Economic viability of mega-size containership in different service networks

The mega-size containership viability was analyzed by considering different service networks for different ship sizes: hub-and-spoke and multi-port-calling (MPC) networks for mega-size containerships and conventional ships. A model was proposed, which quantifies the economies of scale in operating large containerships and constructs models for ship routing under different service networks. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to test the effect of feeder costs and the results analyzed to determine optimal containership size with respect to different operational scenarios. Throughout model applications for Asia-Europe and Asia-North America trades, the mega-size containership is competitive in all scenarios for Asia-Europe, while it is viable for Asia-North America only when the feeder costs are low.