More people, more trade, more shipping demand?

THE United Nations has revised its projections for population growth upwards to 8.6 billion in 2030, from 7.7 billion last year. Those figures were quoted by Simon Bennett, the deputy secretary-general of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the shipowners global representative body.

Speaking at conference in Istanbul recently, he noted: "Combined with seemingly unstoppable demand for higher living standards in emerging economies, this indicates that long-term demand for international shipping should continue to increase significantly."

Mr Bennett described those population statistics as "incredible". Those of us who were born in the 1950s face the prospect of sharing the planet with almost three times as many people as we did in 1960 when the global population just three billion.