Planes and ships are navigating very different markets

LAST week's column noted that ferries were carrying more people than aircraft. Now, I would stress that I am not trying to belittle the aviation industry, but I have been sent a blog in a somewhat similar vein that makes for fascinating reading.

It suggests that, for now at least, shipowners should be very glad their expensive assets float rather than fly. The blog was written by Adrian Economakis of maritime-asset valuations and market information service VesselsValue.

A decade after the company launched, it has now expanded its coverage to include commercial passenger aircraft. Richard Rivlin, the company's founder and chief executive, said: "Similar to what we did in shipping 10 years ago, we are the first to bring a daily updated, truly automated valuation model (AVM) to the aviation market."