A BBC2 TV programme last week contained some eye-opening facts and figures on transport costs. "Addicted to cheap shopping" examined how the cost of many consumer goods has actually fallen over the past decade, one factor being transport costs. Looking at the Eleonora Maersk, one of 9 11,000-box super container ships in service or build, Maersk's CEO reported these typical transport costs from China to UK:

Pair of jeans - 20p
DVD player - under £1
Bicycle - £3
Washing machine - £6

He quoted the fact that 95% of a UK household's contents have been in a container, but most revealing was that while a cost of £1,300 to move a box from London to Glasgow, it cost just £500 to bring the same box to the UK from China.

One last fact - those 11,000 containers could carry 165 million mobile phones.