ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an evaluation of a number of developments in ocean transportation, particularly the container ship and the supertanker, which have had an almost revolutionary impact on the patterns and practices of world marine transportation. It discusses briefly the significant role of American enterprise in these developments. The chapter then comments on the impact the ship types have had on port planning and development, on the labor force on the waterfront, on the structure of the shipping industry, and on US national policy with respect to the Merchant Marine and port planning and development. There are advantages and disadvantages from containerized operation to different components of the shipping and port industries. The impact of containerization on port planning and development can best be summarized by noting that the criteria which are used for planning and development of the conventional type of port operation are of no real use in the planning for container-ship facilities.
