia and alliances that are exempt from European competition rules. The EU wants to keep it that way, but its case does not look too strong. Continue reading No Big Bang on the High Seas
Many countries support their shipping industry via maritime subsidies. The value of well-functioning maritime transport for trade is undisputed. But is this, in itself, a justification for passing taxpayers’ money on to operators? Continue reading Getting Maritime Subsidies Right
On Friday, 13 April, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and its member states agreed on an absolute target to reduce shipping emission “at least” 50% by 2050. Is this agreement a historic achievement or a collection of weasel words? How did we get here? And what still needs to be done? Continue reading How shipping got its own Paris Agreement – and what that means
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