Video: Containerships/Maritime trade

Containorshiping: 2017 for trillions products sent over see

Types of ships

●​ Shipping started in 3rd century B.C. because it was faster and easier
●​ Multiple broken up cargo being shifted by shed load of people
●​ You got lots of people to pay & when country relies on imports, if the
dockers go on strike really fast shortages → dockers has really big power
●​ Dockers regarederd it there right to be able to steal things from the
merchandise
●​ If you but a motor bike in a ship, the bike would have a wooden frame
built around it, when the salt air hits the bick, causes rust → not good
●​ Labor expensive, time consuming, wasteful because of thrift, expensive
in the first place to carry a lot of various merchandise
●​ Oil tankers are very large (like container ships), very large crude carriers
(some can't go through the Suez and Panama canals)
●​ Specialized ships, they do weird and wonky things, LNG carrier,

if suddenly hot would explode,

floating bomb, when unloading the ship steh actual gas pipe runs out
from the shore 2-3 miles.
●​ Not good to have break wood
●​ Ships that carry grains,wheat,coal and all are bulk carriers
●​ Industry that underpaid the global economy.
●​ 3rd century B.C. shipping started they (merchants) figured out it was
cheaper
●​ Shipping company facturated their cost that they would lose 5-10 %
●​ ships spent more time at ports than sailing
●​ Malcom McLean was first to stack 15 million containers on a ship (the
IDEAL X) and converted it to carry containers from New Jersey to ….

●​ Truck beds could take it without unpacking the merchandise,

●​ Container sizes were standardized
●​ 1968 first modern container ship (20 foot containers now 40 foot)
●​ Cutting cost by 75 percent
●​ 1980 90 % where merchandise were through see
●​ Asian goods to the west and vice versa
●​ Recently Suez canal expanded → bigger ships could pass
○​ Now ships are known as Suezmax, Panamax, Malacamax
●​ 22k containers per ships now
●​ Emma class biggest class in Minsk → names change given the country
●​ Follow a design and 2 or 3 ships, same design
○​ Emergence of global
○​ Intermodel transfer
●​ Length of time at the port is a cost to shipping companies, aircraft for
instance easy jets, they don't offer food and don't need to exchange hot
cold container food for small flights.
●​ Now ships are aiming to be in the port for less than 6 hours
●​ 1966: first
●​ There were too many ships in the water, now only 11 top carriers because
too much competition compared to over 20
●​ Now people say shipping is a quarter of air pollution (burn bunker fuel/
cheap diesel (less polluting) → criticized by governments
●​ Not always smooth sailing, price wars, sank others, cause a wave of
solidification, shipping criticisms from governments , operators cleaner
fuels
●​ Containerships as high as the empire state building when put upright
●​ Prices of containers are dynamic(up and down on a daily basis, going
up to the days near christmas and going down a cliff in january) →
 Christmas is coming, demand for goods is very high + can't use the Suez
canal because of political instability. Depends on the demande and
prices for goods
●​ Refrigerated shipping is an evolution, no need to ship fruits and
vegetables via planes can do it on boats (example: bananas can last up
till 50 days)
●​ Today the industry continues to built, now as high as the empire state
building

●​ Now you can put liquid in a container

●​ Most containers are not checked by costumes→ not enough people to
check every containers & boats
○​ You can put anything in them to transport everywhere
●​ You can now put GPS in containers to follow where your container goes
& by who it is used
●​ Containers are only held by a bolt at each corners
●​ Sometimes it goes wrong, and the shipping containers falls off. On a
container ship normally they have a steal things, but not everywhere
goes it adds weight to the ship.

What does the future hold ?

●​ Tesla of the seas (battery run ship)

●​ Eliminate paperwork,

Video

●​ 19K containers are on board of the largest container ship

 ○​ That is globalization
●​ Pilots get on board by a little hatch on the side of the boat
●​ 20-30 people aboard/crew
●​ Shifting containers thanks to cranes
●​ Offloading 4k containers and putting back 3k containers.
●​ The thing that changed for shipping is, those big ships come from the
suez canal and go anywhere else and don't stop by europe except
rotterdam, stuff going to uk is Felixstowe, nothing goes into london
anymore. Each box can have a tracker on it to know where it is; In the
old days it was tracked on papers. These guys were visualizing ships in
3Ds, they were paid a fortune. All automatic now. Dockers are dead now,
thousands of people for instance paid in London are gone. Not many of
them compare to the thousands there was before
●​ New York does not accept container ships, but New Jersey says it
accepts. Wins a fortune from the ports.
●​

●​ Ships come in through the Suez canal and do no stop in Europe except
in Rotterdam because it is the only port big enough to fit the big
container ships
●​ In rotterdam transfer from big container ship to smaller ones that go all
over Europe
●​ Thanks to trackers, everything is computer driven (which container to
take of, put back etc) → dockers are dead, no more dockers union, no
need for them anymore
●​ At first, because the union was really strong, NY refused containerships
→ went to New Jersey,
○​ NY harbor is dead now

Video

●​ Everything everywhere this days, everything comes from everywhere

around the world
 ●​ Trillions of parts moving cheaply around the world thanks to container
ships and planes
●​ Things go by plane only if very fragile or perishable
●​ For instance iPhone everyone knows it is designed in California, but what
about the smaller pieces inside the phone.
●​ For instance, for valentines day, roses comes from madagascar
●​ For instance, when you are older, 18 years old, diamond companies pay
your flight if you carry there diamonds and not lose any
●​ Globalization guy; Malcolm Mclean, was a truck driver, shipping overseas
bored waiting
●​ During the great depression, millions of Americans were out of work ,
Malcolm Mclean was bored waiting on the docks between his travels by
camion.
●​ Malcom was fuming because his income depended on the length of time
passed waiting for his load to be put in ships
●​ On average it was 8 days, now 1 day that’s what he wanted, a great deal
of time saved.
●​ End of break bulk shipping → save multiple weeks for the ships
●​ Containerisation 1953: reason why we have a thriving global marketplace
●​ Designed the containers and the ships that could carry them
●​ For Malcolm’s first boat: “Ideal X”, beginning of container era
●​ First it was 58 containers → beginning of the container era
●​ Containerships are really high and look empty when they are not
transporting anything

●​ Maritime checkpoints: where the see narrows between other seas (ex: the
english channel, the strait of Gibraltar, the Malacca strait)
●​ flows of goods

advantage of air travels

●​ faster
●​ safer
●​ no disruption of temperatures
●​ less pollution
 ●​ can ship people, plus its cheaper than in boat
●​ No pirates

Disadvantage of air travels

●​ can carry less

For exam

●​ global economy are flows of people (migration), goods, information,

money (world cities)
●​ 3 global cities are open 24/7
●​ money going back and forth, now easier, electronic use
●​ people trading in copper, grol, money, contracts… all that electronically
●​ buy content of supertanker whilst it is at sea or even supertankers
themselves: info and money flowing all the time
●​ Like pork prices negotiated in Chicago, coal in London, copper Tokyo,
risk when buy it, if drought in goes up (the price)
●​ flows are not always physical
●​ prices are negotiated in global cities like Chicago, Tokyo, London…
●​ prices are set up years in advance (like 3 years for agriculture in
Australia)
●​ Flows of people: people on the ship, footballers …. with visas. But also
illegal immigrants without visas

