The world map above shows only shipping routes and nothing else. The colours represent different ship types including container shipping (yellow), dry bulk (blue), tanker (red), gas bulk (green) and vehicles (purple). You can see an interactive version of the map below:

Map from Rotterdamtransport.com The map above shows the sprawling Port of Rotterdam, the largest seaport in Europe. However, in terms of container traffic the port doesn’t even crack the top 10 globally.

Map from Marine Traffic via reddit The map above shows the density of shipping traffic around the world. On the whole, areas of high population destiny, also have a high degree of shipping density.

Map created by reddit user mattsdfgh; click here for full size With a few notable exceptions, The map above shows the outline of the world’s continents simply by visualizing shipping routes.