Chapter 12 - An Estimate of the Importance of the British Coastal Liner Trade in the Early Twentieth Century

Summary

Introduction

Of late there has been a revival of interest in the role of coastal shipping in the British economy and a preliminary attempt at cross-European comparisons. Nonetheless, there are still large gaps in our knowledge; indeed, it would be fair to say that it is a largely blank slate on which a few words have been written faintly. One thing which seems to be established is that the idea of a single coastal trade is misleading, for there were a range of coastal shipping services catering for a number of different types of customers. In other words, the coaster segmented the market by offering different sorts of services varying in speed, price, regularity, reliability and frequency. At the top end in terms of reliability and speed were the coastal liners. These were large, modern ships running to a regular timetable on a specified route, taking mixed cargoes, some of them small consignments, and charging premium prices. The ships were not merely modern but also well appointed, since they usually carried passengers as well as cargo. For those shippers with regular consignments of bulky goods in large enough volume to fill an entire vessel, there were the regular traders, ships dedicated to a limited range of routes or commodities. These craft frequently returned in ballast and relied on speed and frequency to deliver large cargoes efficientiy. The best examples of this segment of the market were the screw colliers which plied between the coal fields of the North East and the consuming regions of the South East. For large consignments which could fill a ship but which required movement less frequently and regularly, there was the steam tramp. They were much less predictable than regular traders, as cargoes had to wait until a ship of suitable size became available in the vicinity of the despatching port. Even less reliable was the sailing coaster, since not only was there no guarantee of a vessel being available when the cargo needed to be moved but also even when safely stowed the ship might be delayed by contrary, insufficient or dangerous winds.