Géostratégies

●​ maritime chokepoints: the narrowing flow of traffic, the flow is obstructed

between two sea
○​ Gibraltar, Boss, Suez Canal,the English channel, the Panama
canal, the Malacca strait, the Bab-el-Mandeb strait (Checkpoints
come up for extra points)
●​ disadvantages:
○​ small
○​ fees
○​ China Sea (have to be up to date ! for exam)
○​ Cost of Suez Canal transit: 400 k to 700k dollars
○​ Some are virtually impossible to block
 ■​ Problems of two countries owning the straights, some want
to block the other not
■​ Currents, 2 different (can be dangerous)
■​ Turkish 1921, the straits extremely narrow, Turkey own both
sides → easy for them to block if they want to
○​ ecological, plants → ships transport wildlife (like barnacles &
algues) which displaced wildlife → kills biodiversity because some
invasive species are transported in different areas where they
have no known predators (because ships now pass by the Suez
canal → the sea is warm whereas before when passing through
the african ocean, the water was so cold it killed all the animals in
the water who were used to warm water)
○​ cities… man effect on the environment → environmental issues
○​ Suez canal, egyptian, responsibility dredge it
○​ Canals need to be drenched/cleaned because lots of things get
into them
■​ the Suez canal: lots of winds brings in things like sand etc…
which can when not taken care of can block the straight
○​ Ships are becoming bigger, the straits aren't so there might be an
issue
○​ Issue: Malacca strait
■​ who need to dredge the straight because it is legally owned
by 3 countries
■​ when dredge disturbing flore, natural stilts and effect of
boats because not that deep
●​ Some areas are not considered checkpoints because there is little to no
traffic through it
●​ The Panama Canal
○​ Caribbean and pacific ocean
○​ not man made → series of canals that connect multiple lakes
○​ Other problem: the plimsoll line is a reference mark located on a
ship's hull that indicates the maximum depth to which the vessel
may be safely immersed (important for the Panama canal but not
for the Suez canal for example)
■​ You float more in salt water than fresh water → the change
means you need different deepness → you need to know
how much you way
 ○​ Problem: if the lake level drops (not enough rain), need to ban ship
with a deep draught (the amount of water/depth underneath a
ship)

●​ Where can you sell land ? (Same problem as with the Panama canal)
○​ Chicago
○​ Manaus (Brazil)

Suez canal

○​ In Egypt
○​ Allows water transportation directly between Europe
○​ (the Mediterranean) and Asia (Red Sea)
○​ alternative areas
■​ navigating around African
■​ carrying goods overland btw the Mediterranean sea and
the Red Sea
■​ 8 900 kilometers saved from going africa
●​ reduces distance by 43%
●​ 6400 nautical miles (12000 km)
■​ Almost 2000 years BC→ Pharaoh Senusret III created a link
between the Mediterranean and Red Sea
■​ Following centuries: Africa
●​ Silted up
●​ Trade carried overland across Asia
 ●​ Ships sail around South Africa
●​ Several attempts are made to establish a waterway
■​ 1799: Napoleon Bonaparte revive the idea
■​ 1859_1869 The modern Suez Canal is built
■​ 1967-1975 Blockade
■​ Today; One of the most important waterways in world trade

Facts

●​ North bound cargo: Mainly oil room the Arabian gulf to Western Europe
●​ South bound cargo: mainly manufactured goods and grain from Europe
●​ Length 192 km of waterway
●​ In 2007, more than 7700 containers ships passed the Suez Canal,
carrying more than 318000 tons of cargo
●​ 7% of the world's total ocean trade
●​ Mainly oil

Panama canal

●​ The Panama railroad was originally built in 1855

●​ Was the first ocean-to-ocean land bridge
●​ Acted as the Atlantic-Pacific California gold rush route
●​ It is now an all-water Atlantic-Pacific transit
●​ Opened in 1914
●​ Revolutionizes sea trade
●​ Considered one of the all toe great engineering feats
●​ Also permanently established the strategic importance of Panama
●​ Atlantic Ocean → Gatun locks → Gatun Lake→ Pedro Miguel locks→
Miraflores locks→ Pacific Ocean
●​ >3 Set of locks, >steps

Alternative routes

●​ South China Sea

○​ getting around the north pole → three ways
■​ Transpolar Sea Route
■​ Northwest Passage (found the first explorator’s boat
recently → champagne, canned teens of beef, cans were
made out of led, found part of the peoples remains, might
have been eaten by a polar bear)
■​ Northern Sea Route (around Russia) most viable because
the water doesn't melt and freeze like it does in the others
●​ On Siberian side enormous rivers, dumping unfresh
water all the way around northern sea route and not
freezing
●​ Russian stimulate restrictions, in their area
●​ I need to use their stuff. transit fees
■​ Northern SEa route
●​ Need to build special ships in case you hit an iceberg
●​ But less oil ue and transit time is quicker
●​ in summer, the ice is thinners, people prefer going
only in summer → is it worth it to pay for the special
ship to only use 6 months of the year
○​ South China Sea is between China and Mongolia
○​ China has access to discuss how the Arctic is used (how the routes
are made etc…)
○​ China has commissions 2 nuclear icebreakers → up to something
○​ The South China sea is where most things transit
○​ Japan , Taiwan Korea are allies with the USA, all their oil comes
for the Middle East → go through the South China Sea
■​ Pressure on taiwan, south korea and Japan can be put by
China → cutting their oil supply
○​ China tried to own the South China Sea→ was rules a no by some
important court, China refused the ruling and started colonizing
small islands all over the place to get more national water space
○​ Brunei passport extremely hard to get even if you marry or your
children won’t be able t o gave it
○​ Brunei posses a big puddle of oil, plus absolute monarchy filthy
rich → no need dig for oil
○​ China has thousands of fishing vessels all over the sea→
hoovering up the sea
 ○​ China also build artificial island to build military bases →
dynamiting coral reefs
○​ Geopolitics (need to learn it)
■​ island chinese of Guan → US fleet number 7 (9 in total all
over the world) there, they are nuclear armed
■​ China doesn't want to have that near their country →
having island allows for protection→ cant sink an island
and there are missile on them → forcing the Americans
further back
■​ Military island allows for aircrafts etc.. (aircraft carrier killer)
■​ Dominates the South China sea by pushing back the US
fleet
■​ China has the world's biggest navy
■​ US scared of a nuclear war → afraid Japan, South Korea,
and Taiwan start to develop nuclear weapon to defend
themselves from China
■​ Plus growing tension between north and South Korea
■​ US and Chinese politics, China and the rest of the area of
asia politics → tension everywhere
■​ The facts change often → need to get the facts right for
if/when a question on that falls

●​ Going around the Arctic

Change of teacher

Oceans and seas: at the heart of the globalized world

●​ globalization is the key concept → word that describes best the state of
the world
●​ globalization: increase in flows of goods, information, people and money
→ growing dependency between countries
●​ offshore oil rig, biological resources (fish, gaz, minerals…)→ resources in
the sea → how can me exploit it
 ●​ trade, exchange, commerce (population, goods, information) through the
sea→ Suez Canal, Panama Canal… maritime chokepoints (one of the
most important places in trading and exchanges)
●​ 85-90% of goods travel through the sea/maritime trade → cost efficient,
can put lots of products on one ship (20k containers on one ship)
○​ cost more to send an iphone from marseille to avignon than an
iphone from china to marseille

Maritime Câbles

●​ satellite communication is a prejudice → 99% of data goes

through maritime cables/ the sea
●​ Isambard Brunel → engineer and industrialist during industrial
revolution
○​ 1858 launches the Leviathan → steam ship to go through the
Atlantic for people (size of the titanic) → will be a failure as a
passenger ship
○​ In 1860 Leviatan became the SS. Great Easter → first cable
ship
■​ permitted telegraphes (almost instant communication)
→ could work across oceans

