International carriage of goods by sea refers to the act of the carrier, in accordance with the contract of carriage of goods by sea, to transport goods shipped by the shipper through one country's port to another country's port by sea, using the shipping vessel as the means of carriage and collecting freight as the remuneration.

International Ocean Freight（International Ocean Freight）It is the most important mode of transportation in international trade. More than two-thirds of the total volume of international trade is transported by sea.

When China's shipping industry occupies a place in the world's shipping industry, its advantages and disadvantages are also exposed in the torrent of global competition, which is the reality that China's port and shipping enterprises need to face up to and attach importance to in the strategic transformation of their development model. Advantages of China's Maritime Industry in the Development of World Maritime Transport

According to the International Monetary Fund forecast, the international economic trend will continue to grow steadily in 2006. The growth rates of the United States and the world will be 3.6% and 4.3% respectively, while the growth rate of China's GDP will also remain above 8.5%.

Economic strength has led to an increase in world trade. The total value of international trade in 2003 was 15.35 trillion US dollars, while in 2004 it rose to 18.58 trillion US dollars, an increase of 21%. In 2005, it amounted to $21.1462 trillion. In international trade, "China factor" is the biggest bright spot. In 2004, China's import, export and import value were 1154.74 billion US dollars, 593.36 billion US dollars and 561.38 billion US dollars respectively, increasing by 35.7%, 35.4% and 36% respectively. For the first time, the total value of import and export exceeded the level of 1 trillion US dollars. In 2005, the volume of import and export trade of goods reached 1422.1 billion US dollars, and the value of import and export accounted for the third place in the world. In addition, China's share of world trade has increased, from 6.5% in 2004 to 7.3%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points, and import from 5.9% to 6.1%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points. China's import and export trade shows a good growth momentum and continues to play an important role in international trade.

In October 2001, the BDI index of the international dry bulk market dropped to 845, the lowest level in the whole year. The index rose slightly in 2002, but not much, closing at 1731 at the end of the year. In the second half of 2003, there was a sharp increase, which soared to 4470 in October and closed at 4467 at the end of the year. In 2004, it maintained a good momentum of growth, reaching a year-round peak of 6101 points and closing at 4438 points at the end of the year. March 2005 was the highest point of the year, 4956, and ended at 2321 at the end of the year. Since 2002, the overall volume of dry bulk cargo has shown an accelerated upward trend. As the global economic development has a great demand for large quantities of basic raw materials, the volume of transportation such as iron ore and coal has grown rapidly, and China, as one of the fastest growing countries in the global economy, has played a very important role. In the past 10 years, the average annual growth rate of bulk dry bulk shipping volume in China is 17%, which is much higher than that in the international market, while 70% of the increase in the world dry bulk shipping market comes from China. Taking iron ore as an example, China imported 148 million tons of iron ore in 2003, accounting for 28.5% of the world's shipping volume. In 2004, the global iron ore shipping volume was 600 million tons, and China imported 208 million tons, accounting for 34.6%. Influenced by the state regulation and control, the growth rate declined in 2005, but there was still an additional demand of 60 million tons. The annual import volume reached 248 million tons, with a growth rate of about 20%. It can be predicted that, driven by China's huge engine, the international dry bulk shipping market will continue to grow in 2006, with an average annual growth rate of 6%.

In terms of oil transportation, the world economy is highly dependent on oil. Experts calculate that for every 1% growth in the global economy, 400,000 barrels of oil will be needed every day. As the main mode of oil transportation, water transportation completes 92% of the oil trade. The global crude oil shipping volume in 2003 was 1.6 billion tons, which was further increased in 2004. It is estimated that the average growth rate of international crude oil shipping volume in 2005-2007 will be about 3%. China's oil demand has increased dramatically in recent years, and has become the second largest oil consumer and importer in the world in 2004. In 2003, China imported 91.12 million tons of crude oil, accounting for 5.4% of global crude oil trade. In 2004, China imported 122 million tons of crude oil, breaking through the 100 million tons barrier for the first time. In 2005, crude oil consumption exceeded 300 million tons, and the gap between supply and demand will be further widened, with crude oil imports reaching 127 million tons in 2005. It is expected that China's demand for oil will maintain a relatively high growth rate in the next few years, which will have a greater and greater impact on international oil shipping.