Importance of the maritime industry, evolution and statistics

This paper aims to highlight what the maritime industry really means, as well as its contribution to the development of the global economy. In addition to the problems caused by COVID – 19, the maritime industry continues its struggle with other challenges, such as climate, economic, social changes, the new generation of industry 4.0 technologies, especially autonomous ships, which requires the maritime industry to be ready to accept these challenges as an opportunity rather than a threat. This paper will look at global shipbuilding situations, the biggest shipping companies, which countries have the most ships, where the ships are registered and which are the most famous merchant fleet recycling areas. The paper will also analyze the situation of the maritime industry, in recent years, regarding the transport of goods at the global, European and national level in order to have an overall perspective of the importance of the maritime industry as well as the statistics for each situation.