SUMMARY
We started this chapter with the idea that shipping companies should approach the shipping market from a competitive viewpoint, ‘i.e. playing other players’. The rules of the shipping market game are set by the economic relationships which create freight cycles. To explain them, we discussed the economic ‘model’ of the shipping market. This model has two main components, supply and demand, linked by freight rates which, through their influence on the actions of shippers and shipowners, bring supply and demand into balance. Because the demand for ships changes rapidly but supply is slow and ponderous, freight cycles are generally irregular.