Vulnerability analysis of global container shipping liner network based on main channel disruption

The Malacca Strait, the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal play an important role in the global container shipping. To study the impact of main channel interruption on the container shipping, we analysed statistical data on all routes operated by the top 100 global container liner companies and constructed a network model. We selected four topological metrics to measure the network’s connectivity and used the network weekly total shipping capacity and average shortest shipping time to measure the network’s transportation capacity and transportation time. The interruption of the main channel is simulated, and the changes in the metrics are analysed. The results indicated that the network’s vulnerability is sensitive to main channel interruption. If the Malacca Strait is interrupted, the network’s prosperity degree fall by almost half and the network’s transportation time increase by more than a quarter if the Suez Canal is interrupted. In addition, East Asian and European container liner shipping have more than 50% dependence on the Malacca Strait and the Suez Canal. Moreover, the container transport time between ports in East Asia, Europe, and North America and the rest of the world increases by an average of 4–9 days in the main channel interruption.     

对全球集装箱航运产业衰退现象的思考

从全球集装箱航运产业的衰退状况出发,提出托运人与班轮公司应互相协助促进集装箱航运市场发展,介绍马士基集装箱班轮公司的"重点产品升级"业务。     

中远集运船舶全球动态监控系统的技术特点

为实现全球航行船舶的有效监控,公司自主开发的“中远集运船舶全球动态监控系统”解决了岸端主控的难题,实现了对船舶航行状态进行准确、实时跟踪,并将船舶动态、静态、人员、工况、载货、自动识别系统（AIS）、保安报警系统（SSAS）与气象等多态异构数据整合在同一信息平台,是具有实际应用价值的全球船舶动态监控系统。该系统获2008年度“中国航海学会科学技术一等奖”。     

Strategic alliances in the container shipping industry: a global perspective

This paper examines developments in container shipping in light of the formation of strategic alliances by many of the leading companies. It focuses on three features: the transformation of services, the evolution of the fleet, and the adjustments made to the ports of call. These elements are analysed on a global basis for 3 years: 1989, 1994 and 1999. Some of the changes wrought by the alliances are identified, including the spread and intensification of services, and the deployment of the largest vessels on alliance routes. While the individual companies that have come together in alliances are serving many more ports than before, it is also demonstrated that the total number of ports served by the industry has remained constant. The results are interpreted in the context of globalization that is tending to impose greater standardization on the container shipping industry.     

Strategic alliances in the container shipping industry: a global perspective

This paper examines developments in container shipping in light of the formation of strategic alliances by many of the leading companies. It focuses on three features: the transformation of services, the evolution of the fleet, and the adjustments made to the ports of call. These elements are analysed on a global basis for 3 years: 1989, 1994 and 1999. Some of the changes wrought by the alliances are identified, including the spread and intensification of services, and the deployment of the largest vessels on alliance routes. While the individual companies that have come together in alliances are serving many more ports than before, it is also demonstrated that the total number of ports served by the industry has remained constant. The results are interpreted in the context of globalization that is tending to impose greater standardization on the container shipping industry.     

全球航运资源配置能力

2009年3月,国务院常务会议通过的《国务院关于推进上海加快发展现代服务业和先进制造业,建设国际金融中心和国际航运中心的意见》（下文简称《意见》）中,明确提出上海国际航运中心的建设目标是：到2020年基本建成具有全球航运资源配置能力的国际航运中心。全球航运资源配置能力,可以理解为是国际航运中心的核心价值。什么是航运资源配置能力？上海应该具备哪些配置能力？目前已经具备哪些配置能力？应重点培育哪些配置能力？这些问题关系到当前上海国际航运中心建设的方向和推进的着力点,值得认真探讨。     

Connectivity analysis of the global shipping network by eigenvalue decomposition

ABSTRACT

Maritime shipping necessitates flexible and cost-effective port access worldwide through the global shipping network. This paper presents an efficient method to identify major port communities, and analyses the network connectivity of the global shipping network based on community structure. The global shipping network is represented by a signless Laplacian matrix which can be decomposed to generate its eigenvectors and corresponding eigenvalues. The largest gaps between the eigenvalues were then used to determine the optimal number of communities within the network. The eigenvalue decomposition method offers the advantage of detecting port communities without relying on a priori assumption about the number of communities and the size of each community. By applying this method to a dataset collected from seven world leading liner shipping companies, we found that the ports are clustered into three communities in the global container shipping network, which is consistent with the major container trade routes. The sparse linkages between port communities indicate where access is relatively poor.     

