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Copyright of Studia Histórica: Historia Moderna is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper focuses on the binary choice behavior of employing seafarers for the Taiwanese’ national shipowners and embraces the empirical investigation based on the Binary Logit Model. First, three groups of important factors have been identified having a bearing on the national shipowners’ hiring preferences: crew cost, competence and efficiency (including knowledge, skills, communication, physical and psychological attitude and conditions), as well as quality standard system complying with STCW95. Then, an empirical analysis, based on a Binary Logit Model about the national shipowners’ choosing seafarers, is conducted to demonstrate the conceptual framework developed in this paper. The results show that the hiring decision is significantly affected by the crew cost. The national shipowners also consider several other factors when hiring officers and ratings. In addition, there are significant differences in hiring preference between the sailing international services and operating the liner ships. In the future, when the Measure shall be amended, the national shipowners will change their behavior to re-choose the foreign seafarers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the consequences for trade associated with the adoption of alternative shipping routes, particularly focusing on the variation in maritime distance and the reduced risk of piracy that would result from adopting the Northern Sea or the Cape of Good Hope routes instead of the Suez Canal for transporting goods. I use an extended gravity equation to estimate the impact of piracy on the level of maritime trade between Europe and East Asia. I compare the Cape of Good Hope and the Suez Canal trade routes by considering their variations in maritime distance, and incidents of maritime piracy in the latter trade route. Finally, I examine the potentially safer and shorter trade route between Europe and Asia, the Northeast Passage, and estimate the dramatic change in volume of trade that could result if the Northern Sea Route becomes a viable option for seafarers in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Maritime History is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper analyses the composition, social organization and wide range of activities of the Indian maritime merchant of the early modern period. Regional contrasts between Gujarat, the Coromandel coast and Bengal are discussed. The last section of the paper discusses the interaction between the Indian maritime merchants and the Europeans, both the corporate enterprises as well as private traders. It is argued that the Indian merchants displayed a remarkable degree of adaptiveness and resilience and refused to be overwhelmed by the competition provided by the Europeans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present economic climate, it is often the case that profits can only be improved, or for that matter maintained, by improving efficiency and cutting costs. This is particularly notorious in the shipping business, where it has been seen that the competition is getting tougher among carriers, thus alliances and partnerships are resulting for cost effective services in recent years. In this scenario, effective planning methods are important not only for strategic but also operating tasks, covering their entire transportation systems. Container fleet size planning is an important part of the strategy of any shipping line. This paper addresses the problem of fleet size planning for refrigerated containers, to achieve cost-effective services in a competitive maritime shipping market. An analytical model is first discussed to determine the optimal size of an own dry container fleet. Then, this is extended for an own refrigerated container fleet, which is the case when an extremely unbalanced trade represents one of the major investment decisions to be taken by liner operators. Next, a simulation model is developed for fleet sizing in a more practical situation and, by using this, various scenarios are analysed to determine the most convenient composition of refrigerated fleet between own and leased containers for the transpacific cargo trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the causes of fires on board merchant ships and fishing vessels. The study attempts to identify the causes of fire occurrence on board ships and to determine their interrelations using the relations diagram, also known as the interrelationship diagram or digraph. This diagram identifies relations not only between causes and effects but also between two or more causes. Elements of the diagram, which have the greatest number of directed connections from/to, are the starting points for further ship safety analysis. The relations diagram is used as a basis for planning corrective measures and actions directly increasing shipping safety at sea. Knowing the various causes of fire occurrence, it is possible to eliminate or to reduce their number in the future by revising and drawing up relevant maritime transport regulations. This, in turn, can enhance shipping safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main argument of this paper is that the spatial allocation of economic activity was reflected in shipping activities in the Eastern Mediterranean. Different but geographically near areas developed interwoven economic activities. In that sense this paper examines the economic relations among the merchant marine of Messolonghi, a small port in western Greece, the exporting port of Preveza in Epirus and the needs of Malta and Livorno for certain goods during the eighteenth century. Messolonghi, Preveza and Malta formed a triangle of commercial activities based on the different requirements and potential of each area: in products, people, capital and vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market concentration on the major container shipping routes has the potential to reduce contestability, impede effective competition and, as a consequence, inhibit the positive relationship between trade and economic growth. This development could also hamper the ability of economic regions to realize their respective competitive and comparative advantages. Within this context, the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) framework is used to analyse liner shipping dynamics in the transpacific, Europe-Far East and transatlantic trade routes. The analysis finds no conclusive evidence that either the increased concentration of slot capacity or the attempts by shipping lines to