A Brief History of Shipping

A Brief History of Shipping

shipping history

Ancient Maritime History

shipping history

Phoenician civilization was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean during the first millennium BC, between the period of 1200 BC to 900 BC. The Phoenicians often traded through a galley, a man-powered sailing vessel. They were the first civilization to create the bireme.

Who invented the first ship in the world?

first ship

Ancient Egyptians

The earliest documented ships were built by the ancient Egyptians, beginning about the 4th century BCE.

When did the shipping industry start?

About 5,000 years ago, the first major trade routes were formed between modern-day India and Pakistan along the Arabian Sea. Due to bandits attacking caravans, land travel became dangerous and mariners began to travel on the sea. They used an astrolabe to navigate the waters.

What is the shipping industry?

shipping industry

What is the shipping industry? The shipping industry facilitates domestic and global manufacturing and trade via transportation of commodities and finished products, while also providing for the delivery of goods directly to consumers.

What was the first shipping company?

Stephenson Clarke, the British shipping company, has been around since 1730 when George II was king.

The maritime history of Iran

Iranian Maritime history dates back to very distant times and the flourishing of our ancestors’ thought in the lands of the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Sea of Oman, and India ocean, so we have a remarkable and brilliant past and several thousand years of navigation.

The Iranians, since they lived by the sea, were attracted to it and traveled in it by building various vessels. They soon found many ways in the sea and reached the coasts, ports, and islands far and near. Time became a symbol of superiority in the seas and left a glorious history of seafaring.

Iranians were the first people who, like other arts, were at the forefront of seafaring. The history of navigation in Iran is very old. The oldest Iranian naval document is a seal found in Dezful, dating back more than 8,000 years.

The Shipbuilding in Iran:

Iranian engineering culture is very fruitful from the point of view of navigation and shipbuilding. The waters of the Persian Sea, the Sea of Oman, and the Indian Ocean, as well as the rivers of southwestern Iran, have long been the seafaring zone of the Iranians. In the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi the Great, Iranian shipbuilding and shipping have been mentioned several times and the longevity and background of this field of Iranian knowledge and engineering technique can be found in Ferdowsi’s poems.

The Shipping history in Iran:

ship industry in Iran

At the beginning of the 1940s, the increase in the volume of imports of goods to Iran and the unauthorized entry and exit of foreign ships in domestic ports, in the past caused sensitivity in the country.

Thus, the idea of establishing an independent shipping company in the banking and commercial circles of the country was strengthened and forced some officials to study the plan to create the first Iranian shipping company.

Therefore, studies were conducted by the banking system and the Program and Budget Organization in this field.

The result of these studies, which had started in 1340, was approved at the first meeting of the General Assembly of Founders in August 1346, and a company called Aria National Shipping Company started its activities from that time.

Aria shipping activity in 1347 with two small ships with a capacity of 1,550 tons in the Persian Gulf and 4 ocean-going ships with the letters Ariasp, Ariafar, Arianaz, and Ariagam with a capacity of 61,252 tons on the route. Persian Gulf – Europe, Persian Gulf – Asia and Persian Gulf – America and vice versa. By the end of 1977, the number of Aria fleet ships increased to 42 with a total capacity of 525,000 tons.

After the revolution:

After the Iranian Revolution of 1978 and the change of the economic and political structure of the country on January 6, 1980, Aria Shipping Company changed to the Shipping Company of the Islamic Republic of Iran and continued its commercial activities as one of the companies affiliated to the Ministry of Commerce. At the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war, about 16 members of the company’s fleet, such as Ariaboom, Aria Jahan, Ariashad, and Aria Amid, were hit by the enemy.

Who is the biggest shipping company in the world?

List of largest container shipping companies

Rank	Company name	Headquarters	Total TEU	Ships	Market share
1	Maersk	Denmark	4,121,964	709	16.9%
2	Mediterranean Shipping Company	Switzerland, Italy	3,897,002	588	16.0%
3	CMA CGM	France	3,011,123	557	12.4%
4	COSCO	China	3,009,071	499	12.4%
5	Hapag-Lloyd	Germany	1,776,545	256	7.3%
6	Ocean Network Express	Japan	1,610,578	222	6.6%
7	Evergreen Marine	Taiwan	1,330,785	200	5.5%
8	HMM Co Ltd.	South Korea	750,872	74	3.1%
9	Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation	Taiwan	630,169	90	2.6%
10	Zim Integrated Shipping Services	Israel	422,926	98	1.7%
11	Wan Hai Lines	Taiwan	364,379	131	1.5%
12	Pacific International Lines	Singapore	248,410	79	1.0%
13	Zhonggu Logistics Corp.	China	168,265	114	0.7%
14	Korea Marine Transport Company	South Korea	156,381	66	0.6%
15	IRISL Group	Iran	149,042	32	0.6%