ABSTRACT
The story of the shipping industry since the first steamships were built more than a century ago has been one of ingenuity, professionalism, fabulous profits and some disastrous miscalculations. It includes the drama of the supertanker, l the meteoric rise of shipping superstars like Niarchos and Onassis, and some equally dramatic scandals such as that involving Tidal Marine, which built up at 700,000 dwt (deadweight tonnage) shipping fleet in the early 1970s and was subsequently indicted, with a number of bankers in New York, on charges of fraudulently obtaining more than $60 million in loans.2 There was the great asset play market of the 1980s when ships bought for a few million dollars increased in value by 600-800 per cent, making the lucky few investors some of the wealthiest men in the world. Among the miscalculations, at the forefront must be the remarkable episode in the tanker market in 1973 when orders were placed for over 100 m.dwt of supertankers, for which the demand never materialized, with the result that some went from the builder's yard straight into lay-up, and few ever operated to their full economic potential. In short, shipping is a 'larger than life' industry.