boost potential slot capacity (mainly through collaborative arrangements) lead to improved financial performance. The paper concludes that, despite high and increasing concentration among carriers on each of the trade routes analysed, these markets remain contestable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The baseline of this paper is the current market situation that in the present global situation with the full swing of transportation and new logistical concepts, demands new approaches to organization and management of the maritime business towards integration in the supply chains. The purpose of this paper (contribution) is to inform the reader on the concept of time-bound logistical services that appear as a relevant factor in multimodality of maritime operations, and to highlight the features of multimodality which is becoming a business reality, thanks to the underlying need to cover and control the business processes within the entire supply chain. The time and timely information have become a part of competitive logistics. A competitive service is the groundwork and incentive in introducing the multimodal concept into the maritime business. Conclusions of a research confirm the implication that the time, time-bound logistical services and the multimodal concept are closely interrelated and therefore a constant in the modern conduct of business. For that reason the concept of timebound logistical services is an issue in the sea transport that deserves further study, analysis and eventual introduction in the business practice of the Slovenian enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent technological developments in maritime transport, particularly in container shipping and larger vessels, are having major repercussions at ports the world over. The latest wave of innovations has increased the level of competition in maritime transport, in particular in port activities. Shippers have many more alternatives available, something that tends to increase the hinterland of each port, precisely by reducing captive hinterlands. Ports are now generally moving towards formulas in which private initiative has a bigger role to play. Increases in competition combined with growth in private initiatives highlight the usefulness of marketing tools in two ways. Externally, because they help to achieve throughputs from remote points of origin and destination, and internally, by aiding the proper coordination of business and organizational activity at a commercial port. The present paper is a transversal study of the current situation of marketing and quality tools at major ports, including the opinions of a range of port commercial and marketing managers. We have also tried to describe the differentiated groups to be found at ports, as a useful methodology for identifying the nearest competition or ports with similar characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author comments on the paper "A Suggested Reconstruction of one of the Merchant Ships on the Mosaic Floor in Lod (Lydda) Israel," by E. Haddad and M. Avissar that was published in a 2003 issue of the periodical "International Journal of Nautical Archaeology." This paper contains some inaccuracies and misinterpretations. The suggested marine trauma suffered by the damaged ship in the mosaic is an attractive suggestion, but perhaps naive, and the study was done without looking at comparative material and references. Ship representations in mosaics are usually used as symbols of contemporary vessels. Such depictions, and especially elements of the ship, have to be studied with comparable material, which in the end will result in a better understanding of the vessel.

Copyright of Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this paper is to analyse and discuss the multifaceted cultures within the merchant navy. It is within this multicultural context that the construction of different cultures occur. If maritime managers are to work successfully with their designated ships, and the seafarers working and living aboard these ships, they need to understand that different cultures exist within the industry. The argument put forward is that maritime management needs the necessary soft skills to develop cultural awareness and become culturally sensitive. The primary source of data was drawn from netography and qualitative methodologies. Secondary data was obtained through maritime dissertations, face-to-face interviews, maritime newspaper articles, maritime journal articles and social media. Two main conclusions emerged: firstly, in maritime scholarship there is a lack of research of the existing maritime cultures; and secondly, few maritime companies are aware of how different cultures are integrated. It is significant that healthy cultures within the merchant marine rely on management’s cultural knowledge and their soft skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces the positional cooperative and non-cooperative game of a greater number of met ships for the description of the process considered as well as for the synthesis of optimal control strategies of the own ship in collision situation. The approximated mathematical model of differential game in the form of triple linear programming problem is used for the synthesis of safe ship trajectory as a multistage process decision. The considerations have been illustrated an example of program computer simulation to determine the safe ship trajectories in situation of passing a many of the ships encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the U.S. Merchant Marine Act of 1936. The Act of 1936 substitutes new methods of granting ship subsidies for devices which the U.S. Congress and the Administration regard as inadequate to promote an "adequate" overseas merchant marine. The results under the sale of the war-time fleet at a heavy discount, the construction loan fund and the ocean mail contracts are set forth. The following features of the Merchant Marine act of 1936 are discussed: the declaration of policy, the Maritime Commission, the construction- differential subsidy, the operating-differential subsidy, additional subsidies, cancellation of the ocean mail contracts treatment of American and government ownership and operation. The paper is concluded with a presentation of some of the issues raised by the new legislation. Among these are the difficulty of determining foreign shipbuilding and ship operating costs and also of discovering foreign subsidies, the problem of idle shipping, the rampant economic nationalism of many countries, the apparent lack of knowledge concerning the shipping needs of the country and many more.

