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. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2004) 6, 220–235. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100110

Port user typology and representations of port choice behavior: A Q-methodological study

Research has identified many criteria that contribute to selecting a sea port, yet not much is known about how port users look at these criteria and how they argue on the factors that contribute to their port choice behavior. This study uses the Q methodology to explore the typology of port choice in conjunction with the port users' own representations of their choice behavior. We employ an in-depth methodology that incorporates both quantitative and qualitative methods for an investigation of port choice behavior among port users particularly in South Korea. The analysis revealed four main types: Service- and corporation-oriented; Location and cost saver; On-time and task achiever; and Capacity and infrastructure friendly type. The results provide some implications and guidance for formulating policies and effective strategies for improving the competitiveness of port authorities and port operators.open

Shipping, Policy and Multi-Level Governance

Shipping is a highly internationalised industry working in an increasingly globalised environment. Meanwhile, policy-making in shipping continues to be formulated within a traditional nested hierarchy of jurisdictions that pays little attention to new relationships that exist and intensify between jurisdictional levels, interested parties, and across different locations. This paper examines these issues providing an interpretation of the current shipping policy-making situation and the problems it faces, the need for a new approach and the potential of multi-level governance. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2007) 9, 84–103. doi:10.1057/palgrave.mel.9100173