Submarine cables: the real information superhighways

History: Telecommunication, the other globalization

●​ Start with telegraphes → first uses submarine cables

○​ by 1866 global telegraphic network → enable instant
communication across the world
○​ Vital for colonial empires (give orders in the colonies ex: way
to govern from London to India)
○​ network was mostly focused on colonies to begin with
●​ Telephone → early 20th century
 ○​ telegraph submarine cables are replaced by telephone
cables
○​ not very different → still a metal cable going under the
ocean
○​ The fax → telecopie (print it directly on the receiving end)
○​ The telex → before the fax
○​ 1989: World Wide Web by Tim Berners Lee → new coding
system
■​ made accessible for everyone to communicate
through their computers
○​ From the late 1990s, boom/expansion of a new network of
submarine cables → much more powerful and contains
much for data
■​ cables using optical fiber (usually cooper used)

Economics and relationship with globalization: A major business issue

●​ cables play a central role in globalization

●​ 99% of data goes through submarine cables
●​ Data held in data centers → reunion of multiple servers
●​ Data centers linked to one another by submarine cables
●​ Submarine Cables 2018 connects every continents but not even →
Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific zones are the most
connected
○​ More developed countries
○​ link between submarine cables and development of a
country
●​ Building these cables are very expensive (ships, cables, distance…)
so manly occurs in countries that were before more connected
and developed where you find the most GDP in the World
●​ With access to instant communication, you can develop quicker
and better (Africa, central Asia, South America need to set more
cables in the emerging world)
 ●​ Vicious circle: need money to develop submarine cables but need
submarine cables to develop and get more money
●​ Cost is dependent on the length of the distance (30M to 1B dollass)
●​ Who could be interested and have the money to develop this
network?
●​ Who finances them:
○​ States → good for the countries and its developments
○​ Telecom companies → main operator of submarine cables
(ex Orange)
○​ GAFAM → an acronym for Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon,
Microsoft → 60% of data goes to these companies (40% of
data is video)
■​ they need good quality to make profit so need to invest
in submarine cables
●​ No companies can put a cable down all by itself → they are
funded by joint ventures associations (ex: Cable called Sea-Me-We
5, goes from France to Singapore (20K km long) is funded by
Orange and local Asian Telecom companies) (ex: cable: Marea
joint ventures of Facebook and Microsoft → 160 Tb/s)

Security and strategic issues: A vital security issues

●​ optic fiber surrounded by metal cable surrounded by plastic

●​ Cables break, they also age (25 years lifespan)
○​ natural causes for breakage (ex: earthquakes, volcanic
activity)
○​ Human causes for breakage/failure (ex: fishing, military
operations/sabotage)
●​ if you destroy the cable causes economic crash
●​ Special points were cables are especially at risk
○​ Small island because they only have one or two cables
○​ Checkpoints
Exercice

I- Submarine Cables and Globalization Flows

1.​ What types of flows circulate via submarine cables?

●​ all types of data flows (audio, video live and recorded, texts
and software)
2.​ Identify elements that show that these submarine cables are in full
expansion
●​ The evolution between the number of cables between doc 2
and doc 3 (growing amount)
●​ The growing activity of the world
●​ more bandwidth (better performance)

II- A Geography Reflecting the Dynamics of Globalization

1.​ Identify elements that show the unequal distribution of submarine

cables around the world. How do you explain this?
●​ On the map: unequal distribution → mainly in developed
countries + on the big coastal cities
2.​ What trends are emerging regarding future projects.
●​ New cables towards emerging countries “ Africa even
concentration the most investments for the period 2012-2015”
Doc 2

III- A Geostrategic Network to Master

1.​ Justify the following statement “ Submarine cables from a

communication network indispensable to the functioning of the
information society”
●​ Surligné en gris
2.​ What threats weigh on the infrastructure?
●​ Surligné en bleu
Fishing

The exploitation of fishery resources:

●​ Most fishermen in the world work on small boats, working by hand, none
mechanized work (throwing the net) → artisanal work
●​ Yet, most of the fish come from big industrial and mechanized boats and
fishing
●​ Video
○​ fresh seafood worldwide
○​ innovation: canning fish
○​ floating factory ship (very big) the Vsevold Sibirtsev
○​ built in 1989 in finland but belongs to russia
○​ captures many different types of fish
○​ there are living quarters, gym, sauna, cinema, hospital,fish
processing factories with conveyors etc, areas to store the fish in
all its conditions (freezers)
○​ Can sail for 3-4 months without needing refueling in anyway
○​ high security standards
○​ 600 tons of fish everyday
○​ 100s of crew members
○​ trawl ships refuel the ship with raw materials when needed
○​ Transfer of the fish in the middle of the ship onto another ship
●​ Fish factory boats are in every modern/developed countries
●​ most of the french factory boats pick up 50 tones of fish per day

I- Fish, a vital resource

●​ fish is a major source of protein: its 44% of the animal protein eaten by
humans in the world
●​ Coastal populations mostly rely on fish as a source of protein
○​ Don't have to feed them or take care of them
○​ Relatively free and abundant resource → exploited since the origin
of mankind
●​ Some fish are easier to catch than others
○​ most of the fish extracted are pelagic fish (fish close to the
surface, continental shelves)
 ○​ demersal/benthic fish (fish found deeper in the sea/ocean) (ex:
tuna, cod)

II- The industrialisation of fishing

●​ starting in the 19th century, mechanization, notarisation,

industrialisation, radars/sonnars, factory ship
○​ there are many factory ship in developed country → process the
fish quickly for it to be edible (canning and freezing facilities)
■​ longer campaigns ( multiple months)
■​ fish in greater depths
■​ less loss of products
●​ the fish production has been x5 since 1950s
○​ 20M tones in 1950 - 95M tones in 2014
●​ Can better reach international market → globalized resource
●​ aquaculture (fish farms)
○​ ex: salmon, tilapia
●​ Fish industry is part of the globalized world
●​ China is the 1st country for fish production and eating

III- An industry marque by inequality

●​ Look at given documents for data

●​ Tension in the south china sea given the amount of countries who fish
there
●​ In africa a more traditional way of fishing

Oceans & Seas: From Freedom of Navigation to Appropriation 13/11/24

How do you manage to both guarantee freedom & control of the seas?

●​ You want data to be able to move freely

●​ Vendee Globe: circum navigation race
○​ You need windy places
○​ circle around antarctica → much faster + wind
●​ freedom of navigation → issue with appropriation
 ○​ countries have rights on the exploitation of resources in their
water territory
●​ Conflict between freedom of navigation and issue of state,
○​ raises security issues
○​ raises legal order, who the sea belong to who

Définitions & Docs:

●​ Territorialisation: Appropriation of maritime space by sovereign states. It

is regulated by the Montego Bay Convention (1982), which distinguishes
territorial waters, exclusive economic zones, and the high seas
(international waters). Sovereignty over these spaces depends on the
proximity to the coastline.
●​ Montego Bay Convention: United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea, signed in 1982 in Montego Bay (Jamaica) and entered into force in
1994, which regulates the status of maritime spaces and navigation. As
of 2020, 168 states adhere to this agreement. The United States has not
signed it
○​ 1958 → creation of the IMO (international maritime organization) a
UN agency, based in London
○​ Came into a deal, what is allowed and not allowed, international
waters
○​ The US has the largest EEZ in the world, although has not signed
it, never signed a convention so if they don’t care about Montego
Bay, they don’t care because they have not signed.
○​ 19 hundred range
○​ Most states who didn’t sign Montego Bay have no access to the
sea.
●​ Territorial Waters: coastal maritime area over which a state fully
exercises its sovereignty (up to 12 nm +the contiguous zone up to 24 nm)
○​ American coast guards arresting a chinese vessel suspected of
illegal fishing (North Pacific)
●​ Exclusive EEZ; Maritime area extending up to 200 nautical miles from a
state’s coastline where it exercises its economic sovereignty ( rights of
exploration, exploitation, and resources management), including the
seabed. Other states may navigate and fly over it, and lay cables and
pipelines.
 ○​ submarines for instance allowed to go over it.
○​ good to own small peace of line, ( Tromelin Island, France, Indian
Ocean) → more international waters
■​ Occupied territory by France, they put a landing strip to
claim sovereignty, proof.
○​ Why such an interesting island, EEZ, especially located in the
mozamic canal, free pass madagascar, a lot of fishes, in theory
control over fish exploitation, great value.
■​ So if the sea level were to rise, madagascar or even
mozamic would ask the french gov for a review of the EEZ.
■​ France have a lot of EEZ, dispatched island, second biggest
EEZ in the world
■​ Example is South China sea → china creates island so the
can claim more EEZ just like the rest of the countries
surrounding it → they all want more zones
○​ Nautical Mile: A unit of measurement equivalent to 1.852 Km
○​ High Seas: International waters not under direct authority of any
state, where the principle of maritime freedom fully applies. They
extend over 55 % of the ocean surface.
■​ like oil tankers, fishing ships etc…
■​ If you have 55 %, half of the other oceans are under the
sovereignty of other states.
■​ When you have a boat, able to move around to your
business, but can have conflicts
●​ States can have power, for instance: USS North
Carolina, US navy nuclear attack submarine. They
don’t care because they have a far superior navy
fleet. League of its own.
●​ Document 1:
○​ Map of the EEZ around the world, granting states to have
scientific bays ,no more sovereignty of land
○​ EEZ spreads around the world , whenever a little island has an
EEZ.
○​ Biggest EEZ in the world, US, territory huge, many islands around
the world for instance virgin islands, us samoas(polynesian us).
Hawaii EEZ
■​ Second France
 ■​ third: Australian
■​ fourth: New Zealand
■​ fifth: UK
■​ sixth: Indonesia
○​ You can have a median line, a joint regime (share EEZ with
neighbors so no conflicts.)
○​ All contestés limits
○​ In Eu? region tensions around EEZ, around turkey, because
Greece has a lot of islands and they kept sovereignty, claimed EEZ
near turkey. They consider that they should have a bigger part of
EEZ.
●​ Document 2
○​ Andorra not on it no part of signing it
○​ By signing it it is not completely interesting
○​ Some countries didn’t exist during the contract of the Montego
Bay.
○​ Not sign, because they fight for more EEZ
○​ Peru decided not to sign it.
○​ Until 1979, China was poor, wanting to fit it, signing was a good way
of integrating.
○​ Taiwan, not signing, you will never find them within UN agreement,
because they are “banned” by China because they should be
china. Therefore, Taiwan is excluded from the deal.
○​ Afghanistan, at that time, still distant, under war, communist, ever
since politically complicated, no real recognized government.
○​ Iran has a complex relationship with the rest of the world, even
though it took part in different regimes to get to the Montego Bay
convention.

●​ Document 3: (to be learned) can divide the sea in 3 parts:

■​ 12 first nautical miles after the coast line (22km) is the
territorial waters (state exerts full sovereignty → the laws of
the country are valid (security reasons etc…)
 ●​ France is free to control it for security reasons, and
apply French law.
●​ ships are free to come and go
●​ Prevent people from bringing illegal stuff into your
country.
●​ If they stop they have to obey the local laws.
■​ 200 first nautical miles from the coast line (350 km): Exclusive
economic zone (EEZ): in between place
●​ some of the local laws are in place
●​ submarine cables are allowed to pass
●​ all ships can move freely (military as well as straight
ships)
●​ pipelines can be laid by foreign states as well as the
sovereign state
●​ Exclusivity for exploiting the ressource → who is
allowed to exploit the resources in there EEZ → state
contontrol
●​ Oil, fishing, exploiting the resources are state
controlled
■​ The high Seas (international waters)
●​ Food liberty
●​ full liberty of navigation
●​ full liberty of exploitation
●​ Conflicts ressoved in the UN between personal
countries etc
●​ Ships can do whatever they want, exploitation …
●​ Often local country does not want military ships or
fishing ships around creating conflicts

“Contiguous zone” up to 24 nm

○​ Special security rights

○​ The issue is that in real life, the territorial seas are extended to be
able to control who comes in the territorial sea → security ships
for the sovereign state are allowed to intervene
●​ EEZ depends on the continental shelf’s length
 ●​ Extension of EEZ if shelf permits it, a state could ask for an extension of
an EEZ, can be extended up to 350 nm, if the continent of shelf permits
it.
○​ Geology, can ask UN authority to extend it
●​ many waters are too small for a 200 nm EEZ (ex mediterranean sea)
○​ international courts settling the length of the EEZ when there is
not enough space
A.​ Oceans & Seas under the rule of Internal law
1)​ The regulation of territorialism
a)​ regulated by the 1982, Montego Bay Convention, defining
the territorialization of the Seas.
●​ Many riches to discover

Example: Russian flag at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean

Sum Up:

●​ Territorial waters (12 nm + 24 nm contiguous zone)

●​ EEZ up to 200 nm(370 km) + possible extension up to 350 nm if
continental shelf permits it.
●​ High seas (interpretation at waters)
a.​ Piracy is supposed to be fight
b.​ Slave Trade, against human rights
c.​ Pollution, because ocean belongs to everyone
●​ Only 55 % of the seas are International Waters

2) The guaranteed freedom of navigation

●​ Guaranteed in both High Seas and EEZs, no rights to prevent any kind
of boat in taking action in EEZ
●​ Only innocent boats, to be freely navigated, must not be threatening, if
the military sees smt threatening then not allowed.
○​ In EEZ you can basically do anything you want.
○​ International seas, place for freedom
■​ For instance, if the captain kills someone in the high sea,
not arrested until he comes to a port and someone tells
him.
 ○​ Few limitations, traffic slaves, not piracy, no hurt biological
resources of the ocean in the High seas
○​ Slave threat and piracy, piracy interesting money involved, strong
obstacles for the world economy.
■​ Somalia, a big player in piracy, has calmed down since 2010.
■​ Malakkastraat, many small islands, a lot of pirates, poor
people.
■​ Piracy, small fishing boats, they take control of ships and
ask for ransom, well enough for the pirates to become rich
and not so much for the company.

Class: 20 november 2024

●​ Test: Political issues with maritime transport etc

○​ Relevance on docs, useful not useful: no intro
○​ on the other short intro and short conclusion
○​ law of the sea
○​ role of military
○​ Understand key chapters: EEZ and all

B. Issues of Appropriation and Power Rivalries

 1)​ Conflicts over EEZ’s
●​ not all countries have signed the MB convention
○​ the US doesn't want to feel obliged. This is the
advantage of having “superpowers”

When Trump is in power get out of the French agreement, gets back with Biden,
and will probably leave again.

○​ States which feel disadvantaged by the MBC.

●​ Only 168 states in the MBC
○​ many conflicts → The S china sea
○​ Arctic ocean, open the way for fish resources… creates conflicts
■​ The mozambic Canal.

●​ What do you do when you have a conflict ?

○​ International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Germany, Hamburg),
can always decide to sit their case infront of justice.

