The casual trade ended in the 1920's when tank steamers replaced sailing vessels. Industrialization had taken the wind out of sails. Downeasters were cut down into coal barges or burned for their brass, iron or copper. Some simply rotted at their moorings. For a manufacturer or seller, there is no such thing as local anymore.
All business is international.
Professor Shashikumar is explaining business and logistics in today's global economy. Shashikumar is a Master Mariner, former sea captain, Ph.D., with degrees earned on three continents. He is as global a citizen as Searsport captains of yore, having visited 60 countries, having crossed the international dateline over 20 times at sea, and the equator too many times to count. Chair of the Loeb-Sullivan School of International Business and Logistics at MMA, Shashikumar will speak with the Ship Out students about the past, present and future of global shipping. Belfast high school juniors, sitting in a Castine, Maine college seminar room, are learning from an Indian sea captain about container ships, Walmart's worldwide inventory management, and oil tankers that travel trade routes established by Searsport sea captains. . .