The influence of competition and regulation on the development of modern transportation : a comparison of the laws and policies of the United States with those of her "major" trading partners
The influence of competition and regulation on the development of modern transportation : a comparison of the laws and policies of the United States with those of her "major" trading partners
In its sophisticated appreciation of the transnational aspects of major economic activity and in the extension to foreign commerce of its own system of economic regulation, the U.S. has been both a pathfinder and in foreign eyes something of an aggressor. Accustomed to think of encroachment on sovereignty in political or military terms, it is only in recent years that a number of foreign governments have been galvanized into protective action in the face of an increasing tendency on the part of the United States to extend its national antitrust laws to conduct occurring beyond its borders. Nowhere has this 'conflict' generated so much controversy than in the area of international transportation. The application of U.S. antitrust and regulatory laws to the activities of internationally recognized transport pricing structures i.e. Ocean Shipping Conferences and the International Air Transport Association, has destabilized the operation of liner shipping and air transport in U.S. foreign trades. The perpetuation of this conflict (referred to as the 'macro' conflict in this study) could cause considerable damage to the economic and even political, relationships between the U.S. and her major trading partners - the European Economic Community, Canada and Japan. The introduction of the oceanborne container by the U.S. during the latter part of the 1950s, has revolutionized international transportation. The 'container' functioning as a common denominator linking the unimodal modes, has ushered in, the era of intermodal (popularly known as multi-. modal outside the U.S.) transportation. It is ironic that although containerization is the product of American innovation, the country that gave birth to container technology has not benefitted from its 'brainchild' to the extent of, for instance, some western European countries or Canada. The inability of the U.S. to realize the full potential of intermodalism has been largely a function of regulatory inconsistencies and conflicts occasioned by the failure of the applicable statutes- particularly the antitrust laws - to keep pace with the transportation technology to which they relate. As a result, 'conflict' between the unimodal systems of transportation and between the federal regulatory agencies that control their activities are commonplace in the United States. The 'micro' conflict that tends to curb co-operation between unimodal carriers and the 'macro' conflict that gives rise to inconsistent behaviour on the part of the U.S. and her trading partners, together, represent a severe impediment to the development of intermodal transportation in U.S. foreign trades. This study sets out to analyse these two 'conflicts' and seek conflict resolving mechanisms, which could assist in transforming the current climate of confrontation to one of co-operation.
University of Southampton
1982
Vitharana, Anil Jayantha
(1982)
The influence of competition and regulation on the development of modern transportation : a comparison of the laws and policies of the United States with those of her "major" trading partners.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
In its sophisticated appreciation of the transnational aspects of major economic activity and in the extension to foreign commerce of its own system of economic regulation, the U.S. has been both a pathfinder and in foreign eyes something of an aggressor. Accustomed to think of encroachment on sovereignty in political or military terms, it is only in recent years that a number of foreign governments have been galvanized into protective action in the face of an increasing tendency on the part of the United States to extend its national antitrust laws to conduct occurring beyond its borders. Nowhere has this 'conflict' generated so much controversy than in the area of international transportation. The application of U.S. antitrust and regulatory laws to the activities of internationally recognized transport pricing structures i.e. Ocean Shipping Conferences and the International Air Transport Association, has destabilized the operation of liner shipping and air transport in U.S. foreign trades. The perpetuation of this conflict (referred to as the 'macro' conflict in this study) could cause considerable damage to the economic and even political, relationships between the U.S. and her major trading partners - the European Economic Community, Canada and Japan. The introduction of the oceanborne container by the U.S. during the latter part of the 1950s, has revolutionized international transportation. The 'container' functioning as a common denominator linking the unimodal modes, has ushered in, the era of intermodal (popularly known as multi-. modal outside the U.S.) transportation. It is ironic that although containerization is the product of American innovation, the country that gave birth to container technology has not benefitted from its 'brainchild' to the extent of, for instance, some western European countries or Canada. The inability of the U.S. to realize the full potential of intermodalism has been largely a function of regulatory inconsistencies and conflicts occasioned by the failure of the applicable statutes- particularly the antitrust laws - to keep pace with the transportation technology to which they relate. As a result, 'conflict' between the unimodal systems of transportation and between the federal regulatory agencies that control their activities are commonplace in the United States. The 'micro' conflict that tends to curb co-operation between unimodal carriers and the 'macro' conflict that gives rise to inconsistent behaviour on the part of the U.S. and her trading partners, together, represent a severe impediment to the development of intermodal transportation in U.S. foreign trades. This study sets out to analyse these two 'conflicts' and seek conflict resolving mechanisms, which could assist in transforming the current climate of confrontation to one of co-operation.
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Published date: 1982
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Local EPrints ID: 460016
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/460016
PURE UUID: d9321ea2-168a-4488-be6d-150bf3d0f37c
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 17:40
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 17:40
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Author:
Anil Jayantha Vitharana
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