What of that new spirit among owners?

Abstract

It is now two years since my book British Shipping and World Competition was published and three years since the writing of it was completed. The book as a whole presented a somewhat critical picture of British shipowners. In the epilogue I suggested that a new spirit was showing in the industry which made the future prospects brighter than the immediate past performance appeared to indicate. This was not a forecast of future economic conditions but of the manner in which shipowners would respond to those circumstances. Despite the somewhat depressed conditions which have existed in the industry over the last few years, very substantial progress had been made. It is not possible to examine in detail the eight signs of the new spirit which I detected in 1961. These may, however, be compressed into a few headings for comment on progress and prospects.

Reprinted from the Journal of Commerce Annual Review 1965, by courtesy of the publishers.