| Abstract: | The political changes that occured in Eastern Europe from the late 1980s coincided in the fromer German Democratic Republic (GDR) with the reunification of Germany. The economic result was the existence of a split economy in Germany. Within the maritime field the problem had to be solved by a change over of the former GDR's maritime industry from the centrally-planned command type economy as its failure was evident. Three economic factors were identified as the main causes for the failure which made, together with some other negatives, the collapse inevitable. The transition of the East German maritime industry started immediately after reunification. In the maritime field, two different forms of economic transition have been applied. Using the examples of the main shipping company and the seaports the economic transition process has been analyzed and some basic conclusions regarding the substance and methods of economic transition have been drawn. |
