ABSTRACT
General cargo accounts for about 60% of the value of goods shipped by sea, so it deserves special attention.1 Most of this cargo is transported by containerized liner services which provide fast, frequent and reliable transport for almost any cargo to almost any foreign destination at a predictable charge. Thus, a Californian wine grower selling 2,000 cases of wine to a UK wholesaler knows that he can ship the wine by a liner service; that the journey will take 12-15 days, and he is quoted a through rate for the container. On this basis he can work out his profit and his cashflow and make the necessary delivery arrangements with confidence. If the destination was not Europe, but Iceland, Kenya or India, the procedure would be much the same – he could ship his wine on a regular service at a fixed tariff that may increase with inflation but will not go through the wild peaks and troughs encountered in the charter market. It is an important business for the world economy as well as the shipping industry.
