Difference between Maritime, Shipping, Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain

To the uninitiate ( which included me at one stage ), these industries are same or similar and it might come across that there is no dispute between Maritime, Shipping, Freight, Logistics, Supply Chain and Trade..
But once you are involved in the business or know about these businesses, you will very soon understand that these are very different industries with different workings, assets, architecture, requiring very different sets of qualifications, experience, expertness, cognition and attitudes..
In this article I unpack the remainder between Maritime, Shipping, Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain and how it is all connected, starting with some childlike definitions of these terms..

  1. Maritime Industry = anything related to the ocean, sea, ships, navigation of ships from point A to point B, seafarers, ship owning and other related activities..
  2. Shipping Business = the act of carriage of cargo from point A to point using the ships which falls under the Maritime industry..
  3. Freight = the cargo that is carried using the shipping services offered by the shipping lines using the ships which falls under the Maritime industry..
  4. Logistics Services = the processes involved in getting the cargo from the manufacturers warehouse to the receiver’s warehouse including arranging for shipping services offered by the shipping lines using the ships which falls under the Maritime industry..
  5. Supply Chain = the whole granddaddy process comprising of all aspects in a product cycle, from sourcing of raw materials, production, packaging, distribution till delivering the goods to the shelf using all of the above-mentioned industries, businesses and services..
  6. Trade = is the basic economic concept involving buying and selling of goods and services, with compensation paid by a buyer to a seller, or the exchange of goods or services between parties.. Trade is the reason all above businesses from 1-5 exist..

difference between maritime, shipping, freight, logistics, supply chain and trade

Maritime Industry

It is bazaar to say that Maritime Transportation has been and calm remains the anchor of global trade and has been then since the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Indians, Chinese, Europeans all started sailing and improvising the sailing methods from sailboats, dhows, long boats, draco boats, steamships to the stream ULCVs, VLOCs, VLCCs etc..
Maritime transportation is a derive demand whose main determination is to support trade wind, occupation and commerce – whether global or domestic, whether cargo or people..
An estimated 89.5 % of global trade is carried by sea.. As per UNCTAD figures, in 2019, although the maritime trade growth and port traffic growth were down, world seaborne trade reached a bulk of 11 billion tons with a predict increase of +2.6 % in 2019 and an annual average growth of +3.4 % for the period 2019-2024..
An estimated 793.26 million TEUs were handled in container ports worldwide in 2019 and as of now there are 6,145 active voice ships carrying 23,657,724 TEUs around the world..
The growth, numbers and the volume involved makes the maritime industry one of the most globalize industries in the world in terms of ownership and operations..
not precisely in terms of ownership, the Maritime diligence besides provides employment for an estimated 1.65 million seafarers working in the global merchant fleet across the world..
here are a few stats for you to think of, about the Maritime Industry ( all stats compiled/shared from UNCTAD ) ..
World Fleet by type

Which country owns the most number of ships..??

By number of vessels


China overtook the grouping of the Rest of the World countries to reach the highest number of vessels in the earth in 2019..

By Deadweight Capacity

Top 10 Countries supplying seafarers

Officer Rank

countries supplying seafarers - officers - difference between maritime, shipping, freight, logistics, supply chain and trade

Top 10 Countries supplying seafarers

Crew (also known as Ratings)

country supplying seafarers - difference between maritime, shipping, freight, logistics, supply chain and trade

Shipping

As concisely defined above, Shipping is the act of baby buggy of cargo from point A to point using the ships which falls under the Maritime industry..
Cargoes are carried by assorted types of ships all around the world..

  1. Oil Tankers
  2. Dry Bulk Carriers
  3. General Cargo Carriers
  4. Container Carriers
  5. Gas Carriers
  6. Chemical Tankers
  7. Off Shore Vessels
  8. Ro-Ro ships
  9. Ferries/Passenger Ships
  10. Others

difference between maritime, shipping, freight, logistics, supply chain and trade
All these ships are operated by shipping lines for commercial gain.. A batch of these ships are owned by the embark lines operating them and a bunch of them are chartered by the transportation lines from the ship owners..
These shipping lines may be operating a liner service or a tramp service .. On the liner service the majority of the business is handled by container ship lines..
There are many container shipping lines operating “ transport services ” around the versatile trade lanes in the global, and the top 50 ship lines around the world derived from Alphaliner are as below..