This research note traces the emergence of the marine steam engineer in Britain from 1812 to 1860. It examines the development of the British merchant steam fleet and its need for engineers. Crew lists, muster rolls, certificate of service application forms and Parliamentary Papers are examined to reveal the numbers of men seeking to become qualified engineers, and their birthplace, age and training. Consideration is given to the career patterns of marine steam engineers, their relationship to other seafaring ranks, notably firemen and trimmers, the creation of personal wealth and new businesses by some engineers, and the place of their emerging profession in the social context of the era. Administrative and legislative change – essentially, from freedom to control and certification – is identified as a key element in the professionalization of engineers, leading to the establishment of the Institutes of Civil Engineers, Mechanical Engineers and, finally in 1888, Marine Engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of H-Industria: Revista de Historia de la Industria Argentina y Latinoamericana is the property of H-Industria, Revista de Historia de la Industria Argentina y Latinoamericana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Timely and precise speed prediction for large merchant ships is exceptionally important in almost all aspects of maritime transport. This paper explores the possibility of using the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) for creating models for speed prediction of a bulk carrier depending on external hydrometeorological disturbances, namely wind speed, significant wave height and the speed of the sea current. Using a navigational simulator, an appropriate data base concerning the effect of the wind, waves and currents on the ship speed with regard to different directions of the disturbances was formed. This base was used to create data sets for training, testing and verifying the validity of the ANFIS model. An analysis of the effect of selecting the appropriate input-output membership functions while creating the ANFIS model was also performed in order to solve the above mentioned problem. The results gained by the created model are surely promising, which opens a perspective on the implementation of the created model in certain segments of maritime affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The operational performance of merchant ship fleets depends on establishing an effective ship-shore interface especially on logistic support. In this process, selection of marine supplier with respect to the ship operational requirements appears to be a key decision-making issue. This paper offers an integrated decision aid in order to model the marine supplier selection process. The backbone of proposed methodology is the combination of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, Analytic Hierarchy Process, and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution, which allows the decision-makers to combine market dynamics and the logistic needs of the ship's operating environment, which also includes sea voyages, port periods, and docking facilities. A user-friendly interface of the integrated methodology provides opportunities to shipping executives to integrate the proposed methodology into technical ship management procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Maritime History is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper describes the concept design of a high-speed trimaran roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) designed for commercial cargo but readily convertible to military use. It is designed for a coastal express service, such as Port Canaveral, Florida, to Wilmington, Delaware, so the emphasis is on speed, simplicity, and reliability. All the RO/RO cargo is carried on the main deck, and there is room for a limited number of passengers to accompany their cargos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Maritime History is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of International Journal of Maritime History is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Monografies de la Societat ďHistòria Natural de les Balears is the property of Societat d'Historia Natural de les Balears and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses a shipbuilding programme of the Canadian Government Merchant Marine (CGMM) between 1917 and 1921, highlighting the role of Charles Colquhoun (C.C.) Ballantyne, the Canadian Minister of Marine and Fisheries. It compares the merchant marine to Canadian railways and considers attitudes toward government ownership. The author also examines the views of Liberal politician A.R. McMaster and Canadian Prime Minister Robert L. Borden. Other topics include the export of lumber from British Columbia and trade with the West Indies.

The object of this paper is to examine the extent to which these effects exist and to provide a simple method by which they may be estimated for any particular set of circumstances. This method is based upon the most likely combination of circumstances but may be varied to suit any others. Worked examples are included as an appendix. The method suggested here is applicable not only to decisions to create new fleets but also to decisions concerning the expansion or contraction of existing fleets and to decisions to withdraw from merchant shipping. Although it proceeds by a detailed analysis to some very simple conclusions, the detail is thought necessary because when the above assertions are made or implied they are rarely accompanied by any analysis at all. There appear to be four circumstances in which expenditure on current goods and services may change its location following the substitution. The first is that some large part of the crews' wages is normally spent in the countries in which the members of the crew are resident. They will spend it in advances of wages before joining the ship, in allotments of pay or cash sent home to support their families or for other purposes and they will often have part of their wages deducted as tax and as social-security contributions.

