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The article considers modern challenges and threats to the operation of ships in the liner form of traffic organization. Taking into account the dynamics of liner shipping development and its exceptional importance in ensuring international trade, it is proposed to analyze the main trends that are recorded both by statistical and analytical publications and by scientists from different fields of knowledge. Since any accident, under certain conditions, can be legally recognized as force majeure, maritime practice provides the widest range of challenges and threats to the commercial activities of enterprises. The originality of the review lies in the fact that the whole range of potential challenges is applied to the liner shipping sector. In this article, the analysis is done in several steps: 1) incidents that may have consequences of different nature (for human life and health, material losses, environmental damage) were grouped into 6 main groups; 2) articles indexed in Scopus Web of Science databases of the period 2020-2024 were investigated to substantiate the importance of these challenges specifically on international liner shipping; 3) the link between the challenges in ICC and BIMCO terminology and articles in relation to each of the proposed groups was established; 4) statistical material and individual cases for the same study period (2020-2024) for each group of challenges were provided to substantiate the importance of the impact on liner shipping. The study showed causal relationships between the challenges to liner shipping (such as geopolitics-economics link or forces of nature and economics/operational, etc.), correlation of scientific publications and recent challenges. In general, the article gives an idea of the content of modern threats to liner shipping in terms of source, interconnection of these threats and nature of consequences.

The article considers modern challenges and threats to the operation of ships in the liner form of traffic organization. Taking into account the dynamics of liner shipping development and its exceptional importance in ensuring international trade, it is proposed to analyze the main trends that are recorded both by statistical and analytical publications and by scientists from different fields of knowledge. Since any accident, under certain conditions, can be legally recognized as force majeure, maritime practice provides the widest range of challenges and threats to the commercial activities of enterprises. The originality of the review lies in the fact that the whole range of potential challenges is applied to the liner shipping sector. In this article, the analysis is done in several steps: 1) incidents that may have consequences of different nature (for human life and health, material losses, environmental damage) were grouped into 6 main groups; 2) articles indexed in Scopus Web of Science databases of the period 2020-2024 were investigated to substantiate the importance of these challenges specifically on international liner shipping; 3) the link between the challenges in ICC and BIMCO terminology and articles in relation to each of the proposed groups was established; 4) statistical material and individual cases for the same study period (2020-2024) for each group of challenges were provided to substantiate the importance of the impact on liner shipping. The study showed causal relationships between the challenges to liner shipping (such as geopoliticseconomics link or forces of nature and economics/operational, etc.), correlation of scientific publications and recent challenges. In general, the article gives an idea of the content of modern threats to liner shipping in terms of source, interconnection of these threats and nature of consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-pandemic era, the complexity of the international shipping situation, such as environmental policies, port congestion, and local conflicts, poses challenges to the stability of liner shipping, which requires strict adherence to schedules. This paper addressed the issue of schedule recovery for liner ships operating under Emission Control Areas (ECAs) regulations in the face of disruptive events. It established a bi-objective nonlinear programming model based on recovery costs and delay severity and designed a bi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm based on two traversal of voyage leg path selection and port skipping decisions of feasible solutions to solve it. The effectiveness of the algorithm was validated through a case study of a 6000 TEU liner ship, summarizing the correlation laws of operational decisions such as port skipping, voyage leg path selection, and speed adjustment, and proposing the optimal recovery strategy for liner ships under long-term ECA constraints while ensuring short-term schedule resilience. The findings demonstrate that, in compliance with emission restrictions, ships operating within ECA are required to slow down to mitigate costs. In contrast, ships operating outside of ECA regions must accelerate their pace to adhere to established shipping schedules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liner shipping accounts for over 80 % of the global transportation volume, making substantial contributions to world trade and economic development. To advance global economic integration further, it is essential to link the flows of global liner shipping routes with the complex system of international trade, thereby supporting liner shipping as an effective framework for analyzing international trade and geopolitical trends. Traditional methods based on first-order global liner shipping networks, operating at a single scale, lack sufficient descriptive power for multi-variable sequential interactions and data representation accuracy among nodes. This paper proposes an effective methodology termed "Multi-Scale Higher-Order Dependencies (MSHOD)" that adeptly reveals the complexity of higher-order interactions among multi-scale nodes within the global liner shipping network. The key step of this method is to construct high-order dependency networks through multi-scale attributes. Based on the critical role of high-order interactions, a method for key node identification has been proposed. Experiments demonstrate that, compared to other methods, MSHOD can more effectively identify multi-scale nodes with regional dependencies. These nodes and their generated higher-order interactions could have transformative impacts on the network's flow and stability. Therefore, by integrating multi-scale analysis methods to mine high-order interactions and identify key nodes with regional dependencies, this approach provides robust insights for assessing policy implementation effects, preventing unforeseen incidents, and revealing regional dual-circulation economic models, thereby contributing to strategies for global, stable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a detailed overview of the last 50 years of research in maritime transportation, with special focus on operations research techniques applied to the seaside operations. We describe the evolution in industrial, tramp and liner shipping, identify the driving trends, and discuss future challenges.

