THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONTAINERIZATION IN THE WORLD AND THE ANALYSIS OF CONTAINER TRAFFIC IN THE PORT OF RIJEKA

Containerization has influenced the development of international trade and has become an irreplaceable transport mode combining maritime, road and rail transport in a complete transport chain. The purpose of this paper is to show the importance of containerization, to give an overview of the situation of the container traffic in the world and to analyse the container traffic in Croatia, taking Rijeka as an example. The paper focuses on the development of containerization, as well as on indicators connected with the container traffic in the world's busiest seaports together with the indicators from the largest container ship operators. The paper stresses the importance of the main elements of containerization and other participants in the system of containerization. The collected data has been analysed using descriptive statistics. The results obtained show continuous growth of all the elements of containerization on the global level. In Croatia, using Rijeka as an example, positive results are also visible in the field of container transport.