【C1】 Britain's merchant navy seldom grabs the headlines these days; it is almost a forgotten industry. Yet shipping is the essential lifeline for the nation's economy. Ninety-nine per cent of our trade in and out of the country goes by ship—and over half of it in British ships.
【C2】 Shipping is also a significant British success story. It earns over £1000 million a year in foreign exchange earnings: without our merchant fleet, the balance of payments would be permanently in deficit, despite North Sea oil. But, today this vital British industry is more in peril than ever before. 【C3】On almost all the major sea routes of the world, the British fleet risks being elbowed out by stiff foreign competition.
The threat comes from two main directions: from the Russians and the Eastern bloc countries 【C4】who are now in the middle of a massive expansion of their merchant navies, and carving their way into the international shipping trade by severely undercutting Western shipping companies; and from the merchant fleets of the developing nations,【C5】 who are bent on taking over the lion's share of the trade between Europe and Africa, Asia and the Far East—routes in which Britain has a big stake.
【C1】
It's been a long time since people saw Britain's merchant navy on newspaper last time, which nearly made it a forgotten industry.
【C2】
Our income and expenditure would always be in deficit if there's no merchant fleet even we have North Sea Oil.
【C3】
British commercial fleets are at risk of being shouldering aside by strong foreign competitors on main navigation lines in the world.
【C4】
who are aggressively expanding their commercial fleets and edging into international shipping trade by competing with Western shipping companies at substantially lower prices.
【C5】
who are striving to take away most of the business between Europe and Africa, Asia and the Far East.