Short-term liner shipping bunker procurement with swap contracts

The bunker price fluctuations in recent years have severely threatened the stability of liner shipping companies’ operations. As an efficient countermeasure, the swap contract is widely adopted throughout the liner shipping industry to hedge the procurement risk resulting from the bunker price fluctuation. This paper looks at the short-term liner shipping bunker procurement problem with swap contracts (BPPSC), aiming to optimally plan the amount of bunker purchased from the spot market and the amount hedged by the swap contract for several months ahead. This BPPSC is first formulated as a bunker procurement cost mean-variance minimization (MVM) model, and is subsequently solved using a tangible two-step approach developed in this study. In the first step, the movements of the swap contract price and the spot market price of the bunker are described using a calibrated multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (mGARCH) time series model. In the second step, the MVM model is approximated and solved by a price scenario tree constructed from the mGARCH time series model. A numerical example shows that the risk hedging strategy obtained can simultaneously control the bunker procurement cost as well as the procurement risk from price fluctuations. This article is a revised and expanded version of the abridged eight-page paper entitled ‘Optimal hedging for liner bunker procurement’ presented at ‘2015 International Conference on Logistics and Maritime Systems (LOGMS 2015)’, Hong Kong, 27–29 August 2015.     

国际集装箱班轮联盟发展透视及我国航运企业应对策略

分析国际集装箱班轮联盟的发展现状以及班轮联盟的优势和弊端,并在此基础上,针对我国航运企业发展的实际情况,提出我国航运企业的应对策略。     

Strategic groups in Taiwanese liner shipping

Liner shipping is normally viewed as being oligopolistic in nature with firms competing on the basis of service offered. Since shipping services are easily copied by competitors, if shipping firms want to gain a competitive advantage, it is essential to identify the competitors' strategies. This paper uses the analytical concepts of strategic groups theory to explore the strategic differences in the Taiwanese (the Republic of China, ROC) shipping industry. Cluster analysis is used to classify shipping companies, shipping agencies and ocean freight forwarders into four strategic groups on the basis of the key strategic factors obtained from the factor analysis. The results of multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Scheffe test showed that strategies among the strategic groups are significantly different.     

Strategic alliances in container liner shipping

The economic crisis in the years between 2008 and 2010 has demonstrated the necessity for substantial adjustments on behalf of container lines. Capacities were shifted quickly to emerging and less affected markets allowing a faster recovery of globally organized companies. This paper illustrates the dynamics in the container shipping market. Alongside the main characteristics of the Top 20 ocean shipping companies, liner services are described. These services are classified by geographic coverage and vessel deployment. In addition, this paper provides a better understanding of the collaboration among service providers. Starting from a general framework of co-operative liner services, in-depth analyses of the global alliances in liner shipping are obtained. These formations - Grand Alliance, New World Alliance and CKYH Alliance - are compared with alternative forms of collaboration in the liner shipping industry. The analysis of alliance announcements which are related to operational and strategic changes indicates that the “global alliances” cannot be regarded as closed corporate-like entities. In effect, service agreements are not only negotiated with the focal members of the specific alliance. Instead, every service is arranged individually and under specific conditions. By understanding the dynamics within alliances, we are able to develop an assessment relating to the stability of collaborations. Ultimately, these insights direct us to several paths for future research.     

Empty container reposition planning for intra-Asia liner shipping

This paper addresses empty container reposition planning by plainly considering safety stock management and geographical regions. This plan could avoid drawback in practice which collects mass empty containers at a port then repositions most empty containers at a time. Empty containers occupy slots on vessel and the liner shipping company loses chance to yield freight revenue. The problem is drawn up as a two-stage problem. The upper problem is identified to estimate the empty container stock at each port and the lower problem models the empty container reposition planning with shipping service network as the Transportation Problem by Liner Problem. We looked at case studies of the Taiwan Liner Shipping Company to show the application of the proposed model. The results show the model provides optimization techniques to minimize cost of empty container reposition and to provide an evidence to adjust strategy of restructuring the shipping service network.     