●​ EEZ not perfect, cause not all states accept in especially turkey also
USA considered themselves strong enough, many conflicts on the EEZ
○​ China sea (Boardman)
○​ Arctic
○​ more and more states want to take resources in the arctic
●​ ”The war is the pursuit of politics through other means”- Carl Von
Clausewitz a German general during napoleonic wars
○​ It’s settling political issues when it doesn't work, persuading
political goals

2)​ Military rivalries on Sea

●​ Military is a huge player in the security and politics of the ocean
●​ you can enforce politics through naval fleets that you cannot enforce via
diplomacy
●​ What is the strickting info ? 11 US aircraft- carriers
○​ second biggest aircraft carriers fleet is china (3)
○​ As for other countries, most don't have any aircraft carriers
○​ overwhelming US superiority on the seas militarily speaking
●​ US navy fleet is bigger than the 6 next military Navies combined
●​ to measure the size of a fleet, you just way the ships
●​ If those warships are small there aren't significant, different kind of ships,
all have different functions
○​ Total sum from the US military fleet is bigger than the sum of the
next 6 biggest fleets as mentioned.

Document 1 (20/11/2024)

○​ Major fleets
■​ Russia
■​ India
■​ China
■​ France
■​ UK
■​ Italy
■​ Turkey
■​ US
■​ Japan
■​ Taiwan
■​ South and North Korea
■​ Brazil
○​ Each US fleets diseases of complete range of ships
○​ US has a complete network of military bases all around the world
○​ For instance, China has only 4 vs US has 12
●​ What is the use of a fleet and military base ? To refuel, logistic on regular
basis many boats need to be refueled, new food and water for the crew,
 the crew has to be changed, you can't keep a crew for a year long, that is
why you need military base
●​ Fleets for every part of the world, that what makes US stand apart
○​ For instance France, next to overseas territory (territory outre
mer)
○​ What other countries ?
■​ Britain, on island of Diego Garcia, share a military base with
the US,
■​ In Indian ocean: good military base because it makes it
easier for the fleet to operate and resupply
●​ China is starting to grow a network of bases
●​ UK and France have good network of bases thanks to their colonies
●​ Djibouti, it, France, UK, US, Chinese, some countries rent out space for
foreign military bases, but you need some reasons
○​ Why djibouti ?
■​ location, at the entrance of the Red Sea, and the Bab El
Mandeb strait (chokepoint)
■​ every cargo passes next to Djibouti → very good place to
have a military base
○​ Another strategic point:
■​ the persian gulf → twice strategic
■​ place of conflict: tension between iran and arab countries,
israel
■​ 20 % oil transit goes through the Persian gulf
■​ Important checkpoint; Strait of Hormuz
●​ Qatar rents a military base for US
●​ Emirates State rents space for France military base
●​ Many fleet, intervene quicker
●​ talks about venezuela invading their neighbor saying they have a lot of
oils, if france want to intervene they can
●​ Diff, us many fleet, france 1, so france can't fight in multiple regions
●​ So if you have many fleet you can engage in different fights, regions
●​ Lots of military action in the Red Sea → conflict of Gaza, Israel, Iran
●​ Hooters are proxies, allied with Iran, Iran is allied with Gaza so in conflict
with Israel. The Hooters distract and hurt Israel by attacking ships in the
Red sea that is why there are French and British ships to prevent these
fights.
 ●​ China since late 90s ambitions to vs with US, china want to be the 1st,
they have symbolic dead lines (100 year of birth of people republic of
China, communist so 1949). Therefore, by 2049 China aims to be the #1
power in the world and beat the US → more bases
○​ want more ships as of today there are 5 aircraft carriers in the
making to catch up
●​ the law of the Seas is trying its best but can not keep everyone on track
●​ China is trying to compete against the US to get domination over the
oceans and seas

3)​ The Never ending fight against Piracy

●​ Pirate ships are small and lame (not like in the movies)
●​ The reality of piracy is real, asshole of navigation

history of piracy

●​ piracy as old as navigation

League of Delos:

●​ after the war against the Persian empire by the greek

●​ Aims: prevent the Persian of ever coming back ant to fight piracy
and guarantee peace and thriving of trade within the ocean
●​ Strong point of Athens: was military ships, and these gave Athens
advantage, keep allying with them.
●​ Pirates are everywhere
●​ Eg; France in 1830, decided to invade Algeria, prospering out of
piracy, major points for pirates in 19th century, so they decided to
take care of it since they distributed the trades
●​ For piracy, need poor people and motivated to attack
●​ two things to have pirates: traffic of valuable goods traveling in
the ocean and poor people ready to do anything to get money
who then attack ships
 ●​ Gabon and Nigeria are two massive oil producers → many poor
people willing to do anything to get a part of the riches passing
by
○​ same conditions near Djibouti, china workshops, all goods
go through that suez canal
●​ Bad political state of a country is and ideal place for pirates as
there are no repercussion to their actions
○​ In this place poor people, somali over 30 years not organize
state, civil war, ideal for pirated since no police nor military
●​ The Malacca strait is also very prone to piracy
○​ pirates coming from Indonesia
●​ For piracy you need:
○​ weak government
○​ rich sea routes
○​ poor people, easier to let them starve to death in full legality
●​ who has interest into fighting piracy
○​ local state is the government is stable and economically
available
○​ the countries involved in trading and how ships are affected
○​ international coalitions formed to fight piracy
■​ This affects world traffic, gave away to operations:
○​ Atalante operation lasted for 3 years after huge surge of
piracy coming for Somalia (2009-2012)
○​ US or French navy taking actions in the Caribbeans when
pirates are too active
○​ once the piracy has lowered, the countries retreat → vicious
circle, never ending circle of piracy

Document 2: 20 november 2024

●​ piracy incidents in 2024

●​ pircay is a quite mild problem now (12-20 ships attacked this year)
●​ for now, piracy is kept rather under control
1)​ What factors motivate people in this country/ region to resort to piracy?
If poverty is a motivating factor of piracy activity, what are some of the
root causes of widespread poverty and/or instability in the region.
●​ mainely poverty, famin
●​ illegal fishing → weak government, so can’t enforce EEZ
●​ rich sea routes → opportunity
●​ famine, so using somali sea
●​ foreign ships with modern equipment are using somaly sea and
looting the sea so local fishermen have no more fish to catch

2)​ What, if anything, has/have the state/states done to contain piracy?

●​ HRA(High Risk Area) → international inniciatives
●​ Regulations for how to travel in this area. For instance, register
with the Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa (MSCHOA)
●​ military fleets guarding the most important trade routes
●​ local states dont do much (barely any prison time for caught
pirates → low incentive for them to stop attacking)
3)​ What are the commun strategies of these pirates? (robbery, ransom,
illegal fishing, etc…)
●​ ransom attacks (booming buisemness)
●​ hijacking for cargo (merchandise) (oil, tankers, etc… because they
are later easy to move around)
●​ steal better ship to be faster and to go further → more efficient
4)​ Discuss the relevance of the documents
●​ Map: shows the expansion of piracy throughout the years
●​ Enable to visualize, see an extend pov
●​ Text: gives context, precise examples and data
●​ gives actions taken by government to fight piracy
●​ the two together give two different time periods to know the
evolution of piracy in Somalia
●​ However, its not temperray hard to see the big picture since its
only from 2005 to 2018
 ●​ confusing on the map only little dots → no precision of the type of
piracy and attacks
●​ The text doesn't give much infos, escorts ? boats only coming
when there is an attack ?
5)​ To what extent does Somali piracy pose a threat to global trades?
●​ Typical yes no answer, but you have to take a side
●​ Piracy is a threat
○​ Somalia is close to the trading roots
○​ and those pirates have been a threat since a long time
■​ they damage, many attacks have been committed
■​ they take hostage, take control, damage trade ships
●​ Goes beyond, coast money, to go through different routes
●​ Can be contained through international actions, in the text they
have shown at some point people had taken care of piracy , but as
soon as the measures stop you can see it easily comes back, to
stop you would have to to further
●​ developing Somalia means no more or barely any piracy left.

