 The contemporary maritime shipping industry is rich of stories of fortunes that have been made and lost, and in some cases this can take place several times – this does fascinate and make the whole subject of maritime economics important and interesting. Of course, sound knowledge of the essentials of the economics of shipping industry is of great importance for any person intending to make a successful career in this field.
This is a very capital intensive making the financial decisions be truly crucial as the proper choice of finance would eventually affect the result of any investment made through impacting the risk-and-reward balance between those who own the finance and those providing finance. The present volume is covering the basic sources of the finance and the authors pay due attention to the differences existing between the possible options.
Every shipowner, meaning the company, is free to choose the appropriate finance level sought together with the security level and other aspects; and these choices made by the owners do affect the returns. The vessels are deservedly considered very useful assets but they could also threaten even the existence of the owner, it all depends on the actions and choices, and this is why it is so important to go through this book very carefully…
 The shipping business of today is a truly dynamic and very exciting sort of activity that normally involves so many different sectors, technical skills and tasks. The essential functions underpinning all above mentioned activities are usual to all companies engaged in the modern business of shipping.
That is why it is so important that all people who are involved in the industry in one way or another possess a good understanding of the functions affecting their business. We know that the shipping is mainly concerned with the operations of the vessels and meeting the needs for the marine transportation of goods and people.
The present publication opens with the chapter addressing the business entities as well as the communications and is followed with the chapters on business ethics and anti-bribery compliance. Then there are three chapters on the vessels, trade geography and ship chartering.
The remaining chapters of the volume are dealing with the ship sale and purchase, ship management, port and liner agency, finance, trade and insurance as applied to shipping industry, major shipping organizations etc. Several appendixes provide additional and useful information.
 This volume is mainly focusing on the management of the common operations in the shipping, which is an activity requiring due knowledge and significant technical expertise spanning different disciplines. The people engaged in the ship operations are normally required to have enough understanding of the subject and also to be well-versed with the important aspects of management, as well as the economics, and even engineering.
Moreover, they need to be proficient in the modern technology and be aware of the law aspects. Furthermore, managing ship operations will require them to be able to perform proper identification and neutralization of the threats and to conduct the risk management so that the correct decisions are made, optimizing the relevant costs and contributing to improvements in performance. Though the management of the ship operations is fundamental thing, to date there has been no books providing readers with the reconciled and compiled knowledge.
This edition of the book was released to fill in the aforementioned gap in the available literature, bringing together all knowledge gathered from the recognized experts. Their combined efforts have eventually resulted in the excellent reference guidebook intended for use by the employees of the maritime entities and to serve as a supplement when teaching the relevant marine programs.
 The initial intention of the authors of this publication was to present numerous fresh ideas as well as some new concepts to the shipping community. It shall not be considered a textbook or a sort of collection of relevant documents reflecting purely academic professional views but should rather be treated as a compendium of viewpoints of the world recognized experts and solutions proposed by specialists and "decision makers" who are trying to tackle the today's market and complicated financial conditions.
All subjects and topics included in the book are demonstrating the innovative character of theory efforts. Note, however, that this title is not actually intended solely for graduate students and it aims some of the professional needs of the maritime industry participants dealing with the puzzles of financing shipping activities, either as borrowers, lenders or advisors, on the daily basis.
The readers, therefore, are expected to possess some basic fundamental knowledge of the subject to be able to fully understand the texts contained in the book and get the full use of them. Today, the ship finance is still a new field advancing the current situation in this field - theory and practice is still quite far from settled, but it is dynamically evolving.
 This ninth edition of one of the most popular titles on the shipping business is deservedly considered the remarkably comprehensive book clearly explaining and analyzing the maritime transportation as well as the relating industries, including both international and domestic shipping.
The content is particularly recommended to the newcomers to the field of maritime shipping business in need to get to the better understanding of the essential operations, regulatory framework, movement of goods; note that it will also serve as a great source of reference to the professionals switching from one industry segment to another. It is a good choice for the marine shipping education since it provides students with all necessary information. The content is up to date and reflects all latest developments.
Since the time of its initial publication in 1973, the title has been treated as a genuine industry standard. The author of the volume has taken a deep dive into the industry, providing the thorough analysis of the different sectors, highlighting the interactions between all stakeholders. The specific information can be found in the relevant chapters of the book so the book is recommended to literally all people involved in the industry.
 The original declared intention of the authors of this publication was to release a volume in which the most important global trends and strategies employed in the maritime industry would be discussed. They have also done their best to answer some of the key questions relating to the shipping cost structures, patterns of the sea transport, and operation of the shipping companies.
We are sure that the book shall be treated as the invaluable source of relevant information for the advanced students as well as researchers. The publication has been arranged in four main parts; the first four chapters of the book give some general overview of the today's shipping business, while the next four chapters are dedicated to the various shipping operations, and they are followed by another four chapters relating to the intermodal transport. The last four chapters of the book mainly focus on the shipping port management.
In their publication, the authors have consolidated selected - most relevant and significant - research findings and hope that all readers will find their work very informative and interesting, providing all necessary info on the very latest developments in the shipping and logistics management. Take a look in the book and you will not be disappointed.
 The maritime industry of today is special and very fascinating. We consider it special because of the global nature of the industry, as well as huge investments required and highly cyclical markets - moreover, because of the unique competitive structure of the industry with so many determined players participating. From the other side, it is very fascinating because the fortunes and made - and sometimes lost - at a very fast pace.
The present publication is the outcome of the several forces that shaped the interest of the author in shipping companies and their business strategies. The rationale for this volume would be the proper understanding of the success of global shipping companies. That is why t is directly relevant to the people active in the shipping industry. The book also provides the information on how to manage in today's face of global turbulence. Such understanding will be the key not only for the industry executives but also to the professionals from the other corporations and industries.
The book is arranged in six chapters - first one sets out key strategic challenges of a shipping company, while in the second chapter we discuss the commodity-based strategies. The next chapters are discussing the moves toward niche strategies and the overall portfolio strategies, several organizational issues and, finally, the last chapter is dealing with the ownership side, making emphasis on the benefits that shipping company can make from being public...
 An excellent introduction to the activities relating to the ship management. Take some time going through the material presented in this publication and you will for sure have much better understanding of the shipping industry and its impact on the other areas. The author of the book mainly addressed the major demands of the contemporary ship management with the main focus made on the people managing the ships as well as theory and practice of the management.
It was very important for the author to change the content and arrangement of the subject matter; the intention was not to make the book same as all other publication but rather to engage the users and ask them some questions - to make them able to evaluate how the shipping companies operate and compare with what is stated in the book. Of course, none of the books available at the market today can provide a perfect answers to all the questions; however, this one aims to encourage all ship managers to question how the SMS, i.e. safety management system, of their shipping company operates and see whether there is any room for improvement.
It goes without saying that the main aspect of the ship management process is the involved personnel - they all must very clearly understand ship management model employed by the company and apply it properly.
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