Shipping Books

[Phaceliacapital]

After reading The Shipping Man during my holiday at Croatia I became enamoured by the shipping industry as a whole (I know the novel is fiction but hey everyone can be a dreamer and main character Fairchild kinda resembles James Tisch from Loews, who bought ships for 5 mn each and sold them for 50 mn each a couple of years later)

 

I continued my quest to learn more about the shipping industry with following books:

 

Dynasties of the Seas - Lori Ann Larocco

 

Kinda like the outsiders book it features one "titan" per chapter featuring all the well known guys such as Frederiksen, Wang, Nielsen, Wilbur Ross etc. I think the book succeeds in its goal to give the reader more insight into how these people think and operate their business (you buy a ship when it's losing money and sell when it makes money) and recommend it to any who haven't read it yet

 

90% of everything - Rose George

 

This is a very interesting book that I think has only recently hit the shelves. Rose George is a journalist that managed to secure a trip on one of the Maersk tank containers to do a 3 month travel from the UK to China. The book starts as a kind of journal but further on elaborates on other stuff related to shipping such as sea security, sea pollution (especially noise pollution as this apparently impacts whales to quite an extent) etc. Also a very easy to read book and very insightful.

 

How to make a fortune on land and sea - Perry

 

I bought this book as one reviewer of the above books said it was definitely worth the read, I can tell you: DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK, it stars with 50 pages of maritime investing and then it continues on claiming that Zionists have setup the 9/11 tragedy... I kid you not (unfortunately)

 

In addition, for those interesting, there is a film coming up "Captain Philips" feat Tom hanks depicting the (true) story of Somalian pirates hijacking a Maersk tank container.

[writser]

I also read 90% of everything from Rose George. Can recommend it. It makes you realize that there is this huge business going on which is essential for our society and we know absolutely nothing about it. It's like the wild west on the seas :) . It was a nice read, my only complaint being that it was a bit 'popular / shallow' and not really focused on the financial side of things. After that I bought (and just started reading) "The Box" from Marc Levinson, about the history of the container industry. So far it looks like it is a bit more in-depth but I only read a couple of pages, can't give a verdict yet.

 

On a sidenote, I also enjoyed watching a couple of episodes of 'Mighty Ships'  on Discovery Channel. You can find these on Youtube.

[cr6196]

There is also maritime economics by stopord and elements of shipping by branch. The former is perhaps slightly better than the latter, stopford mixes academic and practical insight and he was until recently on the board of clarkson so he is a pretty prominent industry figure as well as academic.

[Phaceliacapital]

Haha I forgot, I am busy reading the box (started this week) :D Looks like a good book uptill now so we'll see how that pans out.

 

I am making Maritime Economics my next book to buy (and read) once I finish the box and manual of ideas.

 

Also for those wishing to diversify their portfolio, you should buy one or two pieces of the recently announced Maersk E-Class Lego set.

[Guest Qu1nt3ss0n]

Great thread! Been looking for good shipping books as well (especially with focus on financial aspects of the industry). The Box has been on my to-read list for a while so will definitely have to read it now.

 

Some web resources:

 

marketrealist.com/analysis/stock-analysis/industrials/marine-shipping/

http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/