集装箱船舶大型化对中国班轮运输的影响

通过竞争情报分析提供了各班轮公司未来船队结构和运力的变化趋势,由此观察到各班轮公司为了降低自身的营运成本,在最近几年大量订购超巴拿马型甚至更大型的集装箱船舶参与运输,但是却不能达到其预期的规模效应。原因就在于相当一部分成本随着船型的增大而线性增加,规模不经济。我们探讨了中国的班轮运输市场的几个重要特点:中外贸易的不平衡导致了货源的不平衡;未来贸易结构的调整会影响航线的布局和调派;贸易上的不稳定因素使班轮公司遇到外在的风险。这些特点会深远地影响集装箱船舶大型化的经济受益,相反的,集装箱船舶大型化的趋势也会加剧这些负面的影响,危及整个班轮运输市场。     

A conceptual application of cooperative game theory to liner shipping strategic alliances

Since its advent, the liner shipping industry has been characterized by fierce competition and cooperation amongst the member carriers. In recent years, almost all the liners have sought extensive cooperation with others, as reflected mainly by the formation of strategic shipping alliances. Despite this, there are still some liners who prefer the ‘go-it-alone’ policy and have achieved relative success. It seems that cooperation is not always necessary for a liner company's success. It follows that a study that aims to find the rationale behind liner cooperation (or non-cooperation) is of great significance. Over many years of development, game theory has proved to be a useful tool in the study of economics. It is analytically applicable in this market. With these arguments in mind, this paper aims to apply cooperative game theory to analyse co-operation among members of liner shipping strategic alliances. This will involve: (i) presenting a detailed and systematic analysis of liner shipping strategic alliances: (ii) a concise overview of the development of game theory with specific focus on cooperative game theory, and (iii) deducing a conceptual framework through the application of cooperative game theory to liner shipping strategic alliances. The accomplishment of the aforementioned objectives will enhance understanding of inter-organizational relationships and decision-making behaviour in the liner shipping sector.     

A conceptual application of cooperative game theory to liner shipping strategic alliances

Since its advent, the liner shipping industry has been characterized by fierce competition and cooperation amongst the member carriers. In recent years, almost all the liners have sought extensive cooperation with others, as reflected mainly by the formation of strategic shipping alliances. Despite this, there are still some liners who prefer the 'go-it-alone' policy and have achieved relative success. It seems that cooperation is not always necessary for a liner company's success. It follows that a study that aims to find the rationale behind liner cooperation (or non-cooperation) is of great significance. Over many years of development, game theory has proved to be a useful tool in the study of economics. It is analytically applicable in this market. With these arguments in mind, this paper aims to apply cooperative game theory to analyse co-operation among members of liner shipping strategic alliances. This will involve: (i) presenting a detailed and systematic analysis of liner shipping strategic alliances: (ii) a concise overview of the development of game theory with specific focus on cooperative game theory, and (iii) deducing a conceptual framework through the application of cooperative game theory to liner shipping strategic alliances. The accomplishment of the aforementioned objectives will enhance understanding of inter-organizational relationships and decision-making behaviour in the liner shipping sector.     

A citation network analysis of sustainability development in liner shipping management: a review of the literature and policy implications

ABSTRACT

Based on an analysis of 253 related papers drawn from the Web of Science database, this study examines holistic sustainability research in liner shipping management literature using a citation network analysis (CNA) approach followed by a qualitative analysis of findings. We identify four major research domains, namely shipping performance, port selection and management, shipping markets, and environment, as well as related sub-domains of shipping performance. We discuss the current research trends and focal issues in these domains with a focus on their implications for policy development. Our results indicate that while the sustainability discourse in the literature has developed and matured significantly over the last decade, generating valuable insights for practitioners and regulators alike, it still struggles with blurry terminology and a lack of holistic frameworks jointly addressing the different aspects of sustainability: Economic considerations of liner shipping are still the main concern, while environmental and social issues are less regarded in the academic discourse. Furthermore, we identify a dearth of studies rooted in managerial or economic theory. In this regard, our study provides insights on the scope of the holistic sustainability discourse in liner shipping management, its contributions to theory and practice, and its implications for the further development of policies addressing sustainability in liner shipping management. We advocate further construct development for sustainability in liner shipping, as well as empirical tests of the antecedents of sustainability practice adoption in the industry for future research.     

