Far Eastern Maritime Trends

by Ernst G. Frankel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Recent crises in Japanese financial institutions, political problems in Korea, projected economic slowdowns in China, and the Chinese-Taiwanese confrontation have been observed with some glee by western maritime circles as a hopeful sign of decline in the increasing dominance of world shipping and shipbuilding by Far Eastern countries.

While Japan is truly immersed in a difficult banking crisis, suffers an economic slowdown, and is subject to an overvalued Yen, it is not in a crisis. Government, industry, business and society cooperate to resolve these problems in a disciplined, focused manner. Savings rates are up as is productivity and, as a result, credit is readily available at low costs, and industry, particularly shipbuilding, is maintaining its competitiveness. Japan continues to be the world’s premier shipbuilder, with about 40% of the market in GRT terms, though shipbuilding employment today is only half of that in 1987.

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