Car Perry

Passenger operations comprise a large portion of the shipping industry. Here, the British Sealink ferry carries both walk-on passengers and cars. Ferries are usually used for coastal or short-distance transportation.

Major Shipping Trade route
This map shows shipping routes from the perspective of the north pole, which falls roughly at the map’s center. Called a polar-azimuthal map, it was created by flattening the globe from the top, which provides a better understanding of the way the routes curve around the planet. Although there are hundreds of potential shipping paths across the world’s oceans, almost all ships travel on a few well-established routes. Determined by geography, economics, and historical tradition, the routes serve to connect major industrial regions to one another and to areas that produce raw materials.

Cargo Ship
A large cargo ship is unloaded at the Brooklyn pier in New York. Both containers and wooden crates protect the shipped goods from destruction and vandalism.

Container Ship
Container ship Arlberg is shown here as it leaves New York Harbor. The ship is part of an intermodal system in which locked and sealed containers are carried on ships, trucks, trains, and airplanes. Container shipping reduces transport costs by decreasing loading costs and reducing pilferage losses. Various labor groups have historically opposed development of container shipping, fearing that the increased automation would lead to lost jobs.

Oil Tanker
As their name suggests, tankers are mammoth floating tanks that transport liquid cargo such as petroleum and natural gas. A tanker has several individual compartments inside the main body, allowing it to carry thousands of tons of petroleum. Unfortunately, few tankers are designed with double or reinforced hulls, so that when accidents occur at sea, devastating amounts of oil may be spilled.