Book excerpt: Shipping and Logistics Management serves to consolidate the knowledge its authors have acquired from being educators and observers of the shipping industry. Against the background of a global business environment, it explains how the shipping market functions, examining the strategic and operational issues that affect entrepreneurs in this industry. The authors discuss global trends and strategies in the shipping business, looking at the role of logistics service providers and at how the use of information technology can help shipping operations. Shipping and Logistics Management also aims to answer several important questions in the shipping industry, including: what are the shipping cost structures?, what are the patterns of sea transport? and how do companies in the shipping industry operate? An invaluable source of information for researchers and advanced, or graduate, students, Shipping and Logistics Management is also a useful reference for shipping practitioners and consultants.