The Inter-Relations of Shipping Freights

THE purpose of this paper is to examine the connection between the different rates quoted for the use of tramp ships. In the past the literature of shipping has been content to dismiss this subject by saying that all such rates move together in the same direction except inward and outward rates, which move inversely. Our generation, however, requires more precise information. Until I935 the tramp shipping market was one of the most competitive in the world, and the analysis of its behaviour was of academic rather than practical importance. But when in I935 a price-fixing committee was established it became important to know the precise relations between different rates, and to examine the effects of fixing some rates while leaving others free. In the first' half of this paper we shall analyse the pre-I935 relations, using some'of the index numbers which have been published since the end of the last war. The second half of the paper will examiine the effects -of freight control.