Effective regulatory and legal framework in this field has several positive advantages for the transportation participants. A significant place in the article is given to ensuring the principle of “common carrier” for access of a wide range of consumers to the container carriers service. In connection with the transformation both of supply chains and logistics flows under conditions of new foreign economic factors along with the emergence of new shipping lines on the Russian container market the relevance of this topic will continue to increase.Aim. To consider the aspects of normative and legal regulation of liner container shipping in the USA, EU, PRC and the Russian Federation.Tasks. To analyze the strategies of shipping lines on the Russian and global markets, to identify key regulatory legal acts of foreign countries in the sphere of liner container shipping, to identify the features of the Russian legislation in this sphere and the ways of its development.Methods. Regulatory legal acts of the USA, EU, PRC and the Russian Federation were collected, which play an extremely important role in the development of international container transportation and increasing the competitiveness of foreign economic activity.Results. The research of relevant legal frameworks and instruments of state regulation of sea container lines activity to ensure non-discriminatory access of consumers of transportation services, public availability of information about liner container services, high quality of transportation services for foreign economic relations was carried out.Conclusions. In modern foreign economic conditions, alliances and various forms of carrier cooperation are the subject of state regulation of liner container shipping in order to protect competition on the market. The legislation of the USA and the Russian Federation establishes compulsory publication of shipping line tariffs, while according to the provisions of the PRC legislation shipping lines provide their tariffs to the freight exchange, which is authorized by the competent state body. In addition, international experience shows that sea lines “Common carriers” are subject to a number of other requirements. In the Russian Federation, sea container transportation is carried out by both liner and tramp vessels due to the fact that the certain carriers are not registered as shipping line operators and information about some regular container services is limited.