赢得客户满意──全球化环境下的班轮运输及其对策

总结了目前国际班轮运输企业在全球经济一体化条件下的发展趋势,针对中国国有运输企业的特点,指出了中国班轮运输行业中存在的一些固有问题,并提出了相应的应对办法.     

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.     

Evaluating economic and environmental value of liner vessel sharing along the maritime silk road

The Belt and Road initiative is a novel exploration of China towards strategic collaboration with Eurasia countries to an extent of a larger scale with higher and deeper level of cooperation. To meet the growing global demand of transportation, increasing numbers of liner shipping companies collaborate and form alliances to share vessel capacity and reduce capital costs. Effective liner shipping vessel sharing is essential for the Belt and Road initiative in terms of building efficient maritime transport networks. In promoting environmental development, shipping companies are required to attain higher environmental standards. However, limited literature relates vessel sharing to environmental performance. This paper studies the impacts of liner vessel sharing from the economic and environmental perspectives. Two container allocation models are developed for the two scenarios: with and without vessel sharing. The carbon emissions in transportation are calculated under both scenarios. Numerical studies are carried out using services along the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic (CIPE) Corridor. Liner shipping companies could benefit from vessel sharing in terms of significant profit improvement. Vessel sharing could also benefit the environment by reducing the CO₂ emissions dramatically.     

Slow steaming of liner trade: its economic and environmental impacts

From 2000s, there have been three forces provoking slow steaming practice in the liner industry: (1) oversupply of shipping capacity, (2) increase of bunker price and (3) environmental pressure. This paper analyses the background and the recent application of slow steaming in liner shipping. The research looks into the questions of how slow steaming can save bunker consumption and bring benefits to the environment. On the other hand, solutions are also examined to the adverse side of slow steaming practice, i.e., how it affects the container transit time. For which, a cost model is developed to demonstrate the impact of slow steaming on the revenue change, with application to the North Europe—Far East Trade as a case study. The final result shows that the optimal speed for the shipowner is correlated with the designed speed, bunker price and the price of CO₂. With the increase of the bunker price and the price of CO_2, the optimal speed will also increase, which means that slow steaming practice has a positive impact on the environmental protection.     

Liner shipping development trends

The expansion of liner shipping paralleled developments in retailing and containerization introduced scale economics. The liner industry has moved into an era of prosperity, and containerships have been affecting demand for other ship types. Demand growth is generally taken for granted, but several factors have been putting pressure on smaller carriers, including upsizing and route network developments. Trends appear to favour independent operation over vessel sharing and increasing profitability suggests that carriers will seek to own more of their own assets. Competition from logistics providers will increasingly dictate how the industry develops.     

Liner shipping development trends

The expansion of liner shipping paralleled developments in retailing and containerization introduced scale economics. The liner industry has moved into an era of prosperity, and containerships have been affecting demand for other ship types. Demand growth is generally taken for granted, but several factors have been putting pressure on smaller carriers, including upsizing and route network developments. Trends appear to favour independent operation over vessel sharing and increasing profitability suggests that carriers will seek to own more of their own assets. Competition from logistics providers will increasingly dictate how the industry develops.     

The impact of port operations on efficient ship operation from both economic and environmental perspectives

Recently, shipping lines have focused on efficient ship operation, which relates to energy efficiency issues in shipping and, particularly, to operational issues such that the minimisation of fuel consumption and resulting greenhouse gas emissions. Efficient ship operation in container lines is closely related to the ship’s time at sea and ship’s time in port. Reduction in port time, thanks to high-quality port operations, allows improvement in the operational efficiency of a liner service by reducing the fuel consumption of a ship at sea and its resulting CO₂ emissions. The main goal of this article is to investigate how time in port affects efficient ship operation in terms of operating costs, CO₂ emissions and externalities. For this, as a methodology, a simulation based upon system dynamics is introduced. Major finding is that less time in port resulting from the improvement of port operations contributes to efficient ship operation in terms of operating costs, amount of CO₂ emissions and external effects in the liner shipping industry. In particular, a sensitivity analysis on efficient ship operation vis-à-vis the quality of port operation shows that bigger ships need to select highly productive calling ports that provide less time in port.     

