Global foreign direct investment (FDI) declined for the second consecutive year in 2024, falling by 11% when adjusted for volatile flows through European conduit economies—yet one sector stood apart: the digital economy, which recorded a remarkable surge in project values and investor interest. These shifts are now directly reshaping demand patterns, capacity planning, and routing decisions within the global shipping and logistics industry.

According to the World Investment Report 2025, published by UNCTAD, global FDI flows, excluding conduit-related distortions, dropped from $1.67 trillion in 2023 to $1.49 trillion in 2024. That contraction, despite stable macroeconomic indicators like global GDP and trade, signals persistent weakness in international investment flows and increasing investor hesitation across markets.

At the heart of this divergence lies a reshaping of sectoral investment priorities. While traditional infrastructure, energy, and manufacturing sectors faced financing constraints and geopolitical headwinds, digital industries—including data centres, cloud platforms, and artificial intelligence infrastructure—drew substantial capital. These trends underscore an accelerating digital transition in global capital allocation and a shift in how multinational enterprises (MNEs) assess future growth—with real consequences for the global transport sector.

The Numbers: A Tale of Two Economies

Headline figures from the World Investment Report 2025 suggest FDI increased by 4% to $1.51 trillion. However, this uptick is deceptive. Much of the reported rise was due to financial movements through conduit economies like Luxembourg and Ireland. Stripping those away, the 11% real decline reflects broader investor wariness and tightening capital markets.

Greenfield investment projects—a leading indicator of investor confidence—showed mixed results. While the total number of announced projects rose to over 19,000, marking the third-highest on record, their combined value declined by 5% to $1.3 trillion. The drop suggests a shift toward smaller, more strategic investments.

Yet within that cautious environment, the digital economy stood out. Project values in digital industries more than doubled in 2024, reaching $77 billion—an increase of 107% over the previous year. The number of projects grew by 17%, driven by demand for digital services, automation, and AI-driven applications.

For global shipping companies, these investments are shifting port calls, altering trade lane dynamics, and influencing regional logistics development. Large-scale data centre projects, for example, often demand heavy-lift equipment, specialized cargo handling, and increased demand for inbound containerized and breakbulk shipments of construction materials and technology hardware.

Digital Sectors Lead FDI Growth

Among the top ten global greenfield projects, four were semiconductor-related, with three located in the United States. Investment in data infrastructure—especially hyperscale data centres—became a strategic priority for both tech giants and institutional investors.

Oracle announced a $6.5 billion data centre expansion in Malaysia, while Microsoft committed $3 billion to AI and cloud infrastructure in India. In Q1 2025, ByteDance revealed an $8.8 billion investment plan to build multiple data centres in Thailand. These are not isolated cases. Digital infrastructure is now a key target for long-term capital, even amid global uncertainty.

For port operators and freight forwarders, the implications are material. Construction of such facilities often requires shipments of transformers, server racks, steel structures, generators, and prefabricated buildings. This has sparked a noticeable uptick in specialized project cargo traffic to regions like Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe—emerging as digital FDI hotspots.

The report notes that digital economy FDI is increasingly driven by platform companies and private equity firms seeking scalable, resilient investments. Sovereign wealth funds and pension funds are also active in this space, attracted by stable returns and high growth potential. Combined, these actors are reshaping the global investment landscape in favour of intangible, tech-driven assets—yet the logistics requirements remain very physical.

Regional Disparities and the Race for Digital Capital

The digital boom is not evenly distributed. Developed economies—especially North America—led the surge in digital greenfield announcements. The United States ranked first globally for both number and value of digital FDI projects, followed by the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, India, and Germany.

India, in particular, emerged as a significant player. The country saw a sharp rise in semiconductor and ICT manufacturing projects. It was among the few economies to maintain strong inflows, even as China’s FDI dropped by 29%. India’s attractiveness stemmed from its large market, improving digital infrastructure, and supportive industrial policies.

This concentration of digital investment is reshaping shipping routes and cargo types. Ports in India, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam are adapting to increased volumes of specialized inbound freight. Container lines are reporting changes in equipment positioning needs, while project forwarders are seeing new demand for logistics hubs near key tech corridors.

Meanwhile, developing regions in Africa and Latin America remain largely excluded from this digital investment surge. Despite modest growth in project announcements, structural constraints—such as inadequate infrastructure, regulatory uncertainty, and limited digital readiness—have kept digital FDI inflows at low levels. This also limits their role in the evolving shipping supply chains associated with high-value tech cargo.

Traditional Sectors in Retreat

While the digital economy soared, traditional sectors showed continued signs of distress. International project finance (IPF)—which supports large infrastructure projects—declined by 26% in value in 2024. The slump has persisted since 2021, with cumulative losses exceeding 40%.

This decline hits least developed countries (LDCs) especially hard. For many of them, IPF represents the primary source of external financing for development. Projects in renewable energy, transportation, water, and sanitation all saw double-digit percentage declines in value. As these projects vanish, so do hundreds of freight opportunities for breakbulk, Ro-Ro, and heavy-lift operators.

The only exception within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-linked sectors was health, which recorded a modest 25% increase. Greenfield activity in manufacturing sectors held relatively steady, bolstered by supply chain realignment efforts. MNEs in electronics, automotive, and basic metals remained active, particularly in South-East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Central America.

However, in regions like sub-Saharan Africa, the contraction of IPF is drying up demand for large-scale maritime freight imports, especially bulk and project cargo—posing longer-term risks for vessel deployment strategies and port throughput planning.

Trade Tensions and Policy Fragmentation

A new wave of trade barriers and retaliatory tariffs is also influencing FDI flows. The report details how U.S. tariff policies implemented in April and May 2025—targeting imports from nearly 60 countries—are shaping global investment strategies.

These policies, alongside industrial reshoring efforts, are redirecting freight flows and contributing to nearshoring trends. Shipping lines are adapting by revising service rotations to reflect growing demand between Central America, the U.S., and Eastern Europe. Regional feeder networks are also expanding as supply chains localize and manufacturing decentralizes.

For shippers, this means increased demand for intra-regional services, while for carriers it introduces planning complexities—especially for port pairings and frequency optimization.

Declining M&A Activity Adds to Investor Caution

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) rose by 14% in value in 2024, reaching $443 billion. However, this modest recovery came off a low base and remains well below pre-pandemic averages. In fact, Q1 2025 data show the lowest volume of global dealmaking since the 2008 financial crisis.

While digital sector deals drove this recovery, broader caution remains. For maritime logistics providers, the fewer M&A activities involving infrastructure operators or port assets mean less dynamism in the capital market for port development. Investment in physical port capacity has slowed, even as demand shifts with digital investment priorities.

Maritime Sector Must Adapt

Ultimately, the maritime industry is already adapting to these FDI realignments. Carriers are recalibrating networks to serve growing demand in digital investment hubs. Project logistics firms are targeting new contracts in the data infrastructure space. Port authorities are revisiting land use plans to accommodate tech-related freight and potential free trade zones geared toward semiconductors or cloud services.

Yet for many traditional shipping markets—especially those dependent on extractives or public infrastructure projects—the outlook remains constrained.