BY Sir Frederic Bolton, M.C. Chairman 0/ F. Bolton Group Ltd, Director 0/ Sealink Ltd and a past President o/the General Council 0/ British Shipping The shipping industry has always lacked a body which can confer professional status on would-be practitioners: in that sense, unlike those closely allied to his responsibilities - the marine engineer, the shipowner or manager is obliged to remain an unqualified amateur. The latest addition to Mr Branch's list of titles goes a long way towards correcting this position: a proper study of the material in his book would clearly go far to confer the status of 'complete ship operator' upon anyone who was examined on its contents. Know ledge as comprehensive as that acquired through Mr Branch's book must provide a sound base on which to build the experience of practice. Contents Foreword v Pre/ace xi Acknowledgements xiii Diagrams xiv 1 Services Rendered by Sea Transport to International Trade 1 Function 0/ shipping and its relationship to international trade. Balance 0/ trade and balance 0/ payments. Relationship between world seaborne trade and world mercantile fleet. 2 Economics of International Trade 13 Function 0/ international trade. Survey 0/ international trade. Commodity trades. Flow o/manu/actured goods. Multinational companies. Freight /orwarding. Major trading areas o/the world. Pre/erential trading groups. International exchange rates. 3 Economics of Ship Design 31 Influence 0/ cost, construction and sa/ety /actors. Ship design criteria. Economics 0/ ship propulsion.