28/11/2024

Environmental issues

The need for the environmental protection

The threats of overfishing and pollution (example: plastic waste in the pacific
ocean)

●​ overfishing is a great problem: not the little fisherman but the industrial
fishing boats
●​ with industrial fishing boats can capture an enormous amount of fish a
day (up to a few hundred tons of fish a day)
○​ This issue rose early as early as the 1960s, UN convention, experts
meets and take decisions
○​ IUCN → international union conservation nature, created in the
1960s, by a UN organisation
●​ Ex: cabillaud/cod were very present in the north of the atlantic
○​ Cod fishing outside Canada ran out in the 1960s → it was a major
shock
●​ 40% of fishing areas suffer from overfishing
●​ Overfishing: fishing faster than how fast the fish can reproduse
○​ As for the rest 60% is at max capacity
○​ To regulate, you put in place quotas of quantity of fish they can
capture to prevent overfishing
●​ In some places, fishing has been forbidden
●​ 1st significant issue: In most places, fishing as max out and needs to me
regulated
●​ 2nd significant issue; Pollution of the sea, not as easy as one might think,
○​ plastic continent in the pacific → an area where the streams
concentrated small plastic particles which hurts the wildlife
○​ There are also big plastic waste near the shore (ex: indonesia,
india, thailand…)
○​ Low plastic waste in cost of developed countries thanks to waste
management (burning it of recycling)
○​ plastic in the coast is found more in developing countries
■​ Don’t have infrastructures to put all the waste
○​ Veolia, big player in waste management (In France)
●​ How can we address this issue ?
○​ limit fishing in certain areas → document 1 (27/11)
○​ development of marine protected areas
○​ but they are not fully implemented and enforced (ex: the antarctic
ocean (no EEZ in Arctactica because it belongs to no one )
○​ 2 types of actors:
■​ international organisations in high seas, where the seas
become to everybody
■​ countries directly managing their EEZ → countries strong
enough to be able to enforce the protection of the area →
developed countries, need a significant EEZ
●​ UK, France, US, Chilli, Australia, Equator, South Africa,
Kiribati archepelago put in place marine protected
areas
●​ Why protect from fishing?
○​ because its the responsible thing to do
○​ they cant stop other countries form fishing so they put in place
protected zones
 ○​ creates more means of action on the world → influence, looking
good to the rest of the world → soft power
■​ Marine protected areas are a great tool for soft power
○​ Showing world your look good, make you soft power
○​ 4.4% of the total ocean area is protected
○​ Most zones are organised but not implemented → probably still
some illegal fishing in those areas
●​ 2014:, great for soft power
○​ COP 21 in Paris
○​ the Paris agreement with the goal: 10% MPA by 2020
○​ Although it is almost halfway to the goal
○​ that goal was not achieved
○​ going in the right direction
○​ most of the MPA on doc are recent ( COP 20)
●​ Under the pressure of NGOs(Non governmental Organisations)
○​ green peace
○​ WWF: claims that 30% of the ocean should be protected to ensure
biodiversity, not most realistic figure, because once again fish is a
significant resource for main kind
○​ they are not happy with the MPAs, it is not enough

The uncertainties of Global Warming

●​ The sea levels might rise bc of global warming

●​ Different issues:
○​ rise of oceans
○​ biodiversity → some animals might not survive to warmer oceans
■​ Easy to find barracuda in mediterranean sea (fishiiiisssss)
●​ Male capital of Maldives = flat city
●​ UN estimate up to 280M people could have to leave because of the
rising of the oceans in the world
○​ Climat refuge → rising seas, droughts etc…

04/12/2024

Correction DBQ:
●​ Talk about excerpt not extract when talking about a part of a source
●​ Doc A
○​ Overlapping EEZ claims → problem
○​ Huge Chinese EEZ claim
○​ Claimed islands by China
○​ Reasons for EEZ claims → trade, oil and gaz → resources
 ○​ Cant really talk about trade because EEZ are free navigation
zones so they cant claim money over it
○​ No idea of what kind of tensions, which actors intervienned etc…
○​ No idea of actual EEZs
○​ No date
●​ Doc B
○​ Nature of tensions
○​ Chinese threat
○​ Ways to resolve tensions using UNCLOS
■​ ITLOS (Hamburg)
■​ IMO (London)
○​ But, need some prior knowledge
○​ Few figures/data
○​ Local biases ? → authors (not Asian), are australian experts
●​ Both docs together
○​ The docs complete eachother (the map came with the doc)
●​ Long essay
○​ Find under which conditions was UNCLOS useful, dont simply
answer “yes” “no”
○​ “Yes, the MBC can be useful to resolve tensions between good
willing partners”
■​ Example: ASEAN
■​ Why the MBC?
■​ I has helped ASEAN countries to settle conflict
■​ Even in ASEAN countries, there are ongoing tensions
○​ “MBC is useless against a hostil country”
■​ Grey areas → need for arbitration, room for intrepretation
and claims
■​ No forces to inforce the MBC
■​ China abuses this limit
■​ The MBC can even worsten the tensions → islands

G3: The UK Sea Power Today

●​ Maritim propaganda for the UK to

feel confident in the maritim power
●​ British sea power is everywhere
○​ Because fo their colonies
○​ Because of trade → economic
power
●​ Various different types of ships →
they dominate every aspects of maritim
transport
●​ Great trade fleet
 ●​ Reminder of Dunkirk success
●​ British were proud of their sea power

I- A rich Seafaring History

●​ “The sun never sets on the British colonial empire” → because of the
amount of colonies all over the world
●​ In 1886, displayed the telegraphic network → proof of power

1) A former worldwide empire

●​ The shift towards the sea
●​ Elizabeth I will change the geopolitical aimes of Britain
○​ Befor her, Britain was focalised on colonising France and
mainland europe → political growth
○​ 100 year war, the Britts lost
○​ Henry VIII tries to reinvade France later but still fail in beginning
of 16th century → failed because of the separation of the catholic
church → religious issues
○​ Wanted to enjoy the riches of the Indies
○​ But, the world was divided btw Portugal and Spain and they had
exclusive rights → Tordesillas Treaty 1494
○​ The kingdom of England will resort to privateering → a pirate
officially autorised by the king
■​ Francis Drake
■​ Walter Raleigh (brought back tabbaco to Europe)
○​ 1588: Spain sends its “Invincible Armada” vs the UK
○​ Spanish loos → Spanish are not the rulers of the sea anymore
○​ UK build its own fleet → the West Indies Company and the Indies
Company in 1600
○​ British becomes great sea power

2) The naval superpower of the 19th century

●​ England became the UK in 1801
●​ Britain builds up a fleet
●​ Industrial Revolution begin in the UK in the 18th century
○​ steam engin → faster boats
○​ cheaper and safer boats
○​ trade (cheap clothing)
○​ sell clothing all over the world → boosts British fleets
●​ Naval regulations are created in the UK
○​ Laws in favor of sea trade
●​ Britannia (=Marianne for the french) ref to Athena, trident represent sea
and poseidon
●​ Power for the Britts was mostly through sea power

