There has always been a need in people to exchange goods. We humans in particular tend to be interested in goods that are not everyday to us, that are from other worlds. From this need, maritime transport developed as a form of overcoming distances and accumulating raw materials and goods of distant civilizations. Trade developed. The sea is a transport route that means connection with other continents, and the possession of sea coasts is an extraordinary advantage that affects the economic and geopolitical status of the country.
Globalization and capitalism have fostered the rapid development of maritime affairs over the last twenty years. The intercontinental exchange of large quantities of goods and the ever-increasing size of the ship are causing increasing differences between maritime and inland transport. Maritime transport is gaining in importance and priority, namely 90% of European trade and 40% of all EU internal trade takes place through European ports. The carrying capacity of ships and, consequently, the efficiency and sophistication of port technology are growing. Over the past 40 years, maritime trade has quadrupled, and container ship traffic has grown significantly in 2000, with a tendency to triple by 2020 (
https://ec.europa.eu, 2013).
Despite the growth of maritime container trade, the question of occupancy of ship capacities as an economic aspect arises among service providers, shipowners. It is reasonable to anticipate that the growth of container ships will be influenced by the optimality between capacity occupancy and the financial viability of transport. Nor should we neglect the importance of port capacity to receive and handle the cargo of new giant ships. The ports are located at the natural junctions of land and sea. Interventions in nature are limited by a given geographical location and natural features. The development of technology is extremely fast and provides us with unimaginable solutions. Nevertheless, we must not allow technology and economic indicators to overshadow natural conditions and the environment.
The following lines of the diploma thesis present the mentioned issue of maritime container traffic and offer an aspect in the current time and space.