The principal aim of this paper is to explore some of the wider social and economic implications of reductions in the real costs of sea transport as a result of the changes in maritime technology since about 1960. In this wider approach we have to consider shipping not as a series of mechanical links meeting with land transport at port interfaces, but as a system which has in recent years undergone processes of transformation, technically and organizationally, which have been of such fundamental significance as to affect several aspects of the spatial organization of society.

Major transport advances have had a considerable impact on society at various times in the past – the industrial revolution in Britain has equally well been described as the transport revolution; but it is always difficult at the time to discern the significance of the social and economic impact of such changes – even now there is some controversy as to whether the too early allocation of resources to railroads in America inhibited nineteenth century rates of economic growth in that country. But what have been common to all transport revolutions are the ways in which they have acted to converge time and space through increased speed of transit and reduced costs of overcoming distance. This in turn has affected perceptions of the value of places, the accessibility of resources and markets, and has influenced decisions relating to the location of mining, agricultural, and industrial activities.