3) The Empire where the sun never sets

 ●​ Two types of colonies:
○​ exploitation colonies → use ressources etc to improve the UK
colonies (ex: India, Africa)
○​ Settlers colonies (ex: Canada, Australia, South Africa) because the
people there are white so they have the right for political
autonomy

05/12/2024
A mid-sized country with only crumbs of its empire

1) Post-war economic decline

●​ Situation mostly unchanged since the 1900s
●​ The UK was only western country to not benefit form the Marshall Plan →
problem because the UK spent great amount of money on WW2
○​ In the UK, rationing will go on until the early 60s
○​ Trade plumits → affect the UK sea power
●​ Lanching of the Welfare State → worker unions become very powerful
○​ Comprises expenditures by the government of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland intended to
improve health, education, employment and social security.
●​ Trade Unions blocked many reforms in the UK
○​ Example: Dockers strike, Liverpool 1970
●​ 1973 the first oil crash (multiple by 4 the oil price
○​ socail unrest and strikes
●​ Conterasation started but workers on strike means lot less production
○​ decline of the UK trade harbour
●​ Social blockade will increase economic and maritime decline

2) A smaller United Kingdom

●​ Decolonisation
○​ UK goes back to its 16th century boundaries (Doc 1)
●​ Massive fall in trade between the UK and its former colonies
●​ To limit the loss of the empire the creation of the Communwealth
○​ Decline in trade, Commonwealth did not suffice
●​ Most of the parts left are now mostly unpopulated

3) The new rulersof the sea

●​ UK is no longer the ruler of the seas
●​ Replaced by the US (military) and China (economic and sea trade)

How much is the UK still a sea power ?

II- British sea power: the role of geography

1) An island country open to the sea

●​ Europe’s major island state

○​ Britain is Europes biggest island
 ○​ Tendency to autonomy
○​ Strong island culture
○​ Tnedency to isolationism (Brexit)
○​ Very complex coastline itth bays and peninsula
○​ Huge coastline → 12k km long (4x the coastline of France)
●​ Located in a strategic area
○​ Control over the English Chanel
■​ Europe’s main trade route (Hamburg, Rotterdam and
Antwerp)
■​ 20% of sea trade goes through the English Chanel
○​ GIUK gap (Greenland, Iceland and UK) (Doc 2)
■​ Located in a developing trade route
■​ Military strategic pass (against Russia)
■​ British navy is the most powerfull out of the 3 so the need to
supervise more
●​ Abundant sea resources
○​ The Uk is an oil monarchy (with Norway are the two biggest oil and
gaz producers in Europe)
○​ The North Sea has abundant gaz and oil and a big part of is i the
UK EEZ → Scotland coast
○​ Movement for independence in Scotland → 2 referendums for
independance
○​ Important fishing industry → important fish resources all around
the UK
■​ Aquacultur → in Scotland
●​ in the locks all around the coast (Fiojd)
○​ Wind power → windmill
■​ East of the Chanel, many windmill farms
■​ East of Scotland
■​ 10% of the electricity production for the UK

09/01/2025

B- Overseas territories granting a vast EEZ

Tristan da Cunha island (middle At ocean)

The crubs of the empire

 ●​ 14 Brithish overseas territories
○​ Europe
■​ Gibraltar
■​ The chanel islands (close to french normandy)
■​ Two bases in Cyprus, strategic values gives British ground,
close to Cyprus, middle East
○​ Carribbeans
■​ BVI - Bermuda, amricans love going there during vacations,
posh
■​ Cayman islands, tax heaven, important banking place
■​ Anguilla
■​ Montserrat, for most british populated overseas
○​ Atlantic Ocean
■​ Islands are much smaller and less populated than the reste
■​ The South Falkland Islands
■​ Tristan da Cunha islands in the Atlantic
■​ St helena,passoniate french individuals with history and
where Napoleon died
○​ Indian Ocean
■​ Chagos Islands, famous for the Diego Garcia base
(convenient to supply navy)
○​ Pacific Ocean
■​ Pitcairn Island (desend from orange sailors who executed a
mutiny)
○​ Islands in Antarctica

●​ UK has the 5th biggest EEZ in the world

○​ Sign of sea power
○​ EEZ so remote that there is not much to do with it

What can you do with an EEZ when it's hard to exploit it

●​ Value to islands: make them natural reserves (marine protected areas
etc…)

2. Biodiversity heaven

The famous Rockhopper penguins on

Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha
 ●​ Example: Rockhopper penguins on Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha
●​ Ideally located for wildlife protection
●​ Issues:
○​ Overfishing
○​ Destruction of corals and habitats
●​ Protection is good for fish and mostly for reputation
○​ Tool for soft power softpower
○​ The Blue Belt Project
■​ creating 4 million km2 into MPAs (marin protected areas,
people are not allowed to fish)
■​ 1/2 B.O.T (British oversea territories) are MPA’s

C- An insular country relying heavily on its ports

1.​ The vital issue of ports

●​ Doc 2: Main ports of the UK

○​ Biggest ports on the South East coast
○​ Located on the English channel → islands need to be connected
to the rest of the world through ships for example
○​ Yet british ports are not in the top 20 biggest container ports

●​ Eurotunnel: system shuttle, tunnel under water

○​ trucks with merchandise use the tunnel to do trades
○​ 20% of UK exports
●​ Which kind of ports does the UK use to do trades ?
●​ Ports account for 80% of the trade traffic

2.​ The decline of Britain in world maritime trade

maritime traffic near the

Southampton harbour cruise ship

●​ Example: Southampton
○​ container ships are much smaller than containerships
○​ UK’s first cruise terminal
○​ mostly cruise terminals
●​ Biggest container port in the UK is Felixtowe (next to London)
○​ Not even shown on the Doc 2
○​ 8th biggest in Europe
 ●​ Modern maritime trade: Britain only arrives 8th in Europe
●​ Shows the decline in sea trade for the UK
●​ UK used to be number one sea trade
●​ What are the kinds of ships (commercial) you commonly see in the
channel
○​ Ferries
■​ transport people, cars and trucks
3.​ The focus on local maritime Trade

●​ Mostly trading with France and The Netherlands

●​ Dont really trade outside of Europe
●​ Most imports use trucks taking ferries between mainland Europe and
the UK
○​ Roll-on/Roll-off traffic
●​ Container ships use the Load-on/Load-off system
●​ Doc 1:
○​ Felixtowe is not ready to receive that many containerships
○​ lack of infrastructure

15/01/2025
I- Royal Navy’s remaining influence
1. After supremacy
●​ From the 17th century to the mid 20th century, UK had international
domination over the sea
●​ Doc 1: comparing the umber of destroyers and frigates in different
navies
○​ destroyer: designed attack on other ships and main land (missils,
cannons)
○​ frigates: tactical opperations, deeploy forces (host helicopters)
○​ doc is missing important countries (USA, Russia)
○​ important but not outstanding UK fleet
○​ missing ships that could be important in this charte
○​ based on these numbers, the UK is not the main actor in
international domination of the sea

2. World class military navy

●​ they have technical ships other countries dont have
○​ 6 destroyers, 13 frigates and 2 aircraft carriers, 4 nuclear missil
launching sub-marines
○​ nuclear deterance
○​ they have more power projection
●​ in the top 5 navies
●​ UK and US are military allies
○​ “special relationship” with the US
○​ shared cultur, language and history
○​ Diego Gareia base (Chago islands)
■​ leased by the US
 ■​ this grants influence for the UK military

