    ship transport is watercraft carrying people (passengers) or goods (cargo). sea transport has been the largest carrier of freight throughout recorded history. although the importance of sea travel for passengers has decreased due to aviation, it is effective for short trips and pleasure cruises. transport by water is cheaper than transport by air , despite fluctuating exchange rates and caf charges to account for such. ship transport can be over any distance by boat, ship, sailboat or barge, over oceans and lakes, through canals or along rivers. shipping may be for commerce, recreation or the military purpose. virtually any material can be moved by water; however, water transport becomes impractical when material delivery is highly time-critical. containerization revolutionized ship transport starting in the 1970s. "general cargo" includes goods packaged in boxes, cases, pallets, and barrels. when a cargo is carried in more than one mode, it is intermodal or co-modal. ==merchant shipping== thumb|450px|2005 registration of merchant ships ( and over) per country.   a nation's shipping fleet (merchant navy, merchant marine, merchant fleet) consists of the ships operated by civilian crews to transport passengers or cargo from one place to another. professionals are merchant seaman, merchant sailor, and merchant mariner, or simply seaman, sailor, or mariner. the terms "seaman" or "sailor" may refer to a member of a country's navy. according to the 2005 cia world factbook, the world total number of merchant ships of 1,000 gross register tons or over was 30,936. in 2010, it was 38,988 (= + 26 %). www.cia.gov (2010), www.cia.gov (2010 figures) statistics for individual countries are available at the list of merchant marine capacity by country. ==professional mariners== [[file:shipping routes red black.png|thumb|550px|this map of shipping routes illustrate
Commercial_item_transport_and_distribution Merchant_marine Ship_chartering Shipping Water_transport