This remarkable contribution to the field of oil tankship economics offers, for the first time, a solid foundation for many decisions in tankship building, chartering, and operation which heretofore have been based primarily on intuition. It provides an intensive economic analysis of all the factors that affect the supply and demand of tanker services in order to develop a sound theory of oil tankship rates. Every important facet of tankship building and operations, encompassing both the economic and motivational aspects of the industry, is analyzed and integrated into a cohesive theory for explaining the behavior of tankship rates.
Dr. Zannetos has produced an extensive time series of data gathered from numerous sources including oil companies, shipyards, banks, tankship transportation companies, and government agencies, and has formulated an analytical framework for decision making based on modern economic, mathematical, and statistical tools.
In an effort to identify all the factors that affect the rates in the short as well as the long run and to estimate their impact wherever possible, the author first discusses separately the factors influencing tankship rates that operate through the respective demand and supply schedules. He then fuses the two schedules too show how short-term rates are determined and then focuses attention on long-term or period rates.
The Theory of Oil Tankship Rates offers a number of important conclusions which should prove invaluable in managerial decision making. Although the methodology provided here is developed specifically for tankship operations, it is applicable in analyzing the interactions in any dynamic market where price expectations and investment decisions combine to cause cyclical price patterns. Consequently, the book should be of interest to a broad range of scholars and practitioners in the fields of economics, business, industry, management science, operations research, and marine transportation.
Volume No. 4 in the M.I.T. Economics Monograph Series.