The gentlemen of the Management Committee are all well aware of how well the steam paddle ships from the Brest Shipyard in France are selling.
Now, on the Rhine-Danube route, thirty percent of the ships are of this type—a figure achieved in less than two years, while the remaining seventy percent of oar and sail ships have taken several decades to accumulate.
The Mediterranean is also filled with steam paddle ships. Although their share isn't as high as on river routes, the sheer volume of Mediterranean trade means the absolute number is even greater.
Under pressure from steamships, the freight rates for old-fashioned oar and sail ships keep declining. It's foreseeable that, within at most a decade or so, the inland navigation market will be completely dominated by steamships.
Such a vast market has already been seized by the French; England must catch up quickly.
