Review of Maritime Transport

In 2025, global maritime trade continues to navigate an environment marked by volatility, rerouted flows and uncertainty. Persistent geopolitical tensions and trade policy changes have altered shipping patterns, with many routes redirected away from traditional chokepoints. Maritime transport and trade face daunting challenges. Ships that once passed through the Red Sea in days now sail for weeks around the Cape of Good Hope. Freight rates are high and volatile. Port disruption is becoming chronic. Supply chain reliability and resilience are being put to the test. Longer routes have increased delays, costs and emissions, with developing countries hit hard by the disruptions and uncertainty. Deep transitions are also reshaping the sector. Technological, environmental and geoeconomic shifts are converging at a speed that requires rethinking how maritime transport operates. Alternative fuel vessels now represent over half of the ship tonnage of new orders, yet over 90% of the active fleet still runs on conventional fuels. Automation and digitalization promise efficiency but also heighten cyber risks. Maritime transport has weathered storms before. But never have so many transitions converged so quickly. The sector will adapt. The question is whether adaptation will be managed or chaotic, inclusive or divisive, sustainable or merely survivable. The Review of Maritime Transport 2025 provides the framework needed for informed action and sound policymaking to keep trade flowing in a turbulent world.

Global maritime trade grew by 2.4% in 2023, recovering from a 2022 contraction, but the recovery remains fragile. Key chokepoints like the Suez and Panama Canals are increasingly vulnerable to geopolitical tensions, conflicts and climate change. These disruptions are extending shipping routes, straining supply chains and raising costs, with profound impacts on food security, energy supplies and the global economy, as over 80% of world trade volume is carried by sea. Vulnerable economies, especially small island developing States and least developed countries, are hit hardest by rising shipping costs from rerouted vessels. The Review of Maritime Transport 2024 highlights these challenges, calling for urgent action to strengthen industry resilience, accelerate decarbonization and support vulnerable economies. It underscores the need for new infrastructure that is sustainable and resilient, a faster transition to low-carbon shipping and a crackdown on fraudulent ship registrations to safeguard global trade.

The Review of Maritime Transport is an UNCTAD flagship publication, published annually since 1968. Around 80 per cent of the volume of international trade in goods is carried by sea, and the percentage is even higher for most developing countries. The Review of Maritime Transport provides an analysis of structural and cyclical changes affecting seaborne trade, ports and shipping, as well as an extensive collection of statistical information. The report calls for a "just and equitable transition" to a decarbonized shipping industry. The sector, whose greenhouse gas emissions have risen 20% over the last decade, operates an ageing fleet that runs almost exclusively on fossil fuels. As global leaders prepare for the next UN climate conference (COP28), UNCTAD advocates for system-wide collaboration, swift regulatory intervention and stronger investments in green technologies and fleets. Full decarbonization by 2050 will require massive investments and could lead to higher maritime logistics costs, raising concerns for vulnerable shipping-reliant nations like small island developing states. The report emphasizes the need to balance environmental goals with economic needs but underscores that the cost of inaction far outweighs the required investments. The report recommends policy actions to overcome supply chain hurdles African countries face, including poor logistics, low levels of technology, fragmented markets, limited capital sources, and weak institutions and regulations. Beyond cleaner fuels, the industry needs to move faster towards digital solutions like AI and blockchain to improve efficiency as well as sustainability. In its analysis of global maritime trends, the report highlights shipping's resilience despite major challenges stemming from global crises, such as the war in Ukraine. Maritime trade is expected to grow 2.4% in 2023 and more than 3% between 2024 and 2028.