Closer shipper-liner partnership : shipper's perspective

• Main Author: Dhini Purnamasari
• Other Authors: Lam Siu Lee
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Maritime studies::Maritime management and business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/16048
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Partnership has been a significant concept in various industries to improve company performance and yield competitive advantage due to its synergy effect. With regards to longer and more complex supply chain, partnership among supply chain players is significant in maximizing supply chain profitability. Although there are many studies on shipper-carrier partnership, there are only few studies done on shipper-liner partnership especially from the shipper’s perspective. Moreover, the goals of shipper-liner partnership are seldom realized. Therefore, this research report is made in order to have a thorough study on shipper-liner partnership from shipper’s perspective to find ways to achieve closer partnership. Literature research and survey on shippers from different industries were done to find and interpret shipper’s perspectives on the shipper-liner partnership. Considering factors influencing shipper-liner relationship, it has been found that most of the current shipper-liner relationships are above neutral and toward Type II partnership. In general, shippers perceived cost focus, flexibility, trust, and communication as the most important attributes for successful shipper-liner partnership. However, being influenced by different industry natures and product characteristics, shippers in different industries perceive different levels of importance and satisfaction of all partnership attributes. In addition, there is significant discrepancy between shipper’s perceived importance and satisfaction of the partnership attributes. To achieve closer shipper-liner partnership, some recommendations for shippers and liners will be presented. Both shippers and liners are recommended to communicate their perceptions with each other, improve partnership attributes, and aligning goals and incentives by profit sharing mechanism. In addition, liners are recommended to offer broader service package, improve their service attributes, and customize their service offerings to better meet the shippers’ needs.