The Last 5 Years of Maritime Shipping: Special Focus on Trade Relations between Hungary and China

Abstract

Today, it has become unthinkable for a company to produce its products using only local raw materials and semi-finished products. Thus, economic systems depend highly on cheaper raw materials from other continents or semi-finished and finished products. One obvious solution for transporting these raw materials is to use maritime transport. In this research, the trends in sea container transport over the last 5 years have been examined in terms of sea container transport and Hungary's main trading partners, with a special focus on China. As a starting question, the impact of the pandemic period on the value of sea freight trade was formulated. In addition, the volumes of containers handled worldwide were examined, and how the European and Asian regions reacted to the impact of the virus. The research concluded that although the COVID-19 virus has affected and transformed the entire world, in many respects, the maritime transport industry has remained a stable and prominent industry during the period under study. In addition, in terms of trade, although Germany and the European Union are certainly Hungary's main trading partners, the trade relationship with China has been growing in recent years, especially in terms of import values, and it is important to highlight the Republic of Korea in terms of the same trend.