Liner-freight vessels offer people who want to send goods by sea a regular, scheduled shipping service; they follow agreed routes, or lines, and call at ports on a greed dates.
货运班轮为那些需要由海上运输货物的人们提供定期的货运服务。它们沿预定的航线航行，按约定好的日期抵达各港口。
For example, if I want to send a shipment of spare tractor parts from Taiwan to Bangkok, all I have to do is contact the Far East Freight Conference, and that will be able to tell me when the next liner ship will be calling at Taiwan, the exact date on which it will get to Bangkok, and the going freight rate.
比方说，我若想将一批拖拉机配件从台湾运往曼谷的话，我只需与远东货船协会取得联系，他们就会告诉我最近一趟班轮何时到达台湾，告诉我其抵达曼谷的确切日期，以及现行的货运价格。
It is an ideal parcel service for people with cargoes that are not big enough to make it worth chartering a whole ship.
对于那些需要运货，但货物又不多，不值得包租一整条船的人们来说，这是一种理想的"零担运输"业务。
It is also a plus for the ship owners not to be dependent on only one customer.
不单依赖于某一个主顾，这对船业公司来说也是一个有利因素。
Liner ships carry all sorts of different cargoes -mainly finished manufactured goods-so, if there is a slump in one particular industry, provided there is still buoyancy in other industries, the liner fleets can still survive.
货运班轮载运各种不同的货物-主要是工业制成品--因此，即使某个行业出现萧条，只要其他行业还有活力，货运班轮便依然可以维持下去。
That gives them a distinct advantage over oil tankers or bulk carriers, because the latter are dependent on one or two basic raw materials.
这就使货运班轮与油轮和驳船比起来具有明显的优势，因为后者要依赖于一两种基本原料。
That is why Britain has remained relatively strong.
这就是英国海运业历久不衰的根源所在。
Much of Britain's liner fleet rarely sees a British port.
英国的定期班轮多半难得停靠英国港口。
Our ships are extensive cross-traders; that is, they carry goods between foreign countries.
我们的商船是远洋国际商船，也就是说，它们往来于外国与外国之间运输货物。
British companies are big, for example, on the Japan-to-Australia run, and on the growing trade routes between the Far East and the Middle East, around the Persian Gulf.
例如，在日本至澳大利亚航线上，在日益发展的远东与中东之间的贸易航线上，以及在波斯湾周围的贸易航线上，英国海运公司都包揽着大量的生意。
Until recently, those routes were highly profitable for the British companies, and a major source of foreign currency for Britain.
直到最近，这些航线对英国海运公司来说还是非常有利可图的，也是英国赚取外汇的主要来源。
They are also the routes on which the Third World and the Russians are out to make the biggest inroads.
然而，它们也正是第三世界国家和苏联千方百计极力想争夺的航线。