Ship operators are increasingly dominating the market. dIscuss

• Main Author: Lim, Jing Ting
• Other Authors: Verlick Chua
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Maritime studies::Maritime management and business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/67902
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper study on the ship-operator model and provide analysis on the competitiveness of ship-operators to determine if they will be dominating the shipping market in the near future. The analysis of ship-operators’ competitiveness involves the evaluation of ship operators’ strategies and competitive advantages, supported by the information and survey result obtained from industry practitioners. The outlook of the dry bulk market is also be discussed to determine if there will be any major changes that will potentially affect ship-operators’ competitiveness. From the research, it is understood that ship-operators create value within dry cargo by combining clients’ cargoes with chartered-in tonnage from ship-owners. They have a margin business, so they are highly focused on cost and draw on global scales to deepen customer relationships and gain access to significant opportunities for increasing profitability. In addition, the people they hire, retain and trained enable them to make a difference and provide the ability to differentiate their services, reduce costs and manage risk effectively. The outlook of the targeted market sector i.e. dry bulk shipping sector remained bleak. Being asset-light, customer centric and cost-focused, it is still possible for ship-operators to still be making some profit in such a depressed market. Their ability in creating value irrespective of market conditions enable them to survive through hard time and remain competitive throughout the shipping cycles. It is expected that as the market is recovering and turning to be more favourable, the existing ship-operators will still continue to perform in the market. But it is expected that more ship-owners will incorporate ship-operating activities in their business and more new entrants will join as ship-operators. Hence, we will foresee a higher concentration of ship-operators in the market in future.