Analyzing ship investment behaviour in liner shipping

This study analyzes capacity expansion and ship choice decisions. Theoretically, we derive the probability of capacity expansion as a function of market and company attributes and characterize the impacts of these factors on expansion decisions. Empirically, we analyze ship investment and ship choice behaviour using binary choice and nested logit models based on ship investment data from major liner shipping companies over the period 1999 to 2009. Most expansion decisions are found to be market-driven, and large companies expand to maintain their market shares. In terms of ship selection, statistical results support the assumption that shipping companies decide on a new order or second-hand purchase before considering the ship size. Also, new orders are preferable to second-hand purchases. For new orders, the preference increases with ship size, and decreases with shipbuilding length and demand growth rate. For all ship types, the preference increases with a high and stable time-charter rate. For second-hand ships, handysize is the most preferable size. The substitution of new orders and second-hand purchases is possible, but not symmetrical.     

运价备案制度 保障航运企业权益

<正>一直以来,我国航运运价主要由市场主导,经营者根据市场需求自行调节。然而在金融海啸席卷全球之时,这种完全市场化的运价调整却显现出弊端——需求大幅下滑,调低价格成为航运企业开展恶性竞争的唯一手段。新情况的出现给有关部门管理者提供了     

班轮运输业反垄断豁免前瞻

列举了班轮运输业的四大垄断形式,简要介绍了主要航运国家的反垄断豁免规制,分析了反垄断豁免的利弊,预测了反垄断豁免的演变趋势,提出了对我国发展班轮运输业的建议.     

The evolution of Canadian liner shipping policy

This paper traces the evolution of Canadian liner shipping policy from its beginnings, at the time of the initial formation of shipping conferences, in the late nineteenth century, to its current form, as provided by the 1987 Shipping Conference Exemption Act. It is shown that evolution has been associated with a shift in policy orientation from an initial British-based position to a contemporary form that is distincly American in nature. The reasons for this shift are analysed and the similarities and differences between curent Canadian and U.S.A. legislation are identified. The paper shows that the adoption by Canada of an American-style policy became inevitable once the container revolution had physically integrated the transport systems of both nations.     

Designing optimal routes in a liner shipping problem

A real liner shipping problem of deciding optimal weekly routes for a given fleet of ships is considered and a solution method for solving the problem is proposed. First, all feasible routes for each ship are generated together with the cost and the duration for each route. The routes are given as input to an integer programming (IP) problem. By solving the IP problem, routes for each ship are selected such that total transportation costs are minimized and the demand at each port is satisfied. The total duration for the routes that are selected for a given ship must not exceed one week.

The real liner shipping problem is solved together with four randomly generated test problems. The computational results show that proposed solution method is suitable for designing optimal routes in several liner shipping problems.     

重视海事仲裁 提升国际航运中心软实力

海事仲裁是国际上为公正、及时地解决海事、海商纠纷,保护当事人合法权益,保障市场经济健康发展而确立的一种法律制度。     

上海国际航运中心建设面对“软实力”大考

上海国际航运中心建设启动至今已12年。作为一项国家战略的推进,其最具标志意义的阶段性成果已在两大工程“硬件”上充分显现：长江口深水航道工程目前已实现11米水深的阶段目标;洋山深水港区一、二期以及三期A段先后建成并投入运营。与国际大港相比,上海港已经在港口能级、航道水深、船舶艘次、航线辐射、货物吞吐量等多项指标上,达到了世界先进水平。     

Designing optimal routes in a liner shipping problem

A real liner shipping problem of deciding optimal weekly routes for a given fleet of ships is considered and a solution method for solving the problem is proposed. First, all feasible routes for each ship are generated together with the cost and the duration for each route. The routes are given as input to an integer programming (IP) problem. By solving the IP problem, routes for each ship are selected such that total transportation costs are minimized and the demand at each port is satisfied. The total duration for the routes that are selected for a given ship must not exceed one week.

The real liner shipping problem is solved together with four randomly generated test problems. The computational results show that proposed solution method is suitable for designing optimal routes in several liner shipping problems.     

