International goods

transport
Course: Authorized Economic Operator
Unit 1: AEO program origin and aims
 Contents

1. Predictions for the global traffic of goods ............... 2

1.1. Maritime transport ............................................................... 2
1.2. Air transport ........................................................................ 3
1.3. Land transport ..................................................................... 4

FINPYME and CII brands, names and logos are the intellectual property of CII.

©2017 Inter-American Investment Corporation, all rights reserved, for authorized use only.
1. Predictions for the global traffic of goods
All financial and Foreign Trade studies and analysis agree on the increase in the global
traffic of goods that is set to occur in coming years.

This is the distribution by means of transport.

% goods world trade

28%

Maritime transport
Air transport
2% Land transport

75%

1.1. Maritime transport

According to the “Global Container Terminal Operators Annual Review & Forecast
2012” (Drewry), it is estimated that the yearly container volume in 2017 around the
world will exceed 800 million TEUS1. This is one of the indicators that predicts a
practically impossible scenario for customs administrations.

1TEU stands for “Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit.” This term is the measurement unit used for containers.

FINPYME and CII brands, names and logos are the intellectual property of CII.

©2017 Inter-American Investment Corporation, all rights reserved, for authorized use only.
The Suez Canal expansion was inaugurated in August, 2015. Additionally, the Panama
Canal expansion project is in its final stages and in December of 2014 it was
announced that work would begin on the Nicaragua channel, the goal of which is to
connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans between the Brito and Punta Gorda ports in
2020.

All these massive engineering feats, all these investments of millions of dollars
represent the goal of absorbing the volume of world good traffic set to occur in
coming years.

Data from the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)
included in the “Maritime Transport in 2014” report can help us understand the
importance of sea transport in general and container transport in particular.

According to this report, maritime transport moves more than 75 % of world goods
traffic and of this percentage, 70.2 % is transported in containers. Similarly, more
than 650 million TEUS moved around the world in 2014.

1.2. Air transport

Though maritime transport, and particularly container transport represent the

majority of global goods traffic, air and land transport are also quite significant.

According to data from the World Bank and the IATA (International Air Transport
Association) air transport represents approximately 2 % of the total goods
transported around the world in 2014.

This percentage will increase slightly during 2015 and could reach 3 % in coming years
if the current growth trend continues.

Of total air cargo:

• 60 % has been shipped in passenger planes.

FINPYME and CII brands, names and logos are the intellectual property of CII.

©2017 Inter-American Investment Corporation, all rights reserved, for authorized use only.
 • 40 % has been shipped in cargo planes.

Logically, the Authorized Economic Operator criteria, requirements, risk analysis and
need to identify all supply chain elements and their risk levels are also applicable to
air cargo. There are specific security programs for air cargo, such as the Accredited
agent/known exporter, that can complement the different AEO programs.

1.3. Land transport

The other 28 % of goods are shipped over land, either by road or rail. In both cases,
application of the AEO program is particularly important because of both the volume
of cargo units and the importance of trade centers (for example, the USA border with
Mexico or Canada or EU customs crossings with Russia). This means of transport is
also very important in Latin America. Particularly in Central America, where the
majority of intraregional trade is circulated by trucks.

FINPYME and CII brands, names and logos are the intellectual property of CII.

©2017 Inter-American Investment Corporation, all rights reserved, for authorized use only.
 5

FINPYME and CII brands, names and logos are the intellectual property of CII.

©2017 Inter-American Investment Corporation, all rights reserved, for authorized use only.