Risk management methods for the liner shipping industry: the case of the Bunker Adjustment Factor

Through the implementation of the Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF), a shipowner is able to transfer the risk of fuel price fluctuation to the shipper. This and other surcharges are generally undesired by shippers who must pay this fee. The research presented provides an alternative method of risk management that is more effective than the current method, while responding to customer service demands for simplified tariffs. By strategic use of commodity futures, the shipowner is able to better reduce his/her risk exposure, transferring it to willing parties at the futures exchanges, thereby eliminating the need for the bunker surcharge.     

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.     

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.     

Maritime liner shipping and the stevedoring industry: market structure and competition strategies

Globalization, liberalization, competition and spatial interaction are significant factors affecting the transformation of manufacturing industries worldwide. In the transportation and logistics industry, however, cooperation is becoming even more critical than competition in determining firms' efficiency. Cooperation has always characterized the liner sector in which strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions have generated twin effects: notable increases in ship size and falls in freight rates. Meanwhile, the stevedoring industry is undergoing privatization-driven consolidation and the emergence of global pure terminal operators. This article focuses on vertical integration between global carriers and terminal operators. We address the following key current issues:

• dedicated terminals as a strategy for cutting costs and controlling integrated transport chains;
• the struggle for supply chain control, involving global carriers versus global terminal operators, driven by financial power and technical and managerial capability.

We close analysing one of the core problems of the market, namely the evolving role of the dedicated terminals. For the pure stevedores they represent an opportunity to secure a cargo, while in the hands of the liners they enable cost stability and the possibility to put pressure on pure terminal operators.     

航运企业的风险管理

为规避航运企业面临的各类风险,从运输、成本、市场、竞争等4个方面指出航运企业进行风险管理的必要性,并针对航运企业的风险特征,提出航运企业进行风险规避的措施及处理方法。     

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.     

2050 for the shipping industry

正On April 13,2018,London,United Kingdom,the 72nd Meeting of the IMO Maritime Environment Protection Committee(MEPC72)finally formed and adopted the first initial strategy in shipping industry history to reduce shipping CO_2 and greenhouse gas emissions.For the shipping industry emission reduction targets that are of particular concern to the industry,there are three main conclusions:First,to further implement and     

"中国因素":国际航运界的新命题

在全球经济一体化的今天,“中国因素”已成了一个具有国际意义的命题。《财富》总编辑约翰·休伊说“中国是未来全球商机的重中之重。”显然,全世界都在关注着“中国因素”。在国际航运界,“中国因素”已成为现在集装箱班轮、干散货和油轮运输三大国际海运市场全面上扬的主要驱动力,同时也在改变着全球经贸、原材料、能源供需以及服务于全球贸易的国际海运市场的格局。在全球经济一体化的今天,“中国因素”已成了一个具有国际意义的命题。《财富》总编辑约翰·休伊说“中国是未来全球商机的重中之重。”显然,全世界都在关注着“中国因素”。在国际航运界,“中国因素”已成为现在集装箱班轮、干散货和油轮运输三大国际海运市场全面上扬的主要驱动力,同时也在改变着全球经贸、原材料、能源供需以及服务于全球贸易的国际海运市场的格局。     

Fleet deployment optimization for liner shipping: an integer programming model

Extending and improving an earlier work of the second author, an Integer Programming (IP) model is developed to minimize the operating and lay-up costs for a fleet of liner ships operating on various routes. The IP model determines the optimal deployment of an existing fleet, given route, service, charter, and compatibility constraints. Two examples are worked with extensive actual data provided by Flota Mercante Grancolombiana (FMG). The optimal deployment is solved for their existing ship and service requirements and results and conclusions are given.     

Network economies in liner shipping: the role of home markets

This paper deals with the measurement of the network complexity of some selected shipping groups, also identifying the contribution of co-operative agreements among carriers. The empirical investigation is focused on: (i) the analysis of the distribution of the carrying capacity per range; and (ii) the comparison of that capacity with the throughput handled in the port facilities of the group. These variables are interpreted in the light of the impact that alliances have on the geographical wideness of the services supplied by each partner. This factor also allows to depict how the cultural and political origin of shipping lines affects the decision of joining an alliance and the outcomes deriving from such co-operation.     

Equality of bargaining power in contracts for international liner shipping

Mandatory rules exist in contracts for international liner shipping primarily because of imbalances and non-equity in the allocation of contract responsibilities. The superior bargaining position owned by the carriers depends largely upon liner market monopoly levels, the supply and demand balance between the shipper and carrier, and the cargo volume size of the shippers. With the development of shipping technologies, mode of transport, and shipping competition policy, the unequal comparison of bargaining forces between shippers and carriers changes. When the existing mandatory rule was deemed no longer necessary due to changing circumstances, legislation requirements to restore freedom to contract became apparent. When both sides have equal bargaining power, adoption of the principle of freedom of contract for their business relationships is suitable. The Rotterdam Rules concerning freedom of volume contract construction is based on equal bargaining powers between both sides and responds to the evolving situation of the industry. The Rules represent the development trend of today’s theory of contracts for international liner shipping and the demand for legal and institutional changes.     

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.     

The commercialization of East European liner shipping: the experience of Poland

This paper will examine the impact of continuous and increasing change in the shipping sector of Eastern Europe with particular reference to the liner sector in Poland one of the more dynamic markets that has emerged since the political, economic and social changes of the late 1980s. Polish Ocean Lines, and in particular POL Levant, a relatively new, commercialized subsidiary operating in the private sector, are taken as case studies to assess the new structures that are emerging in the marketplace.     

Positional change in the Polish liner shipping market: a framework approach

This paper examines the changing position of Polish Ocean Lines (POL) container shipping activities in the North Atlantic, in the light of social, political and economic changes occurring in Poland. An analysis is made of alternative ways of assessing company position—ranging from the qualitative to the quantitative—and that of a qualitative framework approach is selected. Application of this framework using POL as a case study provides an indication of positional change between 1988 and 1993 reflecting the period of major change in Eastern Europe.     

Third party ship management: the case of separation of ownership and management in the shipping context

The last four decades have seen the rise of third party ship management and its evolution into an industry in its own right. This signified a new reality in ship management practice, whereby the traditional custom of doing business with the ship owner being also the ship manager was abandoned and a revolutionary model that assigned the role of the owner and the role of the manager to two different entities was proposed. In essence, then, third party ship management comes very close, in principle and in practice, to the separation of ownership and management as experienced in many industrial fields, after the emergence, in the last half of the 19th century, of the salaried manager. The purpose of this paper is to examine the forces at work in the process of such separation with a view to provide an insight into the relevant, contemporary parameters that can be considered instrumental in the strategic decision to employ third party ship management