航运业应从黄金10年中汲取教训

Lessons not learnt from shipping's golden decade

没有比毫不费力地赚钱更让人兴奋的事了。那种令人兴奋的经历通常会使明智的人丧失理智。在资本社会里，财富诱惑着每一个人。我们可以通过马上改正哪怕是极小的错误，来最大限度地降低这种错误带来的不良影响。以上是沃伦一巴菲特（Warren Buffett）在其旗舰公司伯克希尔一哈撒韦公司（Berkshire Hathaway Inc）2000年年度报告中所撰写的警示字句。

The media has coined this fast disappearing decade as the Noughties, an appropriate term for shipowners who for much of the past ten years added record numbers of zeros to their daily charter earnings. Yet, as the sands of time tick down towards the pre-teens of the 21st century, when we look at the highs and lows of the Noughties, it’s clear shipowners have not learnt much new in the art of restraint. Warren Buffett’s quote from ten years ago holds true to shipping today. As a final issue of the decade, Seatrade Asia Online cannot help but note the rising Asian voice in world shipping matters, a phenomenon that, frankly, is about time given that the region contains the largest shipowners, the greatest cargo base, 90% of shipbuilding capacity, 65% of all seafarers and latterly a significant tranche of ship finance. Asia, led by China, will surely dominate the coming decade in world shipping.