A reactive container rerouting model for container flow recovery in a hub-and-spoke liner shipping network

This paper focuses on the container rerouting due to a disruption, aims at making the optimal container flow recovery plan for the affected liner shipping company. First, we make the initial effort to bring up with a basic framework of disruption management for liner shipping. Second, we present a compact integer linear programming model for addressing the container rerouting problem under the proposed framework in a hub-and-spoke liner shipping network, based on a given recovery vessel schedule that determines to omit a port of call. Other shipping companies’ services and other modes (roadway, railway, and airline) as candidate alternative means to transport the miss-connected containers are also incorporated in the proposed model. The container flow recovery plan would select the optimal alternative paths for the miss-connected containers balancing the trade-off between container transport costs and delivery delay penalty costs. Finally, a case study from a global liner shipping company is investigated and the computational results indicate the model can be solved effectively and efficiently for the real-scale problem. Thus, the proposed approach in this paper can supply real-time decision support tool for the liner shipping operators on handling the process of container flow recovery.     

卅载举先锋旗 十年创世纪业——中远集运孙家康总经理专访

中国集装箱运输发展历史上有2件具有里程碑意义的大事：30年前，中国远洋运输公司的“平乡城”轮开辟了上海至澳大利亚集装箱班轮航线；10年前，中国远洋运输（集团）总公司组建了中远集装箱运输有限公司（中远集运）。我刊就国际及中国集装箱运输的发展，当前集装箱运输的主要特点：船舶大型化、市场集约化、班轮联盟重组及中国在其中的作用，未来集装箱运输趋势等问题对中远集运总经理孙家康先生进行书面专访。     

Spatial pattern of the global shipping network and its hub-and-spoke system

Port system is a research focus of transport geography, and most studies believe carriers are important factors in the development and concentration of the port system. Since the 1990s, carriers have played an important role in organizing the global shipping network and reorganizing the port system. But there isn’t a perfect method to evaluate carriers’ influence and the roles of each port in the maritime shipping networks. In this paper, we use the monthly schedule table of international carriers to describe and model the spatial pattern of the global shipping network and identify its hub-and-spoke system. The result shows that a hierarchical structure exists in the global shipping network. The North Hemisphere, especially the East Asia and the Southeast Asia, is a dominant region of the worldwide shipping network. East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Europe, and East coast of the USA are the concentration regions of worldwide shipping lines. The ports of Hong Kong, Singapore, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Kaohsiung etc have advanced capacity for maritime shipping and high potentials for being hub ports in the global shipping network. Today, the worldwide shipping network is transforming from the multi-port calling system to 44 regional hub-and-spoke systems. Meanwhile, the sub-networks with hub ports of Antwerp, Singapore, and Hong Kong have become the most important ones and dominate the whole global shipping network.     

集装箱运输应收运费管理实务

为加强船公司海外代理的应收运费管理,介绍集装箱海运费的构成及其结算业务流程,分析影响应收运费的风险因素,从应收运费内部控制制度、客户信用动态管理体系、重点业务及事项控制活动等方面进行实务探讨。     

国际集装箱航运市场动向

自2008年第3季度以来,在历史罕见的全球经济危机的冲击下,美国、日本和西欧等发达国家和地区经济急剧下滑,巴西和中国等发展中国家经济也受到不同程度的影响。     

Green shipping management capability and firm performance in the container shipping industry

This study empirically identifies crucial green shipping management capability and examines its impact on firm performance using survey data collected from container shipping firms, including shipping companies and agencies. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis is performed to identify three critical green shipping management capability dimensions, namely, greener policy, greener ships, and greener suppliers. In this study, firm performance is categorized into environmental performance and financial performance. The results indicate that a greener policy has a direct and positive influence on both the greener ships and the greener suppliers factors. Greener ships and greener suppliers are found to have an indirect and positive influence on financial performance through environmental performance. Accordingly, this study suggests that container shipping managers could focus on organizational green shipping management capability, specifically regarding policies, ships, and suppliers, to improve their environmental and financial performance. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings for container shipping firms have been discussed.     

