著者

ハイド フランシス・E

出版者

経営史学会

雑誌

経営史学 (ISSN:03869113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2, no.3, pp.1-7,i, 1967-11-15 (Released:2010-05-07)

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Shipping industry is a fruitful field for business history studies. Earnings of shipping firms depend on the various factor such as the level of demand for the products carried, the effectiveness of competition on the structure of freight rates, the technical efficiency of the ship and the amount of shipping space on offer at a berth at any particular time in relation to the amount of cargo to be lifted.Over the past sixty years, the fluctuation of net earning from British shipping service has been very wide and the British shipowners maintained a competitive structure by building up reserves in good years from which to sustain building programmes during the poor years.By offering regular service, the Conference lines increased the commercial tempo of the countries which they served and safeguarded their capital by maintaining earning capacity, sustaining the efficiency of the shipping industry as a whole.Before 1939, the British fleets of cargo-liners were rebuilt twice. The first rebuilding, from 1885 to 1897, incorporated the change from compound to triple-expansion engines, the replacement of iron with steel, new system of ventilation and so on. The second reconstruction occurred between 1924 and 1929, switching from steam to diesel propulsion. The second change-over was less comprehensive because Britain was still a coal-based economy.For the shipping company which had a reasonably well diversified trade, it was still profitable to put capital into ships. If, however, a shipping line confined its activities to a limited number of routes, the investment of the company's resources in alternative enterprise would have been a prudent course to have taken.