Liner Shipping Services Research Articles

The Time Factor in Liner Shipping Services

Managing the time factor is an important issue in contemporary liner service design. Increased port congestion and infrastructure constraints are some of the reasons impeding shipping lines from delivering impeccable liner services to their customers. Waiting times and delays put pressure on schedule reliability and might incur logistics costs to the customer. This paper assesses the trade-offs linked to the time factor in liner service schedules from the perspective of a shipping line. The paper not only assesses causes of schedule unreliability, it also discusses the wide array of measures and planning tools shipping lines deploy to maximise schedule reliability.

The container shipping network design problem with empty container repositioning

This paper addresses the design of container liner shipping service networks by explicitly taking into account empty container repositioning. Two key and interrelated issues, those of deploying ships and containers are usually treated separately by most existing studies on shipping network design. In this paper, both issues are considered simultaneously. The problem is formulated as a two-stage problem. A genetic algorithm-based heuristic is developed for the problem. Through a number of numerical experiments that were conducted it was shown that the problem with the consideration of empty container repositioning provides a more insightful solution than the one without.

A GENETIC ALGORITHM BASED APPROACH TO CONSTRUCTING CONTAINER SHIPPING NETWORKS WITH EMPTY CONTAINER REPOSITIONING AMONG CALLING PORTS

This paper addresses the design of container liner shipping service networks by explicitly taking into account empty container repositioning and container fleet size. Two key and interrelated issues of deployments of ships and containers are usually treated separately by most existing studies on shipping network design. In this paper, both issues are considered simultaneously. The problem is formulated as a two-stage problem: the upper-problem being formulated as a Knapsack problem and the lower-problem as a Flow problem. A genetic algorithm based heuristic is developed for the problem. Through a number of numerical experiments that were conducted it was shown that the problem considering empty container repositioning provides a more insightful solution than the one without.

Is Liner Shipping Supply Fixed?

Liner shipping firms have long argued that the task of providing adequate service to shippers while earning reasonable rates of return on capital requires at least some form of limited antitrust immunity. Carriers contend that because scheduling requirements unique to liner shipping firms constrains their ability to adjust capacity to meet market conditions, liner shipping capacity is essentially fixed in the short term while demand is variable. And because individual firms have incentive to minimise unit costs by maximising capacity utilisation on every voyage, the threat of destructive price wars looms large. Consequently, carriers have advocated that governments leave them free to form collusive arrangements called conferences in which members are free to meet to discuss and fix prices. But how rigid is liner shipping capacity? Because of a lack of useable data on prices and capacity, this question has never been resolved empirically. But recently, new data have become available from public and industry sources that permit researchers to look more deeply into this issue. In this paper, those data are used to estimate a partial adjustment, distributed lag supply function for liner shipping services in US trade lanes. The results reveal that, on the major US import trade lanes, liner shipping supply curve exhibits more flexibility than the ‘stylised facts’ of the industry would suggest.

Ocean liner shipping services: corporate restructuring and port selection/competition

An examination is made of the nature of corporate restructuring among liner shipping companies to meet the needs of producers for logistic services within the Asia‐Pacific Economic Region. This task is undertaken by detailing the development of the global alliances forged in 1996. Then their impact on port selection and competition within the Asia‐Pacific Economic Region is studied with particular reference to the Trans‐Pacific trade. As the composition of these alliances has already changed by mergers their likely effect on port destinies is considered.

Integrated Cargo Planning Systems for Liner Shipping Services Case Study: System Modelling for Roll-On/Roll-Off Vessels

Marine transport systems are an important link in a whole transportation chain with its multi-operator environment. The main objectives of this paper is modelling of information flow, interfacing, processing and data system integration between users in liner shipping systems with regard to cargo planning on board in the short and medium terms. Development of interlinked vessel cargo planning systems with automated shore-to-ship and shipping company-to-port communication and data exchange system is discussed here. A decision support tool for liner slupping companies and cargo handling in port has been modelled and developed for direct implementation. Therefore, the further purpose of this paper is to describe a computerised cargo planning system for roll-on/roll-off vessels, integrated with global cargo acquisition, information handling, processing and interchange with ports and ships. The system optimisation process is aimed at the best possible vessel capacity utilisation, the lowest transportation costs, and simplifying information flow. The advanced PC- programme described here can be connected to any main frame of computer for storage, processing and data interchange amoung numerous users. The system can process information about cargo acquisition, makes computerised plans for cargo stowage on board and transmits this information to ports and ships.

Liner Shipping Services from Australia: Problems for Australian Exporters?

Liner Shipping Services from Australia: Problems for Australian Exporters?