The Declining Role of Western Europe in Shipping and Shipbuilding, 1900–2000

During the twentieth century, Western Europe lost its hegemony in international shipping and shipbuilding. This decline was a necessary condition for the international spread—the globalization—of shipping and shipbuilding after World War II. In the first post-war decades, the European hegemony was increasingly challenged. However, a combination of defensive national policies and technological limitations initially muted the decline, both within shipping and within shipbuilding. Today, however, we see that the developments of these two maritime sectors diverge. In shipping, the manner of organizing the business has been transformed, and the question of nationality has become very elusive. Still, behind a veil of stateless business, European capital and competence continued to play a crucial, albeit reduced, role. Within shipbuilding, Asian shipyards have managed to acquire a dominance that was similar in scale to the European leadership 100 years earlier.