Level 1 MV Orange One of the first ships designed specifically for the orange juice trade and launched in 1973. The latest ships can carry up to 12,200 tons of orange juice, plus 300 tons of orange peel to be added on arrival. The volume of goods travelling by sea has increased ninefold since 1950. There are many reasons for this continued expansion.
Sea transport is by far the cheapest form, both economically and ecologically.
Modern communications and weather forecasting mean that ships are no longer completely at the mercy of the elements. The revolution in cargo-handling brought about by containerisation means that a container ship can carry the equivalent of several thousand road vehicles, and can be unloaded in a few hours with the minimum of labour. The container is one of the most familiar objects in the world today. It has been said that the container revolution of the 1960s was as important as the introduction of steam power in the 19th century. Rotterdam's Europort is the largest container terminal in Europe with over 6 million containers shipped in 1998.