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The American Shipping Industry since 1914

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

John G. B. Hutchins
John G. B. Hutchins
Affiliation:
Professor of Business History and Transportation at Cornell University
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Abstract

In 1914 the United States had tess than 5 per cent of the merchant shipping tonnage of the world; in 1952 it had 32 per cent of a vastly larger world tonnage, although its basic competitive disadvantages had probably increased in the intervening years. This enormous growth of the American fleet resulted from the changes in public policy which accompanied a new view of the American role in world affairs. This article analyzes the major developments in the American merchant marine, both deep-sea and coastwise, since World War I.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , June 1954 , pp. 105 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1954

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References

1 That is, private companies which have been chosen by the state as instruments for the achievement of a specified public policy.

2 Hutchins, John G. B., The American Maritime Industries and Public Policy, 1789–1914 (Cambridge, 1941), 432.Google Scholar

3 Merchant Marine Study and Investigation, Senate Report 2494, 81st Cong., 2nd Sess., 347–69. Estimates for a liberty-type tramp are: American-flag, $15,321; British, $5,312; Norwegian, $5,207; Dutch, $6,482; Italian, $4,509; and Greek, $6,897.

4 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Navigation, 1894 (Washington, 1894), p. xvii; ibid., 1901, pp. 34, 306–9.

5 W. S. Tower ms. in E. E. Day papers (in possession of the author).

6 Merchant Marine Study and Investigation, 253.

7 The Use and Disposition of Ships and Shipyards at the End of World War II, A Report by the Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1945 (Washington, 1945), 218–9.

8 41 Stat. 988, ch. 250.

9 Harvard Business School Report, 244.

10 Ibid., 257.

11 C. S. Duncan, “Financial Policy of British Steamship Companies,” ms., E. E. Day Papers.

12 Briefly, a bareboat charter is the rental of a bare hull without crew, equipment, or stores to an operator, who assumes the responsibility of returning the vessel in like condition, less ordinary wear and tear.

13 U. S. Maritime Commission, Economic Survey of the American Merchant Marine (Washington, 1937), 33.Google Scholar

14 45 Stat. 689, ch. 675.

15 Merchant Marine Study and Investigation, 108.

16 49 Stat. 1985, ch. 858.

17 U. S. Maritime Commission, Economie Survey, 28.

18 Saugstad, J. E., Commercial and State-Aided Ship Scrapping (Washington, 1933), 18–21.Google Scholar

19 W. S. A. Shipping Summary, July, 1945, 72–73.

20 Fischer, Gerald J., A Statistical Summary of Shipbuilding under the United States Maritime Commission during World War II, Historical Reports of War Administration, U.S.M.C. 2 (Washington, 1949), 41–43.Google Scholar

21 W. S. A. Shipping Summary, July, 1945, p. 1.

22 60 Stat. 41, ch. 282.

23 Harvard Business School Report, 1–3.

24 For a commentary see Hutchins, John G. B., “United States Merchant Marine Policy and Surplus Ships,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 59 (1951), 117.Google Scholar

25 Federal Maritime Board-Maritime Administration, Annual Report, 1951, 45.

26 Ibid., 1951, p. 16; 2952, p. 7.

27 Ibid., 1952, p. 16.

28 Merchant Marine Study and Investigation, 18–19.

29 Ibid., 10–11.

30 The focal point of the attack was the report prepared for the President by Gordon Gray, formerly Secretary of the Army. See the summary in Traffic World, 18 Nov. 1950.

31 Morgan, C. S., Problems in the Regulation of Domestic Transportation by Water (Washington, Interstate Commerce Commission, 1946, to accompany ex parte 165), 239–41.Google Scholar

32 Ibid., 252.

33 Ibid., 13.

34 Stumpf, J. A., A Report on Intercoastal Shipping Problems, with Special Reference to the San Francisco Bay Area (San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Ports Commission, 1953), 37.Google Scholar

35 47 Stat. 1425, ch. 199.

36 Merchant Marine Study and Investigation, 344.

37 All Rail Commodity Rates between California, Oregon, and Washington, 268 ICC 519 (1947).