Study on supply chain challenges in container shipping : the carrier’s perspective

• Main Author: Zeyar, Maung Maung
• Other Authors: Teo Chee Chong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Maritime studies::Maritime management and business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/15950
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Due to globalization, supply chains are extended and customers are more demanding than ever. In fulfilling the market requirements and customer satisfaction, carriers are facing a multitude of challenges. There is a need for carriers to thoroughly understand these challenges in order to manage them. The objective of this paper is to examine the challenges in the container shipping industry faced by carriers and their impacts on the carriers themselves and other parties namely the shippers and port operators. Subsequently, recommended actions will be proposed, which should be practiced by carriers with the cooperation of shippers and port operators to create win-win situations for all three parties in the supply chain. This report mainly focuses on the sea transportation leg of the carriers, although landside activities are also discussed. This research project presents ways, which are qualitative in nature, to overcome current challenges in liner industry. The nature of the container industry and current relationships between carriers, port operators and shippers were first presented. The role of carriers is stated to help achieve better understanding of the project. Fierce competition between carriers which is partly shaped by M&A was highlighted, followed by the discussion on the possible consequences on other players. The challenges highlighted in the report are schedule reliability, problems connected with port, empty container repositioning and capacity utilization. For each of them, the causes, pointing out the impacts, were investigated, which were concluded with recommended improvements by the respective stakeholders. Finally, a real industry scenario of Maersk was done, analyzing how it reacts and handles well those challenges and how they are leading the market.