Competitiveness of the China-Europe Railway Express and liner shipping under the enforced sulfur emission control convention

Abstract

The sensitivity of the pass-through ratio of the added costs due to the enforced sulfur emission cap of liner shipping as extra fare for shippers and rail operation frequency on the competitiveness of China-Europe railway express (CER-express) and liner shipping for cargo transportation between China and Europe is analyzed. The objective is to lay a theoretical basis for liner companies to optimize the pass-through ratio for maximizing shipping profit, for CER-express to determine an expected operation frequency and for IMO to understand the effects of the enforced sulfur emission cap when CER-express is available.