The world’s most famous shipping economist, Dr Martin Stopford, is penning a fourth edition to one of the industry’s most seminal books, in which he has hinted that the era of big ships on deepsea trades is coming to a close.
Stopford’s book, Maritime Economics, first published in 1988, has become required reading for many entering the business of shipping.
The fourth edition, due out soon, will look at reshoring and the changed geopolitical scene.
Speaking with DNV’s videocast, Market Views, out today, Stopford, who turns 77 this month, said: “Clearly we’re moving into a different era. I mean, after 50 years of quite stable economics, if you like, we’re seeing a whole new dimension of [economic] models emerging.”
Stopford said that the period of globalisation seen for most of the past 50 years had required “big ships” on deepsea trades. This era was coming to a close, he said.
“I think we’re probably moving back to an era where we’re going to see a lot more focus on the shortsea trades and the integration of maritime regions with shortsea shipping,” Stopford said.
Speaking with Splash for last year’s Ship Concept 2030 magazine, Stopford said there were no quick fixes on shipping’s path towards decarbonisation.
“It’s a major rethink of ship systems and it’s going to be expensive with no guarantee you get your money back,” he warned.
Watch Stopford’s full interview with DNV here.