The top 10 container lines above have a combined market share of 82.3% in the containerize trade wind leaving only 17.7 % for the rest of the container lines..
well anyhow, shipping includes ( but not restricted to ) activities as below :

  • Booking cargo for specific vessels, sometimes weeks and months in advance
  • Ensuring that all cargo booked is planned on the intended vessels
  • Ensure that the cargo that is planned on the vessels is actually shipped
  • Ensure that the stowage planning is done properly on the vessel to optimise the vessel loading
  • Ensure that all containers loaded have their VGM
  • Ensure safe loading and discharging of the cargo
  • Issuing bill of lading and other documentation for all cargo loaded

A typical transportation trace or transport agency agency have versatile departments such as planning, commercialize, sales, container department, vessel operations, documentation, finance, administration, procurement etc .
difference between maritime, shipping, freight, logistics, supply chain Shipping involves design and identifying the most profitable trade routes around the world, the volume of cargo available on these routes, the number of ships that must be employed on these routes, the ports that this service must call in orderliness to maximise business, the transit days that a ship will take for a orotund travel, the price per voyage including operational costs, port costs, fuel costs, the serviceman might required etc for each voyage……………………………… phew, am out of breath even writing about the processes involved..

Freight

many of us in the occupation associate to freight as “ money ” .. Freight is what the stallion ball-shaped deal revolves around, but besides has a unlike meaning to money..
In simple terms, FREIGHT refers to CARGO that is carried by a carrier ( ship, road, track, air ) in exchange for commercial gain..
In the context of waterborne freight, freight refers to the cargo that is carried using the ship services offered by the ship lines using the ships which falls under the Maritime industry..
There are versatile types of cargoes that are shipped around the world..
dry bulk - coal - difference between maritime, shipping, freight, logistics, supply chain and tradeDry Bulk, which covers five major bulge commodities ( iron ore, coal, granulate, bauxite and alumina, phosphate rock ), minor bulks ( forest products and the like ), Containerised Cargo, General Cargo/Break Bulk accounts for about 70.2 % of global craft and Wet Bulk such as tanker cargo ( petroleum anoint, petroleum products and flatulence ) of about 29.8 % accounts for the balance..
If you notice, bulk and break bulk is shown individually ( although as part of dry cargo ) because there is a discernible dispute between bulk and break bulk ..
freight may be carried in different parcel sizes ranging from 500 gms using a bicycle courier to more than 400,000 tons using a Valemax ship..
Of path different freight types have different characteristics and susceptible to different types of cargo damage and needs expert cover in all cases..

Logistics

The term logistics is said to have originated from the military and is said to have been initially used to define troop and equipment motion in the assorted areas of military operations..
Logistics is the action involved in getting the cargo from the manufacturer ’ south warehouse, point of origin, mine site, grow etc to the recipient ’ randomness warehouse, doorway, memory etc..
The process of logistics actually begins way before the actual cargo takes space as it involves discussing and deciding on the delivery schedules suitable to both the buyer and the seller..

Once these are decided, then the logistics services provider needs to decide on the best method of moving the cargo from the seller ’ s door to the liquidator ’ sulfur door..
difference between maritime, shipping, freight, logistics, supply chain and trade
A LSP ( Logistics Services Provider ) should have the expertness to choose the best solution for the movement of the cargo.. Cargo is moved using road, train, breeze and sea and each of these modes of tape drive have their own peculiarities and characteristics..
Air freight may be quicker than sea freight, but much more expensive.. Rail cargo may offer more reliable theodolite times and schedules than road freight and may besides be better for the environment.. Road freight has the capability to offer complete door-to-door service and can be considered as one of the more economic means of ecstasy .
The planning, implementation and execution of the versatile aspects involving the campaign of cargo such as materials, services, information, ship, software documentation, schedule, tracking and delivery is the main affair of logistics..

