Yrjö Kaukiainen

The role of shipping in the ‘second stage of globalisation’

In popular literature, the rapid growth of international trade during the last 50 or 60 years has often been viewed as a direct consequence of shipping technology and the decline of ocean transport costs, but a number of authoritative economists tend to regard certain other variables, such as the general income growth or reductions of customs tariffs, as more plausible explanations. However, typical macroeconomic estimations have a couple of weaknesses that make them insensitive to historical context. First, they pay no regard to the fact that ocean shipping is no homogenous entity but—for example in terms of transport costs—has varied substantially both across sectors and over time. Moreover, the typical macro-level proxy for transport costs, freight factor (the ratio of freight to commodity value), varies so hugely between cheap and expensive commodities that any single average ratio involves an unreasonably high standard deviation. Relying on conventional freight indices and tonnage data, the present article argues that, after the Second World War, the global role of ocean shipping can be interpreted in terms of two different phases. During the first, the focus was in bulk trades. Both in oil and dry-bulk fleets the average vessel sizes trebled and the resulting efficiency gains were reflected in a corresponding decline of freight-rates. This ‘bulk revolution’ came to an end during the so-called great shipping crisis, and the next phase was characterised by the development of liner shipping, the ‘container revolution’. Even in this case the technical development produced substantial efficiency gains but, unlike before, freight-rates only declined modestly. Yet shippers gained indirectly from better, more predictable and secure services—a better value for money. Such quality aspects cannot be measured by freight factors, but common opinion seems to be that, without the rapid growth of container shipping, the outsourcing of Western manufacturing to low-wage countries—as well as the concomitant growth of world trade in 1990–2007—would had been much slower.

Book Review: Arbeit auf See: Zur Ökonomie und Ethnologie der GlobalisierungGerstenbergerHeide and WelkeUlrich, Arbeit auf See: Zur Ökonomie und Ethnologie der Globalisierung, with DVD, “A World Apart: Seafaring in the 21st Century.” Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot [www.dampfboot-verlag.de], 2004.399 pp., photographs, notes, index, bibliography, DVD. €29,80, SSF 52, 10, paper; ISBN 3-89691-575-4.

that were well recorded from the seventeenth century onward. Following such ceremonies the cup was presented to the shipbuilder. By the end of the seventeenth century a bottle was thrown onto the deck during the launching procedure. The earliest evidence for breaking the bottle at the stem was recorded in 1804. Dutch and German shipbuilders did not adopt this practice before the mid-nineteenth century, because ships were launched bow first, making it difficult to break a bottle at the bow. Instead other rites were commonly used, such as decorating the ship with garlands, singing hymns or firing guns. Wine might be consumed on deck during the launch, but the shipbuilder could not take part in the ceremony, because he had to supervise his men during the procedure. In short, the eighteenth-century silver cup in the museums collection is something of a mystery. The final part of the 2003 yearbook includes papers from a conference on German-Icelandic Fisheries History, held in 2002 to coincide with the opening of the Fisheries Memorial in Vik i Myrdal, Iceland. Kristin Hjaltason shows that the German fishing industry was not much influenced by various extensions to its fishing limits by the Icelandic government, though German fishing vessels had been active off the Icelandic coast for several decades. Instead of processing fish caught by German vessels, they began to purchase foreign-caught fish for their factories. Gudni Th. J6hannesson looks at the role of British Ambassador Andrew Gilchrist in Reykjavik during the Cod War of 1958-61. At first Gilchrist worked to secure a peaceful settlement, but gradually became a hard liner. He managed to provoke a near riot at one point by inviting several foreign journalists to the British embassy. This was shortly after clashes occurred between British trawlers and Icelandic warships in September 1959. A crowd ofseveral hundred peaceful demonstrators gathered outside, but the journalists complained that they were too quiet. Gilchrist therefore played a Scottish march on the gramophone at full blast. This angered the crowd, who stormed into the garden and broke several windows. Another paper by Ingo Heidbrink examines the German-Icelandic relationship during the so-called Second Cod War in 1973. When the Icelandic Coast Guard cut the trawling gear of some of the German vessels, the German government sent out fisheries protective vessels. Unlike the British warships, these were unarmed civil support vessels for the fishing fleet. In November 1974 the captain of the German trawler Arcturius was charged with illegal fishing in Iceland. Germany responded with a total ban on all Icelandic goods, mainly fish. Unfortunately the volume lacks an annual report of the museums activities. Nevertheless, it is well edited to the high standard of all ofthe museums publications, and the brilliantly reproduced painting of Caspar David Friedrich is a particular delight to see.