Page 46 - Practical Design Ships and Floating Structures

Practical Design of Ships and Other Floating Structures 21
You-Sheng Wu, Wei-Cheng Cui and Guo-Jun Zhou (Eds)
0 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

SHIPPING INDUSTRY
IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

Jia-Fu Wei
China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company
Beijing 10003 1, China

ABSTRACT
In the present paper the trends of the development of international economy and trade at the beginning
of the new Century are briefly analyzed. Seven major features of international shipping business are
discussed in detail. It is also mentioned how a global shipping business operator, taking COSCO as
an example, should act to meet the new challenges.

KEYWORDS
Twenty-first Century, Economic and Trade Development, International Shipping

1 TRENDS OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY AND TRADE AT THE TURN OF THE
CENTURY

The overall picture of international economy and trade is quite rosy despite of the increasing
uncertainties in world economy at present.

(1) Although the world economy is slowing down, the international economic outlook is quite
healthy. With that several important economic regions keep growing, the development
momentum will not be reversed.

Ever since 90’s of the last century, the world economy was slowing down as a result of the regional
turmoil in Southeast Asia. But this is a global cyclic economic recession. In fact, the key macro
economic indicators showed at the opposite that the inflation and interest rates are relatively low
worldwide, government deficits significantly reduced, and the environment of domestic demand and
external sale quite relaxed. Thanks to institutional innovation, technological innovation and
optimization of industrial structure, many economies have become more robust, with the IT-centered
hi-tech industries constituting the major driving force behind. Those Asian countries, which bore the
brunt of the financial crisis, still possess great potential for recovery because their economic basis
remains relatively intact. Japanese economy will finally be brought back to normal when structural and
institutional problems are solved, bringing new stamina to the world economy. Many experts predict