ABSTRACT
Shipping is the life blood of the global economy and is responsible for the carriage of 90 per cent of world trade, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). One cannot overemphasize the important contribution of this industry to the global economy. Without shipping, there would be no globalization, the ‘China effect’ would be impossible, societies would have remained separated, there would be no interchange of cultures, nations would not be able to realize their full economic potential and in the words of the Secretary-General of the IMO, ‘half the world would starve and the other half would freeze’.1
