Regional, yet Global: The Life Cycle of Overnight Ferry Shipping

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Abstract

The niche business of overnight car ferry services has attracted only limited attention from maritime historians and maritime economists, who have tended to focus on the global segments of the shipping industry. Ferries have distinct regional characteristics, as they are tailor-made for specific services and competition between shipping companies is restricted to particular routes or regional markets. Nevertheless, the ferry business has also experienced geographical shifts in hegemony, which resemble those in global shipping segments. The chapter traces the employment of car ferries with overnight accommodation from the time when the first such vessels were introduced until the present day. Using individual ferries as the unit of analysis, the chapter discusses the factors which have shaped employment opportunities and business models. It adopts an industry life cycle perspective to explain how and why shifts in the employment opportunities for ferries have occurred.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationShipping and Globalization in the Post-War Era : Contexts, Companies, Connections
EditorsNiels P. Petersson, Stig Tenold, Nicholas White
Number of pages36
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Publication date2019
Pages213-248
Chapter9
ISBN (Print)9783030260019
ISBN (Electronic)9783030260026
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
SeriesPalgrave Studies in Maritime Economics
ISSN2662-6551

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