Chapter 13 Flashcards
What are the three components of the container system?
- standard units
- integrated transport system
- high-speed cargo-handling facilities
Discuss the process of developing container service infrastructure
threefold process:
1. Develop fleet of container ships
2. Construct container terminal
3. Setting up international agreement on sizes of standard containers
Discuss the consequences of containerization on liner operations
- Liner companies offer shipper door-to-door service, logistics part of the offering
- Industry consolidated to fewer companies
- Bustling ports disappeared
- Tramp market disappeared
- Minor bulks moved to specialist vessels
Discuss the consequences of containerization for the world economy
- Previously slow, expensive and unreliable transport became fast, secure and cheap
- The impact of transport as a cost element for the final product became negligible. Globalization increased dramatically
Define liner shipping
A liner service is a fleet of ships, with common management, providing a fixed service, at regular intervals, between named ports.
What distinguishes liner shipping from tramp shipping
Fixed itinerary, regular service, obligation to accept cargo from all customers and sail whether fully loaded or not
What are the four elements of the liner transport system?
- General cargo and liner transport demand
- Major container and service routes and freight markets
- Liner companies
- Container fleet and charter market
Discuss the economic differences between general cargo and bulk and specialised
- Transporting many small parcels requires a larger and more expensive admin fixed cost
- Obligation to sail to a timetable makes capacity inflexible
Why can capacity management become a problem?
- Seasonality means cargo volume is higher at some times of the year than others
- Cargo imbalances occur when there is more trade in one direction than the other - thus sailing one leg under-loaded
Liner companies lack flexibility to adjust rates - fixed pricing and inflexible capacity leaves liner firms with pricing problem
Discuss the pricing of general cargo liners
Price shipper is prepared to pay depends to some extent what is in container. Contents of containers differ r.e. price elasticity and service requirements. Shippers of high-value goods prepared to pay more as transport low percentage. Shippers of low value prepared to pay less as transport higher percentage.
What are the two basic models of liner shipping?
- Low cost
- Liner service treated as part of the package of the service
How do liner firms differentiate their product?
- Vessel on-time arrival - some customers put high value on reliability
- Transit time door-to-door - speed may be important
- Carrier cost per move - cost for transport of container from origin to dest
- Cargo tracking - GPS, safety
- Frequency of sailings - reducing stock levels
- Reliability of administration - admin capabilities, contactability
- Space availability - some need more space flexibility
Liner market model
textbook
Describe the 6 types of ships used in liner trades
- Container ships
- Multi-purpose vessels
- Tweendeckers
- General cargo liners
- Ro-Ros
- Barge carriers
Discuss container ship size trends
textbook
