Table of Contents
Map xii
Acknowledgements xiii
Preface xvii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Route-making 9
Admiralty Charts and the making of routes 16
The emergence of steam 22
'The seas inlaid with eloquent, gentle wires' 24
Pilgrimage 28
The Suez Canal 31
Port management of routes 37
Freight rates 40
Speculative routes 43
Chapter 2 Harbour-making 49
Curzon's 'prancing in the Persian puddle' 50
Dammam 53
Creeks and harbours of the Trucial Coast 57
Dubai 63
Aden h 69
Making and remaking the land and the sea 75
Chapter 3 Palimpsests of Law and Corporate Sovereigns 87
Weaponising arbitration tribunal 92
Dubai Ports World 94
Geophysical features into legal categories 97
The offshore 100
The global struggle over subsea resources 105
Free zones 108
Jabal Ali 112
Saudi economic cities 116
Chapter 4 Roads and Rails Leading Away 121
Oil roads and rail 126
Roads as economic pacification weapons 130
Competing powers and roads 134
Federating transports 138
Peninsular connections 141
Chapter 5 'Mechanic, Merchant, King' 143
Tanker and cargo shipping companies 147
Merchants and capitalists 153
Insurance and banking 163
Advisers, bureaucrats, and experts 171
The technopolitics of managing ports 176
Chapter 6 Landside Labour 181
Conditions of work 187
Migration 191
Protests in the Peninsula 201
Politics or workplace protests? 202
Forms of protest 207
Unions as channels for protest 210
Chokepoints and counterlogistics 214
Chapter 7 Shipboard Work 219
Lascars, Asiatics, and others 227
Circulation of revolt 231
Global hierarchies aboard ships today 233
Working on tankers 234
Flagging 236
Chapter 8 The Bounties of War 243
Routes of war; wars of routes 243
The utility of regional wars for the Peninsula 247
Tankers, wars, and Tanker Wars 250
Desert Storm and after 253
The importance of bases 255
The riches of military construction and logistics 260
Epilogue 267
Glossary & abbreviations 271
Bibliography 275
Media (online and print), trade journals 275
Court Cases 276
Published Sources 276
Notes 301
Index 337
