Maritime Management between China and Europe - Essay Example

? Maritime management al affiliation: Maritime management Introduction Maritime activities between China and Europe have contributeda lot to both countries’ economies. The establishment of shipping companies in both countries has ensured that the shipping activities go on smoothly. The growth of China’s economy since 1978 is associated with its rise as one of the great powers in the world as suggested by Liu (2009). China’s economy has been the most rapidly growing economy in the world and it has been reflected to overcome the United States as the largest economy by 2040 in the world. The strength of the economy, its location, resources, population size and political influence contribute to its power. During the establishment of the China’s economy that is in 1949, the economy was modeled on Soviet model as suggested by Wang and Chin-Keong (2004). This was after the communist revolution. As a result, China ended up its connection with the capitalist world. China’s economic model involved the formation of state controlled heavy industries which were financed by capital acquired from agriculture. China substituted its imports with domestic goods so as to acquire foreign exchange to buy goods and technology. China’s economy has contributed a lot to the development of the shipping operations which are part of their economy. China is one of the countries with the most ample shipping resources. The China’s coastal areas offer the highest percentage of the countries imports and exports value. This is an advantage as it creates a good environment for fast and healthy development of the countries maritime industry. With the development of the maritime industries, the economy of China has experienced continuous and strong growth momentum. This has led to an increase in both trans-regional and multinational trading systems. China’s maritime industry has been growing rapidly to meet the expanding requirements for foreign exchange. Since the adoption of its reforms and the open policies, the international shipping industry is now increasing while promoting healthy development of the industry. China’s economy has steadily grown since 1990. The steady growth in economic demands has brought a great opportunity for Chinese shipping industry development. China is currently one of the world’s largest countries capable of offering comprehensive package of shipping activities in the ocean. It fleets cover a greater range including traditional bulk and more value added tonnages. The China’s growing economy has effects on transport routes between China and Europe. The economy has also contributed to the opening of the Arctic Ocean summer route for both countries according to Liu (2009). To provide healthy transportation of containers, there are number of challenges shipping industry should deal with. One of the challenges is how to survive the Arctic’s harsh climate. The development strategy behind this is enhancing the coordination between the two countries towards improving the condition of the Arctic Ocean. Secondly is the issue of occurring changes in the Arctic Ocean and its commercial implications. The growing Chinese economy is partnering with the Europe to counter the challenge. In Europe, china is the second major partner in trading activities after the US. For both countries that is China and Europe, maritime transport makes a vital contribution to their energy strategies. This has been through establishing more shipping routes and energy diversification. China and Europe have economic interest aimed at developing their routes of transport along the coast of northern Russia. To ensure safety in the Arctic region, Europe and China should improve their corporation in research activities. Should also enhance information exchange and add on the formation of reliable systems of monitoring and forecasting. Both countries should also provide safe and effective maritime operations in the Arctic Ocean. China’s political activities have developed with the expansion on the countries economy. The expanding political operation of the country to control the increasing population has influenced different areas of the country’s economy. The influence is more experienced in the shipping industries as they contributed the largest percentage of the economy as suggested above. The range of maritime operations is broad ranging from state politics to trade activities. According to Wang and Chin-Keong (2004), this has more impacts on the container shipment route between China and Europe. For instance in the past, official delegations from China were sent to revive democratic relationships. This mostly affected area is the shipping of containers as these meant that some routes were used by the delegates. The China’s shipping activities have two distinctive properties. First is the dual participation where by both the citizens and the state are participating in the shipment control. Second is the international participation whereby its shipping activities are conducted internationally. The state control over the shipping activities between china and Europe has been prohibitively expensive and ineffective. The ineffectiveness was due to Chinese sea-goers who reduced state control by smuggling arms and making official collaborations. Shipping trade may not make lots of effects on the political activities whether revenue responsibilities or control of social issues. The political capability on security and social control in shipping activities comes before fiscal expansion of its strategies. The shipping trade by foreigners is regulated with control even if there is a difference between the trade management and revenue management. As suggested by Deng (1999), generally China’s political economy has been faced by adverse economic and ecological conditions. State policies in the China’s government have supported the countries economic activities including the shipping activities. The countries political economy participates in promoting trade and production activities in all areas of the countries economic cores. The industrial breakthrough of Europe