Korean liner shipping in the era of global alliances

In the course of the last two decades Korean shipping has emerged as a major player in the liner market. In 1970 there was not a single container ship in the Korean fleet; yet, within the next two decades, shipping companies from Korea have become included among the top 10 liner operators in the world, in the context of a spectacular ascent of Asian companies in international container shipping. During the same period the organization of liner shipping itself underwent major changes. In the 1970s and 1980s, pools and powerful consortia prevailed, maximizing frequency and optimizing fleet deployment under pressure from the high investment entailed by containerization. The era of consortia, however, came to a close in the early 1990s; intermodalism and the expansion of the major liner companies into forward and backward segments of the transport chain rendered them inflexible for pursuing individual strategies of product diversification with a view to larger market shares. Global alliances were finally born as a result of a major reshuffling of co-operation agreements and of the globalization of the production process on the demand side. The aim of this paper is to follow and assess the options available to an aggressive low-cost national fleet in its journey to competitive maturity through a period of changing organization of liner shipping, focusing on the course of the leading Korean container company, and one of the largest in the world today, Hanjin. It highlights at the same time both the deep structural changes which liner shipping has undergone in the last two decades and the effects of current changes, such as the recent wave of mergers in this sector.     

现代航运服务体系建设——上海国际航运中心流动的智慧——国际航运中心的概念

进入21世纪,具有明显周期性特征的航运业快速持续发展了6年时间．成为航运业有史以来最长的一次繁荣期。但随着世界经济进入不景气的下降周期,国际贸易活动开始进入萎缩期,国际航运运价指数一路暴跌,与国际贸易流量相伴而生的国际航运业开始进入冬季。在这样的背景下,     

An optimal containership slot allocation for liner shipping revenue management

In the competitive liner shipping market, carriers may utilize revenue management systems to increase profits by using slot allocation and pricing. In this paper, related research on revenue management for transportation industries is reviewed. A conceptual model for liner shipping revenue management (LSRM) is proposed and a slot allocation model is formulated through mathematical programming to maximize freight contribution. We illustrate this slot allocation model with a case study of a Taiwan liner shipping company and the results show the applicability and better performances than the previous allocation used in practice.     

An optimal containership slot allocation for liner shipping revenue management

In the competitive liner shipping market, carriers may utilize revenue management systems to increase profits by using slot allocation and pricing. In this paper, related research on revenue management for transportation industries is reviewed. A conceptual model for liner shipping revenue management (LSRM) is proposed and a slot allocation model is formulated through mathematical programming to maximize freight contribution. We illustrate this slot allocation model with a case study of a Taiwan liner shipping company and the results show the applicability and better performances than the previous allocation used in practice.     

A critical evaluation of strategic alliances in liner shipping

During the last few years, the liner industry has endured a period of radical change, largely due to the formation of the so-called global strategic alliances amongst leading container carriers. However, not even after a full year of operations, a series of cross-alliance mergers and acquisitions has forced three out of the four newly formed alliances to restructure and/or modify their partner base. While this recent development does not put an end to such kind of agreements, as the merged companies are still committed in a second generation of strategic alliances, it highlights the fact that, despite the intentions of their respective partners, such alliances are actually characterized by a high level of instability. This paper, after considering the key profiles of strategic alliances in liner shipping, argues that their current structure may prove inherently inadequate to deliver an acceptable level of stability. The main factors driving such instability can be found in the increased organizational complexity of the alliance as well as in the establishment of a certain degree of intra-alliance competition, whose effects are likely to undermine the level of mutual trust between partner companies. Causes and effects of such factors are investigated and some measures aimed at controlling alliance instability are also suggested.     

Weekly container delivery patterns in liner shipping planning models

This paper addresses a fundamental question related to nearly all container liner shipping planning models: whether the implicit assumption of identical container delivery pattern every week is valid in a situation of identical shipping services and identical cargo demand every week. We prove that when the number of containers transported from one port to the next is formulated as a continuous variable, the resulting mathematical model with an identical container delivery pattern is equivalent to the model with general container delivery patterns which can be different in different weeks. When the number of containers transported is formulated as an integer variable, the model with an identical container delivery pattern is not equivalent to the model with general container delivery patterns. However, the difference between the optimal objective values of the two models is negligible for practical applications. In sum, little, if not nothing, is lost by assuming an identical container delivery pattern in liner shipping planning models.