My long essay will discuss how the maritime sector, with reference to Greek shipping in the post-World War II era, has affected growth in international trade. During the first three decades of the post-World War II era (1945-75), the world economy enjoyed an overall unprecedented upward trend. During the period 1948-1973, the volume of international trade increased six-fold. The main reason for this phenomenon was the emergence of the tanker industry which, out of all the traditional maritime nations, was pioneered by Greek-shipowners. As such, the main argument of the essay submits that Greek shipping tremendously affected growth in international trade during the postwar period.
Referring to the structure of the essay, first, I will demonstrate how my study ties in with themes associated with the globalizing experience by suggesting that the re-birth of the Greek maritime fleet was not just part of the so-called ‘second wave globalization’, but also a prime facilitator of the process itself. The main body of my essay will focus on how Greek-owned shipping went from representing 1% share of world-shipping in 1948, to a remarkable 12% by 1970. I will explore the reasons for this phenomenon as well as the conditions under which Greek-shipowners came to dominate the global maritime sector. Special emphasis will be placed on the political and economic motivations that prompted the US to sell the majority of its wartime surplus Liberty (cargo) ships to Greece under extremely favorable conditions in the immediate aftermath of the second world war, since this arguably marked the birth of contemporary Greek-shipping. Additionally, I will examine the structure and business ideology of the most prominent Greek-owned shipping firms of that time to shed light on how Greek-shipowners established and went on to preserve their prominence in the shipping industry by drawing competitive advantage.
Regarding the sources that I will use, the secondary literature draws from a wide variety of scholars whose works encompass international trade and maritime transportation, business history, and Greek-shipping. As for primary sources, these include statistics on freight rates, transportation costs and maritime transport reviews provided by OECD and UNCTADstat. I am not quite sure as to the nature of my primary sources since these are heavily based on numbers.
My long essay will be based on my second formative assessment which I wrote on this topic.