Container shipping industry launches public awareness drive

10th January 2008, The global container shipping industry launched a major public awareness drive with the formation of "The Container Shipping Information Service". Its aim is to increase public understanding and appreciation worldwide of the benefits and impact that this hitherto relatively unknown industry has on daily life.

Formed by 24 of the world’s leading container shipping companies, including Hapag-Lloyd, the initiative is a first for the industry. For a long time the container shipping industry has remained publicly silent about its role. Yet newly commissioned research among key opinion formers has found that the single most important step that the industry could take to improve its image is to promote itself more successfully. Through the Container Shipping Information Service, the industry aims to do that by showing how what it does is vital to the lives that people enjoy living in the modern world.

“The choice of goods that consumers have and their availability is largely down to the container shipping industry. However the wider world is not, on the whole, aware of this. So it is important that as an industry we make them aware of this and explain the wider role and impacts that our industry has on the world”, says Adolf Adrion, Member of the Executive Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG.

The container shipping industry also plans to openly address some common areas of concern and talk about its role in addressing them - in particular, the environment, globalization and security.

A first step in achieving this is the creation of a public website. The website can be found at www.shipsandboxes.com and is designed to appeal to a broad audience, featuring useful information such a ‘Did You Know’ section and a ‘Jargon Buster’. An ongoing media relations campaign is also underway to spread the message wider.

The Container Shipping Information Service is engaged with other major industry trade bodies and aims to complement their existing activity by providing information that is more relevant to a broader public audience.