Summer arctic sea ice cover has shrunk by 40% since 1980. This incredible decline has increased over the past decade and the Arctic is expected to be ice-free by next summer. This summer, the first cargo vessel sailed north from China through the recently navigable sea.
–from The Guardian
The invention of shipping containers had an enormous effect on international trade, apparently much larger than trade agreements. A team of European researchers discovered that adoption of shipping containers resulted in a 320% increase in trade over five years compared to a 45% increase over twenty years resulting from a free trade agreement. In addition to the monetary gains, containers radically reduced theft rates and time required to unpack and pack ships, thus reducing time in port.
–from The Economist
Data360 