跨岸吊集装箱船助推内河集装箱运输方式变革

1内河难觅集装箱船身影 每天,各种各样的船舶穿梭于我国广袤的内河航道上,有客船、驳船、散货船等,唯独没有集装箱船,京杭大运河、苏申外港线、杭申线、湖嘉申线、江西赣江、湖南湘江、湖北汉江和安徽南淝河等长江支线航道上集装箱船几乎为零。我国内河不适合开展集装箱运输吗？我们对内河集装箱运输的规律和本质是否具有充分的认识？本文在此作简单分析。     

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.     

国际集装箱运输市场回顾及展望

2006年集装箱新船交付创造新高,受益于全球经济5%左右的良好增长,2006年集装箱货运保持10%的增长态势,欧美主干航线货量增长继续稳定在10%以上,远超于先前的预期。展望2007年,经贸环境和货运需求形势总体乐观,在经历了2006年的非理性竞争运价恶性下滑后,面对2007年持续上涨的成本压力,班轮公司将致力于运价恢复和市场稳定。     

Scale and rationalization in container shipping

Return to scale are important in container shipping: service operators are continuing to increase the size of their vessels. Mr Seok-Min Lim's article 'Economies of container ship size' (Maritime pollicy and Management,21(2) pages 149-160, 1994) uses a sample of transPacific voyages to evaluate the effect of vessel scale on revenue and cost.Although the results are inconclusive,his study is of value in drawing attention to the revenue-side problems of large containerships. More data need to be collected before the effects of topping up with low-rated cargo on unit revenue retention can be assessed. Meanwhile the pursuit of scale aggravates over-tonnaging. The required response is further rationalization, through the medium of the conferences and the container consortia. In Europe both are under political attack. Operators need to convince the authorities of the soundness of the soundness of their case for adapting these institutions to the neeeds of times.Otherwise the scramble for scale could spell disaster.     

Kiribati seafarers and German container shipping

This article discusses the employment of Kiribati seafarers on German owned and flagged shipping. The authors examine the origins of the German shipping industry sponsored training and recruitment programmes on the Kiribati atolls. The implications of the creation of a manorial ‘internal’ labour market for German container shipping in the South West Pacific is assessed. The impact of labour participation in the international shipping industry on Kiribati's former fisherfolk is also examined.     

中欧集装箱运输门户之争

5年前中欧与中国的贸易量开始急速增长,地中海港口采取措施极力鼓励中欧地区的进出口商走地中海口岸而非传统的北欧港口。他们的理由是,船舶既然是通过苏伊士运河,那么走地中海港口可以节约1周左右的时间,这正是地中海口岸的优势所在。     

Evolution and research trends of container shipping

The shipping industry was transformed by the expansion of international trade and technological innovation, notably containerization, since the 1960s. Accordingly, this was followed by a significant increase in research addressing different aspects of container shipping. Despite such availability, important questions have remained unanswered: what are the major contributions that the research community has made to the container shipping industry, global and regional economies? Have their contributions been skewed towards particular themes, directions, and geographical areas? What can the shipping research community learn from the evolution and trends of container shipping research so that they can continue to contribute to the well-being of the global and regional economies? To address these questions, the paper undertakes a critical review and analysis on the evolution and trends of research in container shipping in the past four decades, based on a collection of 282 papers investigating different topics in container shipping featuring in major scholarly journals between 1967 and 2012. The study enables the shipping research community to enhance self-understandings and identifies major gaps for further research.