Dashboard with statistics on container shipping, freight rates, dwelling times, port throughput, and more

## Introduction The Econdb team presents a new tool to monitor container shipping and more generally sea freight. We combine several feeds of data, including AIS signal and shipping line data, to produce accurate and up-to-date statistics of the market. In recent years, container trade has come to the forefront. In a highly globalized world, where supply chains straddle multiple continents, sea trade becomes a primary source of supply constraints. ## Mapping vessel positions At a basic level, we rely on billions of vessel positions over time. The path of vessels, and metrics like vessel size, vessel weight and draught can be observed in the [map view](https://www.econdb.com/maritime/map/).  ## Port statistics We combine the geolocation of vessels with shipping line schedules -available on their respective websites- to get an estimate of vessel portcalls, and the capacity utilization of the vessel over time. With these estimates, we calculate weekly statistics of exports and imports by terminal, port and country, together with efficiency indicators of the vessel loading and discharge process.  ## Freight rates, portcall schedules, weather forecasts, cyclones In addition to import and export statistics, the dashboard also includes the items below: - Container booking rates (freight rates) -in particular 20 footlong containers-, extracted from the main shipping companies. - Weather forecasts. Temperature and wind conditions according to the most recent [GFS publication](https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/weather-climate-models/global-forecast), updated twice daily. - Cyclone trails in the Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, Japan and South East Asia, updated on an hourly basis.  ## Comparing Econdb imports against official customs data We include a [page](https://www.econdb.com/maritime/countries/) in which we compare our estimates of imports and exports of containerized trade against the customs data. Some caveats apply. Our statistics refer to volume loaded and discharged in domestic ports. However, customs data is measured in value of total goods, usually in USD. Inflation can cause nominal increases in trade, import and export prices may also swing and distort customs data. In addition, goods can cross borders by road, train or air freight, movements which our data does not capture. Our methodology still proves fairly resilient to sources of variance, and it looks promising in predicting official trade data. In the end, the overwhelming majority of international goods trade is still fulfilled via sea freight.