One of the unsolved marine catastrophes of the past is the loss of Admiral Karpfanger ex L'Avenir In 1938. In a paper published in the October 2004 issue of MARINE TECHNOLOGY, Roger Ghys and Neil W. Cormack discussed possible causes of the disaster. The present paper discusses a phenomenon that came into attention quite recently, which might have been the cause of the loss: parametric resonance of the rolling motion by head or stem waves. Following a short discussion of that phenomenon, the paper concludes that the vessel might have capsized and sunk as the result of parametric resonance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to improve the quality and quantity of seafarers in the Royal Navy and merchant service became a particular concern amidst the degeneration debates of late-Victorian Britain. Maritime reformers not only promoted fitness in adult sailors, but also particularly sought to improve health and physique of boy recruits in order to rear a new generation of healthy sailors. This article shows how both services experimented with tighter admission criteria and dietary and exercise reforms, and became early advocates of using metrical standards to exclude all but the fittest, healthiest boys from training opportunities. While the physical monitoring of boy recruits undoubtedly showed the value of early lifestyle interventions in fostering healthy development, the rising physical standards of British seafarers in this period was just as much the result of restrictive medical examinations as a commitment to welfare initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian Ocean and Mediterranean studies have highlighted the limitations imposed on our understanding of the dynamics of West Asia by the paradigm of area studies and the category of the 'Middle East'. But less attention has been paid to how expansive perspectives that do not invoke an explicitly maritime geography might enrich our understanding of the region's formative connections. This article seeks to locate the modern city of Aleppo in a trans-regional Asian geography by tracing the shifting history of mercantile networks that connected Aleppo to other parts of Eurasia - notably, parts of the formerly Soviet world and the city of Yiwu in Southeast China. It highlights the importance of trans-regional flows of Soviet patronage, and then Chinese state subsidies and credit, in embedding Aleppo into these expansive circuits. It also argues that these flows have fostered the emergence of a hitherto-unstudied business class in Syria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the development of knowledge concerning the risks posed by asbestos to seamen working aboard merchant ships at sea (i.e. commercial, rather than naval vessels). Seamen were potentially exposed to “in-place” asbestos on merchant ships by performing intermittent repair and maintenance tasks. We reviewed studies measuring airborne asbestos onboard merchant ships and health outcomes of merchant seamen, as well as studies, communications, and actions of U.S. organizations with roles in maritime health and safety. Up to the 1970s, most knowledge of the health risks of asbestos was derived from studies of workers in asbestos product manufacturing and asbestos mining and milling industries, and certain end-users of asbestos products (particularly insulators). We found that attention to the potential health risks of asbestos to merchant seamen began in the mid- to late 1970s and early 1980s. Findings of pleural abnormalities in U.S. seamen elicited some concern from governmental and industry/labor organizations, but airborne asbestos concentrations aboard merchant ships were found to be <1 f/cc for most short-term repair and maintenance tasks. Responses to this evolving information served to warn seamen and the merchant shipping industry and led to increased precautions regarding asbestos exposure. Starting in the 1990s, findings of modest increases in lung cancer and/or mesothelioma in some epidemiology studies of seamen led some authors to propose that a causal link between shipboard exposures and asbestos-related diseases existed. Limitations in these studies, however, together with mostly unremarkable measures of airborne asbestos on merchant ships, preclude definitive conclusions in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed during the monthly meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME)-New York Metropolitan Section in Newark, New Jersey on December 5, 2006 is presented. The event highlights the topic on the ongoing activities of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in researching alternative energy technologies within the maritime industry. Primary presenters Douglas Brown and Gregory Sachs of USMMA.

