Shipbuilding

When the sailing ship became a viable means of long-distance transport by about 1450, shipbuilding assumed real economic and strategic importance. By developing technical innovations, shipbuilders enhanced the efficiency of water transport, and thus supported the growth of world trade. Moreover, they came to occupy a central place within commercial webs that fostered trading; builders forged links with input suppliers, merchants, ship owners, and insurance providers. Governments came to see shipbuilding as a strategic industry, not only because trade and overseas possessions had to be protected by navies, but also because an efficient merchant fleet enabled nations to import vital materials and pay their way in the world by exporting goods.

Indeed, a ship is essentially a vessel, or a self-propelled container. The builder's task is to construct a ship that represents a suitable compromise between speed, seaworthiness, and carrying capacity. For example, a sleek hull will increase speed, but it will afford less stability and cargo space. The builder must also take into account the depth of the harbors served and the types of goods the ship will convey. Thus, the shipbuilder balances engineering principles with variables affecting economic performance.

EUROPEAN SAILING SHIP DESIGN

A revolution in European ship design occurred after 1450 (hitherto, Chinese ships were larger and technically superior) as shipbuilders moved from constructing simple ships to three-masted types with hulls of up to 300 feet in length. Portugal produced the caravel, a lanteen-rigged ship with a triangular sail, used on voyages of discovery. Square-rigged types built at this time included the car-rack, an early version of the Spanish galleon. Dutch builders developed the efficient fluit. All of these vessels had blunt bows and broad beams, which made them stable and slow but afforded large carrying capacity.

Shipbuilding was a labor-intensive assembly operation carried out on a seasonal basis. Different types of wood were used for specific parts of the ship. Oak was used in areas where strength was vital, and softwoods were used for decks and masts. Water tightness was achieved by caulking, that is, pounding fabric soaked in pitch into spaces between planks. Sails were made from linen and, later, canvas, and ropes were woven from hemp. Iron was used only for components such as anchors.

During the 1500s methods of ship design changed under England's Tudor monarchs, who adopted an expansive maritime policy. Master shipwrights who used plans based on empirical principles replaced the carpenter of earlier times, who built ships "by eye," These men codified vital shipbuilding knowledge; for example, a later English shipwright, Sir Anthony Deane (1638– 1721), wrote a classic study titled The Doctrine of Naval Architecture (1690). In 1741 France founded the School of Naval Construction, which provided a high standard of education.

During the seventeenth century France, Britain, Holland, Spain, and Baltic ports were major shipbuilding centers. The government naval dockyards founded by the English and French monarchs became large facilities employing hundreds of men. Merchant ship owners established yards in the many English and French ports. Bristol and London constructed what were, until the 1850s, the world's biggest ships—the 1,200- to 1,400-ton East Indiamen.

In the eighteenth century Britain's North American colonies produced large quantities of tonnage. The expanding coastal trades called for more maneuverable ships, and New England developed schooners and other specialized types such as whaling ships. After the American Revolution, the United States modified the French lugger to create the fast-sailing packet that metamorphosed into the clipper ship. Three Americans, William Webb (1816–1899), John Griffith (1809–1882), and Donald McKay (1818–1880), were famous clipper builders.

In the early nineteenth century Britain, its North American colonies, and the United States were the chief shipbuilding areas. Britain focused on large, high-quality vessels made from hardwoods, whereas yards in the northeast United States and British North America constructed less durable ships of softwoods. While Britain pursued protectionist trade policies, its colonial shipbuilders enjoyed important competitive advantages. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick shipbuilding became a specialized occupation, rather than one conducted by merchant ship owners who had diversified businesses. Independent colonial builders formed networks with local suppliers and imported manufactured inputs from Britain. Colonial yards included some specialized facilities, including sail lofts, saw pits, forges, and joiner's shops, but they carried on a "protoindustrial" activity that involved little mechanization in comparison with the yards that soon produced steam vessels made from iron and steel.

RISE OF STEAM SHIPS

By 1890 the steel ship powered by a triple-cylinder engine triumphed over the sailing ship as the most efficient ocean carrier. The United Kingdom emerged as the world's foremost shipbuilder as the result of a conjunction of favorable supply and demand conditions. On the supply side, its advantages stemmed from its lead in coal, engineering, and metal production, which provided cheap inputs and the means for shipbuilding to industrialize. Production was still labor intensive (and wages were low), but machinery was used extensively to increase efficiency. Steam-powered equipment bent plates, punched holes, and sheared metal, and ever-larger cranes lifted heavy components. Highly sophisticated machinery was used in engine works that were usually included within shipbuilding yards. Economies of specialization arose from the rise of dedicated component makers within the main shipbuilding regions. All of these developments enabled U.K. builders to become the most efficient in the world.

On the demand side, tariff repeal, an expanding empire, and industrialization called for vast amounts of new tonnage. Britain's emergence as the center of global trade and finance fostered the growth of extensive networks that provided information and capital to its maritime industries. Between 1870 and 1914 the value of the United Kingdom's trade grew by 150 percent and its fleet doubled to 11.7 million grt (gross register tons). This rapidly growing market enabled companies and entire regions to specialize and generate further efficiency. Firms on the Clyde and in Northern Ireland focused on passenger liners and warships, whereas yards in the northeast concentrated on tramps and cargo liners.

