Published in 1998, this text provides an insight into the process of change in the east European shipping industry following the political, social and economic developments of the late 1980s and 1990s in the region. Stemming from extended periods of consultation with the Polish shipping and maritime industry, the text discusses the impact of change on all sectors including ship opearators, port managers, charterers, freight forwarders, and suppliers and land transport providers in companies that emerged from the previously monopolized state sector, which is now being forced to come to terms with the new economic liberalization of the industry. The research forming the basis of this text was funded by the European Union through the PHARE (ACE) programme from 1996 to 1997 and was developed from a protracted period of collaboration between the Institute of Marine Studies at the University of Plymouth with the industry that commenced in 1989.
