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Michael Grey
The maritime industry is largely a service industry and in economic terms one of derived demand and is this subject to external pressures, such as that from the direction of world trade. It is also an industry that has been subject to great economic changes, becoming one of the first to tap into the globalized labour market, when driven by long term recession at the end of the last century. It has seen enormous technical changes, such as containerization, the rise of the offshore industry and scale economies, which have permeated every maritime sector. It has also seen an eastwards shift in much shipbuilding and ship operation, although the control of much of shipping has remained in a few western nations. The industry is intensely cyclical, but has historically spent much time in a condition of shipping supply surplus, which tends to be a consequence of the over-optimism of ship-owners and the longevity of the ships they buy. Reactions to this include, on the one hand, slow steaming and cost saving, better ship utilization and efficiency increases, with huge shipping productivity gains. Many of these, however, have diminished the life at sea experience for ships ‘crews, with crew cutbacks, highly intensive operations and fatigue among the consequences. Manpower policies have also been affected by the last big shipping recession, when there was insufficient recruitment ashore and afloat, and which threatens the health of the sector today, and in the future.
