In 1951 anxieties by the korean war sparked a wave of panic stock building.Seaborne trade grew by 16% in the year, creating a market ‘undreamed of only one year
ago’. The peak only lasted a year and by spring 1952 freights had fallen by up to 70%
as the reaction to the panic of 1951 set in. By 1953 laid-up tonnage was increasing as
import restrictions and the overstocking of 1951 continued to make themselves felt.
Second-hand prices give a clear idea of the extreme nature of this cycle. The price of a
reasonably prompt Liberty ship built in 1944 increased from £110,000 in June 1950 to
£500,000 in December 1951. By December 1952 it was back down to £230,000. 58 The
year 1954 demonstrated once again how unpredictable the shipping industry can be:
‘The freight market went from bad (1953) to worse (in the first half of 1954) and then
to a considerable improvement in the last half of 1954’. 59 In the autumn of 1954 the
market started to tighten and by year’s end rates were up 30%. The improving trend
continued through 1955 and when the Suez Canal closed in November 1956, diverting