Abstract
In this work the term "water transport of goods" is defined as both the transport of goods by ship and the handling in port, and is assumed to begin the moment the goods to be transported arrive at the port of dispatch by road, rail, smaller vessels or other means of conveyance, and to continue until the goods, loaded on trucks, railway waggons, local boats or by other means of transports leave the port of destination. The object of this study is to analyze some factors (variables) that affect the price making the aim being to clarify the more important relationships in supply and demand of water transport of goods. A feature of all transport is inter-local movement. Every investigation of price making on water transport must therefore deal with the influence of distance. Ships and ports are essential components in transport by water. Different ships and ports have their own particular features. Vessels may be different in size, age and type. Ports are in regions with different types of economic life, distances between them vary, as do their technical equipment, capacity and the like. An investigation should show the relationship of prices and the above-mentioned character of ships and ports. The structure of ships and ports must be taken into consideration. Different types of goods in varying quantities per consignment and with different demands on handling during transport occur in water-borne trade. The demand for transportation is divided unequally between different routes of transport and times of the year. A study should therefor throw light on the relationship between freight making and different ware-owners and types of goods. Prices at a certain moment are affected by factors that require a certain amount of time to make themselves felt. A study should therefore deal with the development in time. The whole of the following study will be connected to the factors mentioned above. Chapter 2-5 will deal with supply of cargo space; in Chapter 6 supply of harbour services will be discussed, and in chapter 7 the demand for water transport. Attempts will be made to analyze theoretically the relationships between the various factors and the main components, as well as certain mutual relationships of the different factors and of the components, in which the discussion will always centre around price making and competition. In chapter 8, finally, a summary will be given of the structure of price making from the aspect of both supply and demand factors as it has emerged in this study.