Introduction

Shipping has been in the domain of the developed world since the earliest days when European sailors braved the uncharted seas in search of new worlds and trade. The Europe-Far East trades became increasingly competitive during the 1800s and that era saw the advent of European dominated shipping cartels called liner conferences. Even the development of the Panamanian flag of convenience was evidence of the United States' entrepreneurial spirit in shipping in the 1920s. Today, for the countries of the developed world, shipping is a mature industry with slow growth, and the focus of many traditional shipowning nations has changed accordingly.

Beginning in the early 1970s, many developing nations aspired to participate equitably in world prosperity and achieve a redistribution of world income; these aspirations culminated in calls by the United Nations for a New International Economic Order. In shipping and trade, the way was paved for the governments of the developing world to undertake fleet promotion strategies as one means of achieving wealth redistribution.

The particular reasons why many developing countries have become interested in fleet promotion are varied but are often related to real or perceived inequalities in the international ocean transport system. This chapter will address these reasons for five of the ASEAN countries and detail the subsequent legislative measures each has taken to promote national flag shipping. Each country has followed more than one course of action, some with a greater degree of success than others; fleet growth and the use of government equity to achieve that growth will be discussed in later chapters. In the last chapter, some comparative comments on the approaches of developing and developed countries to shipping policies will be made.

Singapore

Singapore's shipping policy in general reflects the country's overall government economic policy, which is to promote free enterprise with a minimum of official interference.