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Shipping in the London coal trade, 1700‒1860

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  • Peter M. Solar
  • Oliver Buxton Dunn
  • Aidan Kane

Abstract

Evidence from more than 40 000 voyages shows that labour productivity growth for sailing ships in the London coal trade was rapid but quite irregular between 1700 and 1860. These granular data permit us to examine various dimensions of change, showing that ships made more voyages per year, had smaller crews, carried more coal per ship ton and had longer working lives. Some changes resulted from what happened on land rather than on the sea, notably a marked reduction in the seasonality of trade as wagonways were built in the northeast in the early eighteenth century and a pronounced dip in voyages per year due to congestion in the port of London during the 1830s and 1840s, partly caused by the operation of the coal cartel. These results for the coal trade suggest that shipping, being neither spectacularly modern nor doggedly traditional, made a respectable contribution to British economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter M. Solar & Oliver Buxton Dunn & Aidan Kane, 2024. "Shipping in the London coal trade, 1700‒1860," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(3), pages 1005-1034, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:77:y:2024:i:3:p:1005-1034
    DOI: 10.1111/ehr.13296
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter M. Solar & Klas Rönnbäck, 2015. "Copper sheathing and the British slave trade," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(3), pages 806-829, August.
    2. Peter M. Solar & Luc Hens, 2016. "Ship speeds during the Industrial Revolution: East India Company ships, 1770–1828," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(1), pages 66-78.
    3. Temin, Peter, 1997. "Two Views of the British Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 63-82, March.
    4. Solar, Peter M., 2013. "Opening to the East: Shipping Between Europe and Asia, 1770–1830," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 73(3), pages 625-661, September.
    5. Kelly, Morgan & Ó Gráda, Cormac & Solar, Peter M., 2021. "Safety at Sea during the Industrial Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 239-275, March.
    6. William J. Hausman, 1987. "The English coastal coal trade, 1691-1910: how rapid was productivity growth?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 40(4), pages 588-596, November.
    7. Elaine S. Tan, 2009. "Market structure and the coal cartel in early nineteenth‐century England1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(2), pages 350-365, May.
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    10. Westerfield, Ray Bert, 1915. "Middlemen in English Business, 1660-1760," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number westerfield1915.
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    12. Kaukiainen, Yrjö, 2001. "Shrinking the world: Improvements in the speed of information transmission, c. 1820–1870," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, April.
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