War and Reconstruction

Abstract

This chapter presents the effects of the First World War on the future of the British shipping industry. It examines shipping tonnage statistics to demonstrates Britain’s loss of three million tons and in contrast, the worldwide tonnage increase of seven million tons. It is presented in two halves: the first provides overviews of the tonnage profit between 1914 and 1920 in America, Japan, France, and Italy, and the tonnage of neutral countries and British enemies; detailed shipping losses and the financial effects on British shipping; plus tramp and liner statistics, tax rates, freight rates, the lack of equalisation schemes, and the loss of entrepôt trade. The second half examines the British postwar reconstruction effort, and calculates the value of the four major sources of tonnage available: British ships built during the war; ceded German ships; purchases from foreign owners; and new builds. It concludes that Britain sought to return to a prewar perceived sense of normalcy in shipping, despite irrevocable changes in worldwide shipping such as the rise of the American fleet.