What are the effects of transportation costs on international trade patterns?

Over the past few decades, the price of transport, especially transport by sea, has dropped dramatically.  This has changed international trade patterns by allowing countries in Asia, for example, to become very strong exporters.  They are able to export their products to the Americas and to Europe without having those products end up being too expensive because of transport costs.

If it were not for the low costs of transport, China, for example, would not be able to be such a major exporting country.

In addition, there have come to be more and more things that are produced in multiple countries.  Big things like airplanes can have components produced in various countries and then shipped to the country where they will be assembled into finished products.