A review of the maritime container shipping industry as a complex adaptive system improve local performance and create striking global outcomes). Diversity Agent persistence is highly connected to the context provided by other agents so as to define "the niche where the agent outlives."The loss of an agent generates an adaptation in the system with the creation of another agent(similar to the previous)that will occupy the same niche and provide most of the missing interactions.This process creates diversity in the sense that the new specie is similar to the previous one but introduces a new combination of features into the system.The intrinsic nature of a CAS allows the system to carry out progressive adaptations and further interactions,and to create new niches(the outcome of diversity). THREE MECHANISMS Tagging Agents use the tagging mechanism in the aggregation process in order to differentiate among other agents with particular properties;this facilitates a selective interaction among the agents. Internal models Internal models are the basic models of a CAS.Each agent has an internal model that filters inputs into patterns and differentiates learning from experience.The internal model changes through agent interactions and the changes bias future actions(agents adapt).Internal models are unique to each CAS and are a basic schema for each system.The internal model takes input and filters it into known patterns.After an occurrence first appears,the agent should be able to anticipate the outcome of the same input if it occurs again.Tacit internal models only tell the system what to do at a current point.Overt internal models are used to explore alternatives or anticipate the future. Building blocks With regard to the human ability to recognize and categorize scenes,CAS uses the building block mechanism to generate internal models.The building block mechanism decomposes a situation by evoking basic rules learnt from all possible situations it has already encountered. An application using all of the seven features allows analysts to define environments where adaptive agents interact and evolve.In the next section we therefore examine two specific studies dedicated to maritime container shipping (The Global Cargo Shipping Network: GCSN)through the lens of Complex Adaptive Systems. THE GLOBAL MARITIME NETWORK Only a few studies in the maritime literature focus on the global maritime network,of which the acronym GCSN stands for Global Cargo Ship Network.Scholars have mainly addressed sub-networks of the GCSN,such as Ducruet et al.[24],who have analysed the Asian trade shipping network,McCalla et al.[25]the Caribbean sub-network,Cisic et al.[26]the Mediterranean liner transport system,and Helmick [27]the North Atlantic liner port network However,two recent articles [5,7]examine the main characteristics of the complete global network,giving us a view of the macroscopic properties of the global maritime network.In line with our objective here,the aim of both studies is to characterize the global movements of cargo in order to define quantitative analyses on existing structural relations in the rapidly expanding global shipping trade network.But the one main drawback of their studies is their inability to forecast future trends or track changes in the networks. 5A review of the maritime container shipping industry as a complex adaptive system 5 improve local performance and create striking global outcomes). Diversity Agent persistence is highly connected to the context provided by other agents so as to define “the niche where the agent outlives.” The loss of an agent generates an adaptation in the system with the creation of another agent (similar to the previous) that will occupy the same niche and provide most of the missing interactions. This process creates diversity in the sense that the new specie is similar to the previous one but introduces a new combination of features into the system. The intrinsic nature of a CAS allows the system to carry out progressive adaptations and further interactions, and to create new niches (the outcome of diversity). THREE MECHANISMS Tagging Agents use the tagging mechanism in the aggregation process in order to differentiate among other agents with particular properties; this facilitates a selective interaction among the agents. Internal models Internal models are the basic models of a CAS. Each agent has an internal model that filters inputs into patterns and differentiates learning from experience. The internal model changes through agent interactions and the changes bias future actions (agents adapt). Internal models are unique to each CAS and are a basic schema for each system. The internal model takes input and filters it into known patterns. After an occurrence first appears, the agent should be able to anticipate the outcome of the same input if it occurs again. Tacit internal models only tell the system what to do at a current point. Overt internal models are used to explore alternatives or anticipate the future. Building blocks With regard to the human ability to recognize and categorize scenes, CAS uses the building block mechanism to generate internal models. The building block mechanism decomposes a situation by evoking basic rules learnt from all possible situations it has already encountered. An application using all of the seven features allows analysts to define environments where adaptive agents interact and evolve. In the next section we therefore examine two specific studies dedicated to maritime container shipping (The Global Cargo Shipping Network: GCSN) through the lens of Complex Adaptive Systems. THE GLOBAL MARITIME NETWORK Only a few studies in the maritime literature focus on the global maritime network, of which the acronym GCSN stands for Global Cargo Ship Network. Scholars have mainly addressed sub-networks of the GCSN, such as Ducruet et al. [24], who have analysed the Asian trade shipping network, McCalla et al. [25] the Caribbean sub-network, Cisic et al. [26] the Mediterranean liner transport system, and Helmick [27] the North Atlantic liner port network. However, two recent articles [5, 7] examine the main characteristics of the complete global network, giving us a view of the macroscopic properties of the global maritime network. In line with our objective here, the aim of both studies is to characterize the global movements of cargo in order to define quantitative analyses on existing structural relations in the rapidly expanding global shipping trade network. But the one main drawback of their studies is their inability to forecast future trends or track changes in the networks