ocean trade
Shipping between continents
Ocean trade is the commercial exchange of goods transported by ship across seas and oceans.
This mode of commerce has connected distant economies for millennia, from ancient Mediterranean routes to modern global container shipping.
The term encompasses everything from bulk commodities like oil and grain to manufactured products moving between continents.
Ocean trade accounts for roughly 80 percent of world merchandise by volume.
- container shipVessel carrying standardized freight boxes
- dockMooring structure at water's edge
- cargo vesselShip for transporting goods
- cargo holdVessel's storage area
- portDocking place for ships
free port · port of call · letter of marque · trading post · tariff · entrepôt · hold · crew · grain · Suez Canal · sea lane · ship · shipping lane · silk road · freight · global market · bill of lading · maritime law
ocean tradecaravan trade
Goods moved by traveling groups
trucking · air freight · air cargo · rail transport · rail freight
ocean traderegional trade
Exchange within a territory
local markets · domestic trade · local trade · local commerce
ocean tradeautarky
Complete economic independence
economic isolation · protectionism · self-sufficiency · trade embargo · isolationism