I think a lot more freight goes by boat then plane. Let’s say plane is 1% of boat.
I think an aircraft carrier displaces, what, 100,000 metric tons? So it’s maybe reasonable to guess that a respectable bulk transport can carry 100,000 metric tons of cargo.
Let’s say at any given time there are 100 of those underway, on journeys lasting 30 days. That makes about 100,000,000 metric tons shipped annually by boat, and 1,000,000 by plane.
Between 2009 and 2019 I’m gonna guess it went up by enough to count as one order of magnitude. So let’s split the difference and call it 300,000 in 2009 and 3,000,000 in 2019.
Suppose air freight has dectupled every decade, starting at one metric ton in 1909. Then we get 10^10 metric tons in 2009 and 10^11 in 2019. That’s 4½ orders of magnitude more than my other answer. :/
I currently suspect this one is too high and that one is too low, but that one is closer.
q2:
I think a lot more freight goes by boat then plane. Let’s say plane is 1% of boat.
I think an aircraft carrier displaces, what, 100,000 metric tons? So it’s maybe reasonable to guess that a respectable bulk transport can carry 100,000 metric tons of cargo.
Let’s say at any given time there are 100 of those underway, on journeys lasting 30 days. That makes about 100,000,000 metric tons shipped annually by boat, and 1,000,000 by plane.
Between 2009 and 2019 I’m gonna guess it went up by enough to count as one order of magnitude. So let’s split the difference and call it 300,000 in 2009 and 3,000,000 in 2019.
Another attempt at q2:
Suppose air freight has dectupled every decade, starting at one metric ton in 1909. Then we get 10^10 metric tons in 2009 and 10^11 in 2019. That’s 4½ orders of magnitude more than my other answer. :/
I currently suspect this one is too high and that one is too low, but that one is closer.