add chain

issue Chain is the wholly grandfather process incorporate of all aspects in a product cycle, from sourcing of naked materials, production, packaging, distribution till delivering the goods to the shelf using all of the above-mentioned industries, businesses and services..
supply chain involves a network of suppliers, transporters, warehouses, distribution centers, shipping lines, logistics services providers all working in concert from the creation and sale of a product till its rescue to you and me..
provide chain management is the management of all the provision chain activities in developing and running the supply chain as effectively and efficiently as possible..
This management may involve product development, source, output, logistics, and all the system required to coordinate and pitch these activities..
*** UPDATE ***One of the readers was not clear on the differentiation between Supply Chain & Logistics, thus I added below..
A dim-witted supply chain may be made up of few different processes that are linked to the bowel movement of products along the chain.. A distinctive issue chain starts and ends with the customer..

  • Customer places sales order with the company that will supply the products that they are interested in..
  • Based on this sales order, the supplier will go the planning stage.. The supplier will create a production plan (if the products needs to be manufactured) or sourcing plan (if the supplier is sourcing the product from somewhere) or supply plan (if the supplier already has the product can supply straightaway)..
  • The procurement process follows the planning process wherein the supplier will need to procure the raw materials in case they are manufacturing or source/procure the product itself from elsewhere..
  • The next process will be the production process where manufacturing is involved wherein the order is produced..
  • This is followed by an inventory process which will include receiving the goods from the various suppliers at the suppliers warehouse, its storage and stock monitoring.. Depending on the type of business, this could be the start of the logistics process or could form part of the logistics process..
  • Last but not the least is the transportation process which involves logistics and shipping..
  • Customer receives the goods and that is the end of that particular chain..

The work of managing all of the above mentioned is termed as Supply Chain Management..

Trade

sales contract and trade Trade is the basic economic concept involving buy and sell of goods and services, with recompense paid by a buyer to a seller, or the exchange of goods and services between parties..
Trade is the reason all the above businesses exist..
ball-shaped trade, besides known as International Trade and World Trade is plainly the consequence and export of goods and services across international boundaries..
Goods and services that enter a area for commercial purposes are called imports and goods and services that leave a country for commercial purposes are called exports..
There are many reasons why countries conduct trade globally

  1. Unavailability of certain products domestically
  2. Comparative Advantage
  3. Market expansion
  4. Earn Foreign Exchange
  5. Achieve economies of scale
  6. Improving political relations
  7. Procure good quality at reasonable rates

here are some matter to facts and statistics to help you understand the range of ball-shaped trade..
As per the WTO, the current World Merchandise Trade is in excess of US $ 19,670,000,000,000 – that is US $ 19.67 Trillion.. The value of global trade grew by 10 % while the volume of global merchandise grew by 3 % in 2018.. In 2019, the merchandise trade volume increase will fall to 2.6 % but will rebound to 3 % in 2020..
As per WTO statistics, about 70 % merchandise exports are manufactured goods .

Image 1 – Source : World Trade Organisation

Image 2 – Source : World Trade Organisation

Image 3 – Source : World Trade Organisation

US$ 19.48
Trillion

The value of populace trade exports was US $ 19.48 trillion in 2018, up from US $ 17.33 trillion in 2017, partially due to higher petroleum prices .

US$ 5.70
Trillion

The respect of universe commercial services exports grew by 8 per penny in 2018, reaching US $ 5.77 trillion, up from US $ 5.36 trillion in 2017 .

53.3%

The top ten economies represented 53.3 per penny of world trade while the top five contribute economies accounted for 38.1 per penny of sum trade .

3.0%

emergence in the volume of universe trade trade, as measured by the modal of exports and imports, was 3.0 per cent in 2018, down from 4.6 per penny in 2017, amid rising deal tensions .

Image 4 – Source : World Trade Organisation

Image 5 – Source : World Trade Organisation

Conclusion

As you can see, there is a huge difference between Maritime, Shipping, Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain and I haven ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate even covered the other related industries such as Ports, Terminals, ICDs etc..
There are different career opportunities in maritime, transportation, cargo, logistics and supply chain and each of them requires different qualifications, skill sets, expertness and experience..
I will be writing about these career opportunities in due naturally, indeed bide subscribed so you don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate miss out on these authoritative tips..

article reposted with latest statistics updates..

*** end of Article ***

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