GENERAL MANAGEMENT

TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS AND THE INTRODUCTION

OF STEAM IN NAVIGATION OPERATIONS.

Power production using steam was one of the first sectors in which scientific principles were translated into technological applications. It was in fact in the field of navigation that this system was first used. Indeed, it could be used directly on waterways without having to set up a costly infrastructure such as railways.
In the 19th century this method of using steam developed extremely quickly.
The first steam-powered boats, in the 1820s, had a wooden hull and engines of a few tens of horsepower which could move rudimentary paddle wheels. Passengers on such vessels were practically fully exposed to bad weather conditions. The boats later evolved towards a partially metal structure (external iron covering) and then, in around the 1870s, evolved into boats made entirely from steel, with a large indoors saloon, respectable power and speed (500 hp and more than 25 km per hour) and were capable of carrying up to seven hundred passengers.
In the last twenty years of the 19th century propellers were introduced to replaced the side drive wheels, while in the early 1900s the diesel engine was used for the first time. This replaced steam-powered engines, which, however, still remained in use for many years.

THE NAVIGATION COMPANIES

There were three key points to the new industrial economy which was growing in the early 19th century: the need to develop communications, the perfection of available technology, and the accumulation of considerable financial resources that could fund the first two points.
From the very beginning of the 19th century, it was clear that steam technology was already developed enough to be usefully employed for practical purposes, first and foremost to respond to the now widespread need for communication. This need developed from the evolution of a type of economy in which the local area was no longer enough. More and more workers needed to travel from their homes to the workplace. In addition to this, the need to streamline mail distribution and create a fast freight service for goods become a social requirement (and thus a commercial opportunity for those who could provide such as service). This multitude of primary needs that needed to be met meant that the transport and communications system was considered a “public interest service”. This led to the formation of the Navigation Companies who were assigned the running of the service.