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This book is concerned with the role played by the sea transport industries in the development of global markets. It claims that the sea transport industry in fundamentally intrinsic to the political and economic interactions between nations. It seeks to demonstrate that the elements of shipping, internationalisation, and globalisation are intertwined. The purpose of this journal is to trace the development and examine the consequences of globalisation as it relates to maritime history. The four main issues under consideration are:- information networks and cooperation in transoceanic shipping; the expansion of markets; technological change; and the adaptability of entrepreneurs, institutions, and nation states to changing business environments. Geographically, the focus of the contributing essays splits between Europe and Japan.

This book is an in-depth case study of the Furness Withy and Co Shipping Group, which operated both tramp and liner services and was one of the five major British shipping groups of the early twentieth century. It demonstrates how British shipowners of this period generated success by exploring Christopher Furness’ career in relation to the social, political, and cultural currents during a time of tremendous shipping growth in Britain and the establishment of some of the largest shipping firms in the world. It approaches the study from three angles. The first analyses how the Furness Group expanded its shipping activities and became involved with the industrial sector. The second illustrates the organisational and financial structure of the enterprise. Finally, the Group’s leadership and entrepreneurship is scrutinised and placed within the wider context of twentieth century British business. The case study begins in 1870, with an introduction explaining how Christopher Furness came to join the family company, Thomas Furness and Co. in order develop services, expand, and instigate the changes and mergers that brought the Furness Group into existence. There are thirteen chronologically presented chapters, a bibliography, and seven appendices of data including an ownership timeline, tonnage statistics, acquisitions, a list of maritime associates, and a timeline of Christopher Furness’ life. The book concludes in 1919 with the de-merging of the Furness Group’s shipping and industrial holdings, the resignation of the Furness family from the company’s board, the sale of their shares, and the move into managing the firm’s industrial interests.

This work is a reprint of a 1962 book, British Shipping and World Competition, by maritime economist Dr S. G. Sturmey. It seeks to explain why the tonnage of ships registered in the United Kingdom declined from forty-five percent of the world total in 1900, to sixteen percent by 1960. It presents four possible answers and proceeds to examine them in detail: changes in approaches to competition resulting in changes to the economic structure of the industry; international interference in competitive structures; unrelated factors, such as government policies that didn’t directly concern shipping but still caused an impact; and the internal actions within British shipping relating to changes in industrial circumstances. It is comprised of fifteen chapters, an appendix tabling the contribution of British shipping to the balance of payments, a bibliography, comprehensive index, epilogue, and a foreword from the series editor which states that the Sturmey’s arguments remain resonant in the field of maritime history in the present day. Sturmey makes a particular effort to place the activity in the British shipping industry into an international context for the sake of comparative analysis. It concludes that the decline of the industry was primarily due to internal decision-making rather than external factors - a conclusion that was considered divisive and provocative upon initial release, but has stood the test of time. The epilogue attempts to predict the future of British shipping post-1960, suggesting shipowners could improve the industry’s prospects: however, few of these predictions came to be.

This book provides a study of both the physical and intangible frameworks that enabled maritime resources to flow and infrastructures to operate. The aim is to demonstrate the complexity and diversity of the legal, social, cultural, and institutional forces at work within maritime economics. Port development, planning, and policy-making constitute the physical frameworks, while agency structures and consular networks make up the non-physical factors under discussion. Both land and sea commodities are examined, including capital mobilised from other sectors, and a particularly pertinent maritime commodity, fish. Through case studies, theory-driven analysis, evidence from statistical data, and regional and national comparisons, it successfully illustrates the structure of resource flow and the shape of maritime economic activity on an international scale spanning the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. Nations examined include Scotland, England, New Zealand, Italy, Denmark, plus several Nordic and Mediterranean states. The book consists of three sections: the first exploring intangible infrastructures and their components; the second, resource flow and economic development; and, finally, the physical infrastructures of the ports themselves.