Recently some revisionist historians have contested the evidential basis for the argument put forward by their post-revisionist colleagues that the growth of the German mercantile marine, most particularly ships capable of being transformed into armed commerce raiders, was viewed with alarm in the British Admiralty and played a significant part in shaping British naval policy before 1914. Looking in detail at their reasoning, this assessment demonstrates that the rejection of this argument is based upon a faulty and incomplete understanding of the documentary record. Moreover, it is driven by a desire to defend the thesis that they have previously articulated that the expansion of German maritime power played a limited role in British defence policy before 1914. However, their objections do not withstand detailed scrutiny. Whatever might have been the British view of the long-term threat posed by Russia and France, Germany’s growing strength, including in merchant shipping, loomed large as a security problem in the decade and a half before 1914. The wartime activities of German commerce raiders, notably theKronprinz Wilhelm, suggest that fears of a German commerce war were entirely rational. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The world-wide British merchant shipping industrial dispute of 1925 threatened to bring the commerce of the British Empire to a halt. Although it rapidly faded in Britain itself, the strike took off with remarkable effect in the ports of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, almost paralysing the southern hemisphere operations of the world's largest cargo and passenger fleet. Through exploring the course of the strike in Durban, South Africa, this article shows how this globalised British labour dispute brought out tensions within the politics of the empire, both between dominions and metropolis and between political factions within those dominions. The article analyses the strike from the perspective that the exercise of power within the empire was radically fragmented. It shows that the course of the struggle was shaped by intensely conflictual relationships between South Africa and imperial power-holders in London, by rivalries between political factions within the South African state and by regional divisions between the Pretoria government and Natal Province. Together, these tensions produced the state policies towards the strike that enabled it to last far longer in Durban than might initially have been predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a deterministic maritime inventory routing problem with a long planning horizon. For instances with many ports and many vessels, mixed-integer linear programming (MIP) solvers often require hours to produce good solutions even when the planning horizon is 90 or 120 periods. Building on the recent successes of approximate dynamic programming (ADP) for road-based applications within the transportation community, we develop an ADP procedure to generate good solutions to these problems within minutes. Our algorithm operates by solving many small subproblems (one for each time period) and by collecting information about how to produce better solutions. Our main contribution to the ADP community is an algorithm that solves MIP subproblems and uses separable piecewise linear continuous, but not necessarily concave or convex, value function approximations and requires no off-line training. Our algorithm is one of the first of its kind for maritime transportation problems and represents a significant departure from the traditional methods used. In particular, whereas virtually all existing methods are "MIP-centric," i.e., they rely heavily on a solver to tackle a nontrivial MIP to generate a good or improving solution in a couple of minutes, our framework puts the effort on finding suitable value function approximations and places much less responsibility on the solver. Computational results illustrate that with a relatively simple framework, our ADP approach is able to generate good solutions to instances with many ports and vessels much faster than a commercial solver emphasizing feasibility and a popular local search procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the representation of the Merchant Navy on BBC radio in Britain during the Second World War. It discusses how this essential, but dangerous, wartime role was presented to the British public by arguably the most prevalent wartime cultural medium. It uses extensive research in the BBC’s Written Archive Centre, using both radio broadcasts and listener research, to understand how the role of the Merchant Navy was portrayed and understood during the war. This article argues that, unlike other civilian occupations, men of the Merchant Navy were presented as brave and courageous under enemy fire and were consequently given access to much of the prestige generally reserved for the armed forces. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is no doubt that the historical geographies of quarantine and racial nationalism overlapped at Sydney's North Head Quarantine Station. To conflate these practices into a single narrative of immigration restriction, however, obscures other stories and agendas. Drawing upon inscriptions left in the Sydney sandstone by those detained at North Head, we argue that for many Pacific voyagers, quarantine was merely a temporary interruption rather than an exclusionary endpoint or affront. Citing the shuttling trade of ships and crews from New Zealand, Japan and China, this article re-locates North Head from a continental gateway to a Pacific outpost. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As transatlantic trade between Spain and her American colonies developed from the sixteenth century onwards, a new class of ocean-going vessel commander emerged. Gradually, pilotos, who were trained in nautical schools, replaced the former coastal trade patrones as masters and mates in long-distance navigation. