The Business of Shipping

This book provides an excellent introduction to the majority (and most important aspects) of the shipping business. Chapters are provided on different classes of ships, routes and trade they service, rolfe of shipping agents, different roles of crew, manifest documents, regulations, etc. What the book does not provide, however, is a :"macro" view of the maritime industry. No perspective is provided on trends and size of shipping over past few decades, ship size trends, rates of return, etc. For these one should refer to Strapford's "Maritime Economics" The "Business of Shipping" also has a few other weaknesses. They are: a) The book is quite dated. It was written in the late 1990s and most data/information cited therein is from the early 1990s and late 1980s. It desperately needs updating, especially considering the explosion of seaborne trade from and to China and the emergin world that has taken place since 2000. b) Very weak on personnel issues. The bok discusses the roles of various crew memebers (i.e., stewart, first mate, etc.) but little is presented on hiring practices and crew and officer shortages. This is especially ironic considering that even the book itself explicitely states that this is one of the most serious provelsm facing the industry. And this problem has become far worse since the late 1990s, when the book was written.

A must-read for anyone in the maritime industry! This book should be a required reading at the university for naval architects, marine engineers and ESPECIALLY for business majors specializing in transportation. Being in the maritime industry I have only seen pieces of the whole picture, presented in the book. I wish I have read it 10 years ago!!! It is really, really worth reading!!!