Oil, ore, grain, containers and everything else: roughly how many tonnes of cargo are carried by sea around the world in a year?
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Answer
About 12 billion tonnes
More than 80 percent of the volume of international trade in goods travels by ship at some point.
How to estimate it
Think about what crosses the sea for each person in a year: about 0.4 tonnes of oil and gas, 0.5 tonnes of coal and iron ore, 0.1 tonnes of grain, and 0.5 tonnes of containers, cement, chemicals and other goods. That is 1.5 tonnes per person. 8 billion × 1.5 = 12 billion tonnes. UN trade statistics show about 12 billion tonnes a year.
Source: UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport
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