Liner Services in Asia’s Major Container Ports: Implications for Busan

Abstract

The international trade of commodities is crucial for the economic development of any nation or region. Over 80% of the international trade of commodities takes place through ships. Hence seaports serve as the gateway to the development of any country. Since Asia is the world's manufacturing hub, this chapter investigates the trading pattern of container line services for three major ports in Asia: Busan, Singapore, and Shanghai. As container lines provide services in closed loops, multiple ports are called during the services. Additionally, ports compete for common market share as there are overlaps in ports’ hinterland and foreland market. Understanding the existence of co-operation and competition between ports (Song Journal of Transport Geography 10: 99–110, 2002), this study proposes a simple port intra-dependency ratio to measure the degree (or percentage) of which a particular port depends on reference port(s) in the neighbourhood. The study utilizes the automatic identification system (AIS) and liner services data from AXS Marine’s Alphaliner for the analysis. Results suggest that the Port of Shanghai generates almost 26% of its volume without depending on Busan or Singapore port. Singapore port gets almost 40% of the liner capacity without depending on Busan and Shanghai, while Busan port generates only 11% liner capacity on its own, that is, without relying on Singapore and Shanghai. This indicates that the Port of Busan is heavily dependent on Singapore and Shanghai port for its container services, increasing its risk profile. Busan needs to diversify the liner services/routes portfolio and expand its self-dependency to become the transhipment hub in the Far East region. This study concludes by identifying some challenges and opportunities for the Port of Busan as a case study. Big data in maritime can act as a decision support system for port managers and policymakers to uncover the market's gaps and needs, thus increasing the port market share and retaining the high container throughput.