Defining service quality for tramp shipping

• Main Author: Lai, Alan Che Xiang
• Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Maritime studies::Maritime management and business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/44384
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The purpose of this research project is to address the gap of few literature being done to define and attribute the determinants of service quality in tramp shipping sector (dry and liquid bulk). For that reason, a new conceptual model that illustrates the service quality desirable by tramp shippers from the service providers is being proposed and tested.A review is done on the literature of the three main themes, namely (1) Total Quality Management (TQM), quality awards and ISO standards; (2) Service quality in service industry and (3) Service quality in tramp shipping to allow us to formulate the new conceptual SQ model. Triangulation method is utilised for data collection. 6 interviews were conducted to verify the conceptual SQ model. A revised SQ model was presented after the conduct of the interviews. It is a construct of 27 attributes associated with six dimensions of corporate image, customer focus, leadership, outcome, personnel and technical. This research uses a sample of 597 companies, consisting of 254 tramp shippers and 343 service providers for the survey mailing list to validate the revised SQ model. In all, 74 usable questionnaires were returned. The response rate for tramp service providers and tramp shippers are 15.0% and 10.5% respectively.