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, accession to this professional class entailed the completion of a challenging programme of study, which was assessed through a range of examinations and tests to yield a mate’s qualification for those who successfully negotiated the course. Only then would ship-owners have sufficient confidence to consider mates for promotion to the rank of master and manager of a shipping venture. The transition from sail to steam greatly affected the work and life of seafarers in the world shipping industry, especially those who belonged to the class of professional masters and mates. This was particularly so in the Spanish merchant marine, which had some peculiarities that must be borne in mind if this particular process of change is to be fully understood. The aim of this article is to analyse from various perspectives the complex roles of the master, who functioned as both employer and employee, in Spanish shipping enterprises. By so doing, it is intended that a platform for further research, and broader, comparative analyses, will be constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An early battle in the war to gain greater equality for China on the international stage emerged in an unexpected place: Aboard ships around the world sailing for the Allied Merchant Marine. During the Second World War, at least twenty thousand Chinese seamen worked on mostly British ships. Chinese worked long hours, received lower wages than white sailors engaged in the same work, were never given the war risk bonus offered to keep other members of the crew on duty during periods of high risk, and were routinely denied shore leave at U.S. ports on the grounds that they posed a flight risk. In response, Chinese seamen deserted in uniquely high rates, en masse instead of one individual at a time. The nature and scope of the desertions threatened the success of the supply operation, leading the governments involved to come together to try to prevent them.This article explores the multilateral negotiations that endured as long as the war itself. These centered upon three of the most basic inequalities endured by Chinese sailors—unequal pay, lack of war risk bonuses, and lack of shore leave. Using government records from all three parties (the United States, Great Britain, and the Republic of China) as well as press and collections from private organizations, I demonstrate the ways in which racial inequalities ingrained in the international system hindered advances for the Chinese seamen, challenged the smooth management of both Anglo-Chinese and Chinese-American relations, and sparked conflict between the Nationalist Chinese government and the seamen themselves. The legacies of British colonialism in Asia and American exclusion of Chinese combined with wartime public opinion to push forward changes when international union efforts failed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the origins of maritime labor reform in the U.S. in relation to the notion of flexible capacity of merchant ships as a reserve for naval warfare. Topics include the activism of the Sailors' Union of the Pacific (SUP) in relation to Chinese exclusion legislation and racial prejudice, recruitment of sailors into the U.S. Navy during the Spanish-American War, and the origins of the U.S. Seaman's Act of 1915, sponsored by U.S. Senator Robert La Follette.

The thirty years after 1980 witnessed significant global changes in labour markets, marked by a decline in ongoing employment and corresponding growth in temporary work, subcontracting and self-employment. Associated with this change has been mounting evidence of adverse health effects associated with insecure and flexible work arrangements that have been termed precarious employment. What most observers fail to note is that precarious employment is not a new phenomenon. Viewed in a broader timeframe, precarious employment was the norm prior to the long post-war boom. Examining the case of merchant seamen this article demonstrates that in the earlier period there was clear evidence that precarious employment contributed to health and safety hazards encountered by seamen. Further, contemporary observers, including policymakers, unions and medical researchers, were aware of the connection. Not only are there parallels with the merchant marine today, but also understanding of how and why precarious employment damages health would be enhanced by adopting a broader historical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

. The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, which takes effect on 20 August 2013, consolidates dozens of ILO standards adopted since the 1920s. It has been described as the 'fourth pillar' of the international maritime regulatory regime, alongside three major IMO Conventions on safety at sea and marine pollution control. The challenge, the authors argue, will be to enforce it within the existing inspection frameworks of flag State implementation and 'port State control'. Technically, the responsibility rests on the former, but the proliferation of flags of convenience suggests that the latter will have a crucial part to play too, as will, in either case, inspector training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 1790s to the 1850s, three dozen major merchant ships burned in India's important ports. Panic-stricken British shipowners, merchants and East India Company officials apprehended disruption of their intercontinental trade, so vital to the burgeoning British Empire. In all these cases, they accused Indian seamen (lascars) of selfish ship-burning. As a context, the lascars had, for centuries prior to European arrival in the Indian Ocean, worked collectively under their own petty officers. They and Indian recruiters in each port had long resisted colonial efforts to appropriate their maritime labour system. Britons used this half-century of alleged arson to finally impose British controls over lascar recruitment ashore and conditions of service aboard ships. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents information on the international trade of goods transported through ships, oil tankers and cargo carriers. The issues related to old cargos, vessels and junkyards, the increase in problems for managing ship breaking process and waste material handling are discussed. The need of adequate enforcement of regulations, economic value of such ships and cheap local labor are also discussed.