ABSTRACT
Studies of the relationship between technological change and advances in shipping have, for several decades, focused chiefly on the impact of containerisation and associated progress with multimodality (OECD 1971; Cooper 1974; Hayuth 1981, 1987; Brookfield 1984; McKenzie et al. 1989). Moreover, papers such as those by Cullinane and Khanna (2000), Gilman (1999) and Zophil and Prijon (1999) underline the fact that containerisation’s influence on the development of both shipping and ports remains a major research theme. The same is true of the contributions by Slack, McCalla, and Comtois and Rimmer earlier in this volume. The argument underpinning this chapter is that, although the case for the continued investigation of containerisation is strong, there is a danger of undervaluing wider perspectives because technological change has also advanced impressively, and is continuing to advance, in other branches of the shipping sector. Moreover, in some instances the significance of these advances for global societies, and in particular for how they are able to function, is of similar magnitude to that of containerisation.