In 1913 U.K. yards produced 58 percent of world output. Germany ranked next, accounting for 14 percent; it built very large vessels and developed the revolutionary diesel engine in 1914. The United States lost the comparative advantage it enjoyed during the heyday of sail, and henceforth its marine industries were reliant on government aid. In 1913 U.S. yards constructed just over 8 percent of world production. Holland, France, Japan, Norway, and Italy were minor producers. Strategic and economic concerns impelled most of these countries to subsidize their marine industries to maintain them in the face of the United Kingdom's formidable comparative and competitive advantages.

The interwar years were a troubled time for global shipbuilding. Trade shrank, and a vast amount of tonnage built during World War I overhung the market for years. The United Kingdom remained the world's biggest producer, but Norway, Holland, and especially Japan made important gains. This period saw the wider application of diesel propulsion, the spread of welding, and the beginnings of prefabrication. During World War II an American shipbuilder, Henry Kaiser (1882–1967), demonstrated the efficiency that could be won by standardization and mass-production techniques.

POSTWAR DEVELOPMENT

After 1945, international trade increased at an unprecedented rate, causing the world's fleet to double in size to over 160 million grt by 1965. Such growth supported the introduction of new specialized ships, including car carriers, container vessels, and bulk carriers. The size of ships increased dramatically, beginning with tankers during the Suez Crisis of 1956.

A major shift in the location of shipbuilding unfolded after 1945. U.K. output recovered to 57 percent of world production in 1947, then fell to 8.2 percent in 1967, and virtually collapsed in the 1980s. The reasons for this phenomenon have been debated; labor conflict, spiraling costs, underinvestment in new technology, and the erosion of supporting commercial networks all played some part. After being a major source of tonnage during the war, the commercial shipbuilding industry of the United States also declined, although warship construction remained strong. Germany, Spain, and Norway gained market shares but remained small producers. With government assistance, yards in the Soviet bloc launched large quantities of tonnage. Sweden became the world's second-largest producer in the 1970s. However, it was the Japanese industry that made the most breathtaking progress, surpassing Britain in 1956 and accounting for 47.5 percent of world output in 1967. A rapidly expanding national fleet, highly productive low-cost labor, improved construction methods, and state policy supported this growth. Japan's expanding conglomerates (keiretsu) offered financial and commercial support to shipbuilders.

In 2001 Japan was the still the world's largest shipbuilder, with a market share of 33 percent. Korea ranked number two with 30 percent, followed by Europe at 13 percent, and China with 10 percent. One year later, Korea displaced Japan by securing a 45 percent share, and China's two main state-controlled yards made gains. Korean shipbuilding has benefited from having close connections with Daewoo, Samsung, and Hyundai conglomerates, and from massive state support. Such government aid has attracted complaints to the World Trade Organization from European producers.

China, Korea, and Japan produce relatively unsophisticated ships, including bulk carriers and tankers, although all are moving into higher-value sectors; Japan is now building cruise liners, and Korea has secured a large percentage of recent liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier orders. These developments threaten European yards, which focus on the most advanced types, including ferries, cruise ships, drilling rigs, specialized tankers, and container carriers. As this occurs, the pressure on French and German firms to merge and rationalize within the European Union framework will intensify. Norway's Aker Group is the largest and most stable European producer; the Swedish industry collapsed in the 1980s, and firms in Bulgaria and Poland have filed for bankruptcy. These trends suggest that future production will be even more highly concentrated in Asia, especially as China increases its trade. Tensions will increase between countries that follow market-based policies and those where state involvement is extensive, confirming the continued economic and strategic importance of the shipbuilding industry.

SEE ALSO Canada; Cargoes, Freight; Cargoes, Passenger; Containerization; Germany; Gujarat;Hanseatic League (Hansa or Hanse);Hong Kong; India;Indian Ocean; Japan; Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (METI); Korea;Mediterranean;Mitsubishi;Petroleum;Shipping, Aids to;Shipping, Coastal;Shipping, Inland Waterways, Europe;Shipping, Inland Waterways, North America;Shipping Lanes;Shipping, Merchant;Shipping, Technological Change;Ships and Shipping;Ship Types;South China Sea;Russia;Sweden;Taiwan;Tung Chee-Hwa;United Kingdom;United States.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Boyce, Gordon H. Information, Mediation, and Institutional Development: The Rise of Large-scale Enterprise in British Shipping, 1870–1919. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1995.

Childa, Tomokei, and Davies, Peter N. The Japanese Shipping and Shipbuilding Industries: A History of their Modern Growth. London: Athlone Press, 1990.

Gibson, Andrew, and Donovan, Arthur. The Abandoned Ocean: A History of United States Maritime Policy. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2000.

Hass, J. M. A Management Odyssey: The Royal Dockyards, 1714–1914. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2000.

Japan Ship Exporters' Association. Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in Japan. Tokyo: Author, 1980, 1990, and 1999.

Lobley, Douglas. Ships through the Ages. New York: Octopus Books, 1972.

Moss, Michael, and Hume, John. Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, 1861–1986. Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1986.

Pollard, Sydney, and Robertson, Paul. The British Shipbuilding Industry. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.

Sager, Eric W., and Panting, Gerald E. Maritime Capital: The Shipping Industry of Atlantic Canada, 1820–1914. Kingston, Ontario: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990.

Gordon Boyce