Reposition of empty containers of different life stages integrated with liner shipping network design

ABSTRACT

This paper integrates empty container reposition with container shipping network design considering the container life stages. A mixed-integer linear programming model is built to determine the liner shipping network, the initial launch ports of new containers, the ports for scrapping obsolete containers, the empty container reposition scheme and the containers of different life stages being used for a specific voyage. A case study is done by taking liner shipping among China, Japan and South Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe and the US as an example. The results show that over 93% of new containers are put into use in China while 63% of old containers are scrapped in Europe or the US, and 73% of containers used for packing cargoes from China to the US are those at the Decline Stage or the Exit Stage.     

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.     

The effects of slow steaming on the environmental performance in liner shipping

The environment issue is one of the significant challenges that the liner shipping industry has to face. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing vessels by 20–50% by 2050 and develop the Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator (EEOI) as a measure for energy efficiency. To achieve this goal, IMO has suggested three basic approaches: the enlargement of vessel size, the reduction of voyage speed, and the application of new technologies. In recent times, liners have adopted slow steaming and decelerated the voyage speed to 15–18 knots on major routes. This is because slow steaming is helpful in reducing operating costs and GHG emissions. However, it also creates negative effects that influence the operating costs and the amount of GHG emissions at the same time.

This study started with the basic question: Is it true that as voyage speed reduces, the operating costs and CO₂ emissions can be reduced at the same time? If this is true, liners will definitely decelerate their voyage speed themselves as much as possible so that they can increase their profits and improve the level of environmental performance. However, if this is not true, then liners will concentrate just on increasing their profits by not considering environmental factors. This led the authors to set out three objectives: (1) to analyze the relationship between voyage speed and the amount of CO₂ emissions and to estimate the changes by slow steaming in liner shipping; (2) to analyze the relationship between voyage speed and the operating costs on a loop; and (3) to find the optimal voyage speed as a solution to maximize the reduction of CO₂ emissions at the lowest operating cost, thus satisfying the reduction target of IMO.     

Verifying liner Shipping Alliance’s stability by applying core theory

The core is a vital concept in cooperative game theory and has been widely used in analyzing alliance’s stability. It is especially interesting to apply core theory in liner shipping market due to the latter’s exceptional characteristic of non-homogeneous cost curves as well as divisible and fluctuant demand. Having observed some new phenomena and trends in the industry, this paper studies the economic performance and stability of liner shipping alliance by applying core theory where business cooperation is partly realized by delivering joint-service with mega container ships. To demonstrate the core situation in liner shipping alliance, a cost function is first identified on the basis of two assumptions regarding cooperation: 1) sharing or pooling vessels and 2) deploying mega container ships if needed. Taking cost functions as basis, two conditions of approaching core may be groomed, i.e., collective rationality and individual rationality. The first condition is discussed from the perspective of market, while the second condition is studied within the alliance. Stability of liner shipping alliance is then observed based on these two conditions. An illustrative case study is conducted in order to show some implications and explicitly clarify the theory.     

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.     

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.     

Shipping line networks and the integration of South America trades

One recent transformation of liner shipping is the entry of leading carriers into north-south markets. This paper aims to test the commonly held proposition that global shipping lines entered north-south markets to feed more cargo on their established east-west services. This proposition arises out of: (1) predominant models of transport networks evolution which emphasize the influence of hubs, and (2) lines' strategy of commissioning larger vessels for east-west routes. In this perspective, the expansion of networks to southern economies serves specifically to bring more cargo on main routes to ensure volumes are sufficient to generate the desired economies of scale. This paper analyses the changing configurations of South American services. Results show that by 1999 leading shipping lines were offering direct services to all major trade ranges from the region, and numerous US loops were added to the already established European and Asian services. These new services involved multiple ports in the US; running in parallel with east-west services over a large part of the American coasts. The paper concludes that global shipping lines entered the South American market by setting up services typically configured to serve trades between North and South America; not to feed established main routes.     

我国集装箱班轮运输市场垄断程度研究

从市场集中度指数、市场力量和垄断行为3个方面考察我国国际集装箱班轮运输市场的垄断程度，显然高于将全球作为“一个”市场的程度。从市场集中度指数可以认为我国班轮运输市场已经达到中型寡头垄断程度。我国远洋班轮航线的勒纳指数高于0．6，甚至接近于1，说明班轮公司市场力量之强大。而我国现行的法律法规中没有为班轮运输市场的买方预设运价谈判和利益诉求机制，则使运输需求快速增长的中国外贸企业明显处于弱势地位。     

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.