It is. I went looking for information and found several of the passages at this link persuasive towards the view that the reasons for decline were complex, but

It is. I went looking for information and found several of the passages at this link persuasive towards the view that the reasons for decline were complex, but uncompetitive shipping played a role: https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004271319/B9789004271319-s015.xml https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004271319/B9789004271...