Muralidharan, M.P

Abstract: Global economic growth has always been linked to trade, generating employment, wealth and as a result enhancing overall living standards of people. Seaborne trade has been a vital component of world trade through ages, since it has been the cheapest mode of transport for conveying large volumes of cargo over long distances. In the modern era, bulk of the energy needs of nations, such as oil and LNG has always been transported through sea. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India’s first PrimeMinister was very perceptive in stating that “By and large it can be said that even in the past and remote ages, it was the seafaring nations that prospered, prospered both from point of view of power and wealth because of trade and commerce. I do not say that landlocked nations have not been powerful, they certainly have been powerful for periods at a time, but on the whole the importance of sea power has been a dominant feature of history.” Full text available here.