Peter N. Davies is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at Liverpool University. A former President of both the International Commission for Maritime History and of the International Maritime Economic History Association, he has also served as a Visiting Professor at Musashi University, Tokyo, and at Shudo University, Hiroshima. His published works include studies of major Liverpool shipping companies and (with Tomohei Chida) of the Japanese shipping and shipbuilding industries.

• Preface; 1 British shipping and world trade: Rise and decline, 1820-1939; 2 The rise of Japan's modern shipping industry; 3 Japanese merchant shipping and the bridge over the River Kwai; 4 The development of the Japanese shipping industries in the post-war era; 5 The role of national bulk carriers in the advance of shipbuilding in post-war Japan; 6 Japan's merchant marine; 7 Japanese shipping and shipbuilding: An introduction to the motives behind its early expansion; 8 A guide to the emergence of Japan's modern shipping industries; 9 Aspinall, Cornes and Company and the early development of the Port of Yokohama; 10 The impact of improving communications on commercial transactions; 11 Frederick Cornes, 1837-1927: Founder and senior partner of Cornes and Company (1937-1911); 12 The Liverpool School of Maritime History; Bibliography; Index