A shipping line or shipping company is a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

whose line of business is ownership and operation of

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

s. Shipping companies provide a method of distinguishing ships by different kinds of cargo: #

Bulk cargo Bulk cargo is Product (business), product cargo that is transported packaging, unpackaged in large quantities. Description Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate (as a mass of relatively small solids) form, ...

is a type of special cargo that is delivered and handled in large quantities. # General cargo, now known as break-bulk cargo, refers to a wide assortment of goods that may be delivered to several ports around the world. # Oil became a crucial part of the shipping industry in the early 20th century. Its use varied from lubrication for developed machinery, burning in boilers and industrial plants, as well as for operating engines. Oil is also primarily shipped by specific shipping companies as opposed to other forms of transportation. This is considered a type of special cargo. The shipping of oil has become a debated issue due to the environmental impacts of both

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

s and

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk cargo, bulk transport of petroleum, oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quant ...

s. # Passenger cargo is the business of transporting people on shipping lines for the purposes of relocation or recreation.Rodrigue, J. P. (2017). “Maritime Transportation”. ''The Geography of Transport Systems''. New York, NY: Routledge. Retrieved from https://transportgeography.org/?page_id=1762 This became a growing industry near the turn of the twentieth century with the wide use of luxury

ocean liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). The ...

s. Passenger cargo became a logistical challenge by attempting to balance pleasure voyage aspects with the structural limitations and requirements of the vessel. # Special cargo is a term used for one specific product being shipped to a specific port.Hardy, A. C. (1928). ''Seaways and Seatrade''. New York, NY: D. Van Nostrand Company. Inland shipping along rivers and other freshwater bodies are used to transport cargo to ports other than those along the coast. Inland shipping requires more infrastructure than ocean shipping. Rivers and lakes require infrastructure, such as river ports and

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

s, to be considered developed and ready for commercial use. Much of this infrastructure became more widely developed during the 19th and 20th centuries. Some principal waterways used by shipping lines in the 20th century were the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

, Amazon River,

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

Nile River The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, and

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

. Examples of waterway infrastructure include the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

and the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

. These waterways are still in use for commercial purposes today. Some waterways can only operate under seasonal conditions. For example, the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

operate shipping for approximately eight months each year, but cannot continue operations during winter months when the lakes typically freeze. Most inland shipping lines are based on speed and efficiency to deliver cargo.

Modern shipping

Contemporary maritime transportation is bound by geographical constraints, political regulation, and commercial interests. Modern advances and innovations in shipping technology have grown the shipping industry since the twentieth century. Many of these advances include the size of vessels, the size of fleets, specialty purposes for ships within the fleet,

naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and op ...

and design, and automated ship systems. In terms of commercial interests, the maritime industry has a high level of contestability for shipping lines. This means that the ease of entering and leaving the industry is high. The cause of this is due to the purchase of secondhand ships, the return on which can often be covered fairly quickly for commercial ships. Newer, expensive ships require a larger return on the investment but pay off quickly. This is because these ships typically cater to a larger, more expensive crowd. For instance, new

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

s can often be paid off within ten years due to the entrepreneurial nature of its intended purpose. Innovations in the shipping industry are also being utilized by shipping lines to find solutions to global problems. For example, modern technology and research is being used to analyze the phenomenon of shipping containers disappearing while at sea. These problems are being researched in part by government agencies, such as the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

that operates in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.Frey, O. T., DeVogelaere, A. P. (2014, March). “The Containerized Shipping Industry and the Phenomenon of Containers Lost at Sea”. Retrieved from https://nmssanctuaries.‌blob.core.‌windows‌.net/sanctuaries-prod/media/archive/science/conservation/pdfs/lostcontainers.pdf While part of this issue is due to human error as a result of lack of enforcement, advances in technology and ship design hope to improve the rates at which containers may be lost at sea. Other challenges being pursued in the maritime industry include adaptation to a more

globalized Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

economy. While the maritime industry has always remained global by nature, shipping lines are now experiencing phenomenon that is unprecedented in scale or unseen at all before the 21st century. Many of these issues surround the nature of increased cooperation in the maritime industry. For instance, cooperation among many shipping lines in the industry is causing an anticompetitive market. This is one of the reasons for the high level of contestability in the shipping industry. With more cooperation among shipping lines, there are larger rates of ships and companies entering and leaving the industry. As of 2019, business and economic analysists are attempting to find solutions to reduce the anticompetitive practices and promote competitive growth in the maritime industry.

History

British shipping

Large-scale shipping lines became widespread in the nineteenth century, after the development of the

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

in 1783. At first,

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

was the centre of development; in 1819, the first steamship crossing of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

took place and by 1833, shipping lines had begun to operate steamships between Britain and

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

possessions such as

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

.British History - Victorian Technology
BBC History Three major British shipping lines were founded in the 1830s: the British and American Steam Navigation Company, the Great Western Steamship Company and the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company.

American shipping

The United States federal government passed the Shipping Act of 1916 as a protection agency for American shipping.“History of the Federal Maritime Commission”. (2019, March 11). Retrieved from https://www.‌fmc.gov/about/history.aspx The act, passed during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

but before the nation officially entered the war, helped American shipping lines during a period when commercial shipping grew under the demands of the war. Under this act, the United States Shipping Board was also formed. In 1920, after the end of World War I, the federal government passed the Merchant Marine Act to protect American shipping interests in response to changing foreign shipping policy. The responsibilities established under the Shipping Act were eventually transferred to the

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business ...

in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Federal Maritime Commission was created in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to regulate shipping activity in the United States, finally giving blanket authority to one shipping commission. At the same time, the

United States Maritime Administration The United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) is an Government agency#United States, agency of the United States Department of Transportation. MARAD administers financial programs to develop, promote, and operate the United States Maritime ...

, or MARAD, was founded to regulate the merchant marine industry and fleet. However, a sharp rise in international ocean trade gave the two agencies expanded power in the growing maritime industry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shipping Line Maritime transport

Modern shipping

History

British shipping

American shipping

See also

References