The geography of maritime transport
Résumé
This article reviews the multiple approaches to the spatial dimension of maritime transport. It covers a wide range of perspectives, from flow mapping, network analysis, actors’ strategies, and local socio-economic determinants. It differs from classic descriptions of main routes, port traffic, and the evolution of the shipping industry by questioning what is the geography of maritime transport, what are its wider foci, its data and cartographic challenges, and its (inter)disciplinary character. While human geography pioneering the study and mapping of maritime transport in the 1940s, other disciplines such as economics, physics, engineering, management, and operations research took the lead up to nowadays. Far from pretending to be exhaustive, this article proposes an overview about whether “space” and “geography” kept their importance throughout the academic literature and beyond. It also puts great emphasis on the emergent visualisations of maritime flows in the last decade or so at the global and regional scales.