implied that foreign trade including shipping activities with China participated in political relation between the two countries. The advantage of maritime activities to government policies is that they neither altered the china’s political economy nor interfered with its agrarian society strategy. The government of China has been faced by several challenges which have made the country unable to participate well in the shipping activities. The countries attention has been taken by the large population, ensuring sustainable development and maintaining stable foreign connections. China’s government has been financing economic activities in most of the shipping companies to enhance its maritime activities. The government has also liaised with the European government to establish more routes for shipping containers between the two countries. The government of China has also embarked on strategies which are aimed improving its container shipment trade for instance designing of more ships. Both Europe and China have established ports in both countries coastal lines to enhance the trade. The government of China has ensured security along the shipping routes together with the European navy. This has been done to reduce the incidence of piracy in the ocean. The government of china has been frequently faced with internal stability due to social unrest which has been occurring there. Social unrest in China has occurred repeatedly in the past few years and it has been quite wide spread. However the Global financial crisis has come up with economic downturn which has done away with the situation. In the developed countries for instance China, rapid industrialization has led to unsustainable development in other areas of the countries economy. The effects of social unrest in some countries like China may lead to many implications in the environmental sector according to Duiker (2009).Social unrest has been caused by different issues such boycotting, demonstrations and strikes. This in turn affects the shipping industries as shipping routes are sometimes used as international navigation routes. Most of the incidences of social unrest are linked to economic issues while others are non-economical. The issue of social unrest in many instances has affected container shipping in different ways. For instance workers demonstration will lead to slow down of shipment which may in turn cause loss as some of the goods may expire. Union representation may also be the result of social unrest. Unions of labor are illegal in China while the legal official unions rarely represent workers interest. This creates a barrier between the employer and the workers as there is no clear communication. In the shipping company a defect may occur in this case. Therefore lack of clear communication between the company and the shipping crew affects the flow of work. Social unrest also drugs the countries economy behind. This is because most of time it is accompanied with mass destruction of property in the country. In container shipping companies, workers may destroy the containers or even organize piracy of goods. Social unrest can therefore be a major set back in development of container shipment activities. The European countries and some of its colonies use the Euro currency. The European monetary union (EMU) was formed to serve those countries using this currency. The European monetary union policy is applied in all areas where the Euro currency is used. However, EMU policy decision is determined by particular countries’ inflation rates. These countries include; France, Germany and Italy, there economy contributes over seventy percent of the Euro area output according to Ferthold (2008). The influence of the two three countries may affect the rest Euro currency member countries as they are not able to make decisions about the currency. Another influence of the European currency union is associated with the real interest rates. With the single currency introduction, in 1999 the Euro area has got only one uniform nominal interest rate. This nominal rates are adjusted incase of inflation as suggested by Ferthold (2008). The European commercial banks use the interest rates to achieve its objectives of inflation. The result remains that highly inflated countries face negative real interest rates when expanding their economies. Those countries with lower inflation face positive real interest rates when expanding their economies. The other instability is associated with Euro exchange rate. With the use of single currency, the country experiencing relatively high inflation can not compete with the other Euro currency countries. In conclusion China has steadily advanced compared to other countries in the World given the fact that it was not one of the superpowers. The countries economy has greatly influenced other world economies. This has been due to its growing technology. China is one of the countries experiencing great technological transition in the world. Its fast growing population has also contributed a lot to the countries political and economic stability. The population has ensured constant man power thus ensuring there is enough labor in the countries areas of production. Although there has been incidences of social unrest which have cost the countries internal stability, the country has still remained stable in its political and economic activities. Europe’s economy has been said to be dictated by some countries. As a result of this their economy has been facing some instability. This is because all countries are not having the same rate of development. References: Deng, G. (1999). The premodern Chinese economy: structural equilibrium and capitalist sterility. London: Routledge Duiker,W.(2009). Contemporary World History. Auckland NZ: Cengage Learning .Ferthold, K. (2008). Economics and politics of Europe. New York NY: Nova Publishers Liu, H. (2009). Liner Conferences in Competition Law: A Comparative Analysis of European and Chinese Law. New York NY: Springer. Wang, G& Chin-Keong, N. (2004). Maritime China in transition 1750-1850. Germany: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. Read More