II- UK sea trade: small merchant fleet, great influence

1. The decline of the British sea trade

●​ because of globalisation, UK is not a leader of trade anymore
●​ trade navy has new leaders
○​ greece
○​ china worldwide
●​ 0.8% of sea trade controlled by the UK
●​ Doc 2
○​ ship register different form ship owning
○​ UK comes far in the ranking, 18th
○​ enormous difference with for example Panama
○​ for example, US registers its ships in Panama, Liberia and
Marshall islands (pacific,us territory
○​ crown dependencies are often used to register boats (Jersey,
Guernserey and isle of Marn)
○​ needs a bunch of counselling (lawyer) → UK is still influential
■​ What kind of services do you need to call when ship
compagnies → lawyers
■​
■​ UK its trading fleet in declined
■​ UK crucial role in sea trade
●​ need experts and white collars
22/01/2025

2.A key player in Sea Trade

●​ sea trade services

●​ IMO(International maritime organization): the City of London →
autonomous burrow of London
○​ central buisness district locaated in London
●​ long tradition as a sea trading power → gives them influence in the
maritime world
●​ English law prevails in maritime constructs → 80% of sea trade disputes
are settled in London
○​ Legal services
○​ Insurance → UK #1 for instance, Lloyd
○​ Other services where UK is important: for instance when you want
to go to a theatre you won’t call theatre but an agency where you
can buy a seat and go anywhere, the same for ships, shipbroking
(who will find a container spot), UK leader 7/20 top brocker are UK
●​ Document 3 15/01
○​ We can see UK is the top in insurance by far, they existed before
for instance middle age with italy (insurance system)but has been
internationalize by UK shipbroking and Singapour is second law,
 Chian 1st exporter same go for the US, second and 1st world
importer.
○​ Classification: more refined services regarding ships, each ships
needs classification,experts business, different kind of ships and
everyone needs to obey some kind of rules, is this a ship that
could handle suez cannal, too big ?... so they have classification
○​ 3rd party ship management, UK doing quite well
○​ Not a lot shipbuilding in UK it is China and South Korea such as
Samsung these koreans company do all sorts of things, samsung
boats
○​ STX(South Korean compagnies, main ship faciality in France
○​ France is almost none existing in this industry
●​ UK important sea power

IV. British Sea power under challenge

●​ 1980: war between argentina and UK for islands, real war,
○​ Falk lawds war Marguarite Thatcher, prime minister UK, On the 2
April 1982, Argentine forces invaded the British overseas territory
of the Falkland Islands, sparking one of the largest major conflicts
since WW2. Lasting 74 days, the conflict was the first military
action since the Second World War that utilised all elements of the
Armed Forces.

A- international tensions

1. Disputed oversea territories

●​ Strategic values to be located around South America, Argentina
strategy
●​ Stanley, Cape Horn, strategic checkpoint and Valuable EEZ, lots of fish
in this part of the atlantic ocean. That is why the Argentinas wanted to
gain this island. As for today 40 years later, still tensions on going
around the Falkland islands
○​ In 2016, UN has granted Argentine claims over EEZ, one thing to
take decision another to put it into application, Uk has decided to
ignore it because Argentina cannot go against the EEZ since they
are not powerful
○​ Special partnership with US, extra bonus of UK forces,great
advantages
■​ One place in particular, chagos islands, challenges over
Chagos islands
Document 2, 22/01/25
●​ Why is it important for Britain ? The guardian, not obscure academic
paper it is from the Guardian,long article on subject
●​ Who are the players ? UN+ Mauritians vs UK+US
●​ What is discussed ? The disputed sovereignty over the Chagos islands,
who should be sovereign over these territories
 ●​ Why is there such a dispute ? People will be evicted, related to
decolonization, UK had biggest empire most of the territories then
became decolonized, independent, But why did they keep these islands
for themselves, before lending this base to US, it is the strategic values
●​ Why at this moment ? African countries against former colonial empires
of the western empires with strong allie, China this has been created
about 15 years ago
●​ How do they justoidy to the rest of the world: international security with
piracy, claimed that the US played a crucial role terorrism and piracy to
reinforce peace, the US called the “sherif of the world”
●​ Summary: here in this text its about motion about to be voted by the UN
if Mauritirians should have chagos islands. If brexit happens than UN
will not be as much with the UK side.
●​ there is 193 UN members right now
●​ UK decided to ignore the ICG decision
●​ The outcome: most likely with the context of Brexit losing EU allies, it is
very likely that the decision will go against the UK. After this article the
vote was past and asked UK to return to the Mauritians, but they said
that they can give the base to the US, but the chinese do a lot of
deplomatic efforts with developing countries.
●​ Uk and US already said they won’t give it back with the value of the
island.
●​ Last year a compromise was made,
○​ as for today chagos islands are Mauritians
○​ Except for Diego Garcia remains british
●​ This british sea power is challenged oversea with sovereignty either
Falkland islands or chagos islands
●​ For France, les iles eparcent , all small islands around madagascar,
same thing happened to them. When France granted decolonization to
madagascar but islands remain french

23/01/2025

2. The royal Navy under pressure

●​ Queen elisabeth, HMS, sistership from HMS prince of wales
●​ As of today the UK has two aircraft carriers, sea power because you can
intervene anywhere in the world to strike and protect a region. Both
fairly recent, late 2010s and the other one a few years ago. UK navy
better than the french navy who only have one
●​ These ships crazy expensive billions
Document 1 : 22/01/25
●​ What is china to us, how western countries see china: They are not
enemies but seen as a rival if it gain powers
●​ In what ways china major partner ? Important for developed countries,
china has some rivalry with the west but can’t lose its economic market
so same for both.
●​ Context, 2 reasons why china sea important: a lot of disputed EEZ,
because strategic sea trade routes as it is the way between asia and EU,
resources fish oil … Taiwan big interest for China. As a consequence,
china claim china sea for itself, the locals are worried
●​ How to limit the attack of china : US send ships, five power defense
arrangement, Uk is part of this defense agreement
○​ Local countries: Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei
○​ UK & US
■​ why UK allied with them, because before malaysia and
singapore and Brunei were before british colonies and with
the decolonization movement they keep strong ties with
them so easier travel, military and economic cooperation
these small countries decided to stay with UK
●​ So, UK decided to send this queen elisabeth to South china sea (SCS°
●​ Chinese reaction: negative, if you send we will have to retaliate and
military responce, diplomatic expression: “ red line”, indeed it is a lot of
english carries, 20 to 30 fighter planes, bombards → a lot of damaged
●​ UK to lower anger of chinese, smoothen things up: they said we are not
going to do it right now “gaining time” strategy, nothing is decided for
sure don’t know when. Window:nonetheless should be send by may 2021.
●​ What can UK do to smoothen relationship with China: In the meantime
they can pursue and deepens economic ties, so they keep in mind it is
also a partner, negotiations with china.
●​ Uk has this carrier, what would happen if UK finally complied with
China’s request and not go: It would make them look like a victim, make
UK look weak, therefore in the end the carrier was sent in the time being
in spring 2021
●​ How did china react: not full on war, sent boats around this aircraft
carrier, sent they didnt respect, china responded by keeping pressure,
on a regular basis chinese activities to make it clear to UK to keep the
pressure
●​ Challenge on british sea power: Wonderful piece of engineer, this mean
of power challenged by china sea
●​ Another region it could be challenged: The gia UK gap, also smaller
place strategic value, the arabic golf is a strategic place especially in the
straits of Hormuz, 20% of the world oil, hostile country in region: Iran,
ones taking control over British boat, challenged of royal navy
●​