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The Global Transportation and Logistics Infrastructure

Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences volume 91, pages 65–72 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Key aspects of the development of world transportation and logistics infrastructure under globalization are considered. The external and internal factors of the rapid development of transport and infrastructure in recent decades are classified. It is shown that the phenomena of globalization and containerization have led to an increase in the importance of seaports as a pillar of international trade and global value chains in transcontinental directions. Special attention is paid to an overview of transcontinental trade in industrial goods in the Europe‒Asia‒North America triangle. Investment processes in the transportation and logistics infrastructure of developed and developing countries are analyzed.

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Notes

  1. The author’s estimate is based on the following data: world GDP in 2018 at the exchange rate, $85 trillion [1, p. 15]; world exports in 2019 at a gross value, $25 trillion [2, p. 10]; net value of global foreign trade, 72% in gross value [3, p. 4]. The calculation uses GDP data by the exchange rate and not by purchasing power parity (PPP) because the performance of foreign trade transactions by their participants is tied to the exchange rate and not to PPP. The recalculation of gross indicators of world trade at net cost is based on UNCTAD data. However, in any case, the value obtained cannot be recognized as correct and “net” in an economic sense since the ratio of world exports to GDP has no economic interpretation because exports are not an aggregate of GDP: GDP includes not exports but the exports‒imports balance; respectively, the share of exports in GDP cannot be calculated using any methodology.

  2. The estimate was obtained by the author on the basis of the following data: the volume of foreign trade, $4.3 trillion [4]; world GDP at the exchange rate $22.6 trillion [5].

  3. This article mainly analyzes the foreign trade flows of manufactured products. The value expression of export–import operations of extractive industries (oil, oil products, gas, mineral raw materials, etc.) has high volatility, which leads to distortions of objectively emerging trends in world trade in goods. For the same reason, for the transport complex, whenever possible, time series are used in natural rather than value terms.

  4. The author’s calculations based on WTO data on intercontinental flows of manufactured products.

  5. In the United States, virtually all 50 of the largest international airports are located 5–20 km from cities.

  6. For this reason, about 200 flights were canceled at Heathrow at the end of December 2013, and 280 flights on April 1, 2014.

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Funding

This article was published within the project “The Postcrisis World Order: Challenges and Technologies, Competition and Cooperation” under a grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation to conduct major research projects in priority areas of scientific and technological development (agreement no. 075-15-2020-783).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    V. G. Varnavskii

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  1. V. G. Varnavskii
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Correspondence to V. G. Varnavskii.

Additional information

Translated by B. Alekseev

Vladimir Gavrilovich Varnavskii, Dr. Sci. (Econ.), is a Professor and Sector Head at the Primakov National Research Institute of the World Economy and International Relations, RAS (IMEMO RAS).

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Varnavskii, V.G. The Global Transportation and Logistics Infrastructure. Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 91, 65–72 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331621010093

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331621010093

Keywords:

  • transport
  • logistics
  • infrastructure
  • globalization
  • containerization
  • international trade
  • manufacturing industry
  • investments