This work investigates a robust container vessel sequencing (RCVS) problem in a service route. As weekly demands vary dramatically and cannot be forecasted accurately, shipping companies need to develop a robust sequence of vessels with different capacities to maximally meet demands. As export heavily depends on economy, demands may share the same pattern in adjacent years, which motivates us to study the problem in a cyclic fashion. To refine the literature, we adopt a robust optimisation model to minimise the worst-case total cost, including container tardy and outsourcing cost, due to reliability guarantee. To accommodate human decision-making, we focus on an associated K-adaptability problem, which pre-selects a number of candidate vessel sequences and implements the best one when the uncertain demands have been observed. A branch-and-bound solution approach is explored. Numerical experiments demonstrate the performance of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to explore the effectiveness of employing foldable containers (FLDs) in liner shipping to reduce relocation and the empty containers and bunker costs (BCs) associated with ship operations. This resolves a minimum-cost multicommodity network flow problem by optimizing container fleet size and empty container relocation in a multi-port shipping service network. Port handling time and sailing speed provided by obtained optimal solutions enable the determination of ship BCs as a secondary step. The numerical experiments demonstrate the comparative effect of FLDs against standard ones on the reduction of the costs of empty containers and containership bunker oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital era, major shipping lines are developing instant quote and online booking platforms. In one of the first attempts to investigate the post-event effects of this trend, we evaluate how a shipping line's online quote platform impacts its shipper portfolio and the ordered container volume. In order to control for unobserved, time-varying effects that could be correlated with the platform's implementation, we apply the regression discontinuity design (RDD) method to the import trade data from 2016 to 2019 of a top shipping line that released its platform in August 2018. We also adopt global polynomial regression and local liner regression so as to control for the effects of different polynomial time trends. We find the container volume assigned to the shipping line declined slightly after the online platform was launched. The container orders of small shippers increase by 3.97 TEU on average after online platform adoption. The volume of assigned containers from other shippersdeclines. These findings hold fruitful implications for shipping lines. A significant increase in the number of small shippers and their container volumes demonstrate administrative cost saving and risk mitigation for a shipping line. However, it also leads to possible loss of large customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive CO2 emissions and increased total costs of liner shipping are the two main problems affecting the environmental and economic benefits of liner companies under the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS). To address the upcoming EU ETS, we propose a carbon and cost accounting model for liner shipping that accurately calculates CO2 emissions and total cost of liner shipping. We conduct a case study that a containership operates on the liner route from the Far East to Northwest Europe. The results show that the sailing stage plays a pivotal role in CO2 emissions from liner shipping, accounting for 94.70% of CO2 emissions. Among four types of fuel, CO2 emissions from liner shipping using MGO is the largest, while CO2 emissions from liner shipping using methanol is the smallest. Methanol, as an alternative fuel, proves to be a better choice than LNG for CO2 control of liner shipping. The relationship between sailing speed and CO2 emissions follows a U-shaped curve for the selected containership. Notably, speed reduction is effective in carbon control of liner shipping only when the sailing speed exceeds 8.29 knots. Under the EU ETS, sailing speed is a key variable affecting the total cost of liner shipping. Speed reduction may not always be cost-effective. When keeping the total cost of liner shipping unchanged, sailing speed should be reduced as the EU allowance (EUA) price rises within a certain range. For the selected containership using MGO and HFO, the most economical sailing speed is 8.29 knots, corresponding to the increase in EUA price of 304.95% and 261.21%, respectively. If EUA price continues to rise, speed reduction will become ineffective in controlling the total cost of liner shipping. This model can enhance the environmental and economic benefits of liner companies, meet compliance requirements of the EU ETS, and provide a new perspective for carbon and cost control of liner shipping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper models a single liner service design and operations problem. The model selects the ports to be included, their sequence, the sailing speed of vessels, the number of vessels and the amounts of cargo to transport by the service. The objective is to maximise profit. First, a relaxation with a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) formulation is proposed. We show how to obtain the optimal speed value. Once this value is obtained, the mathematical programming formulation becomes a mixed-integer linear program (MILP). Then, a two-step exact algorithm is presented to solve the problem. Using real data, the optimal solution was found in less than 1 min for small-size problems and in few hours for relatively large-size problems. More tests were carried out on randomly generated data sets with up to 25 ports. The results of these tests are rather promising, and they enabled us to identify the performance limits of the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liner shipping accounts for over 80% of the global transportation volume, making substantial contributions to world trade and economic development. To advance global economic integration further, it is essential to link the flows of global liner shipping routes with the complex system of international trade, thereby supporting liner shipping as an effective framework for analyzing international trade and geopolitical trends. Traditional methods based on first-order global liner shipping networks, operating at a single scale, lack sufficient descriptive power for multi-variable sequential interactions and data representation accuracy among nodes. This paper proposes an effective methodology termed “Multi-Scale Higher-Order Dependencies (MSHOD)” that adeptly reveals the complexity of higher-order interactions among multi-scale nodes within the global liner shipping network. The key step of this method is to construct high-order dependency networks through multi-scale attributes. Based on the critical role of high-order interactions, a method for key node identification has been proposed. Experiments demonstrate that, compared to other methods, MSHOD can more effectively identify multi-scale nodes with regional dependencies. These nodes and their generated higher-order interactions could have transformative impacts on the network’s flow and stability. Therefore, by integrating multi-scale analysis methods to mine high-order interactions and identify key nodes with regional dependencies, this approach provides robust insights for assessing policy implementation effects, preventing unforeseen incidents, and revealing regional dual-circulation economic models, thereby contributing to strategies for global, stable development.

In the post-pandemic era, the complexity of the international shipping situation, such as environmental policies, port congestion, and local conflicts, poses challenges to the stability of liner shipping, which requires strict adherence to schedules. This paper addressed the issue of schedule recovery for liner ships operating under Emission Control Areas (ECAs) regulations in the face of disruptive events. It established a bi-objective nonlinear programming model based on recovery costs and delay severity and designed a bi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm based on two traversal of voyage leg path selection and port skipping decisions of feasible solutions to solve it. The effectiveness of the algorithm was validated through a case study of a 6000 TEU liner ship, summarizing the correlation laws of operational decisions such as port skipping, voyage leg path selection, and speed adjustment, and proposing the optimal recovery strategy for liner ships under long-term ECA constraints while ensuring short-term schedule resilience. The findings demonstrate that, in compliance with emission restrictions, ships operating within ECA are required to slow down to mitigate costs. In contrast, ships operating outside of ECA regions must accelerate their pace to adhere to established shipping schedules.

Intense trade between China and Europe increases the competition between Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Sea countries on alternative routes. To obtain a significant share from this sector, connectivity to the transportation network must be sufficient. The most important indicator developed for the measurement of connectivity is Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI). By using this index, inferences can be made about possible competitors by determining which countries' differences diverge or converge in the long run. In the research, a sample of Türkiye's neighbors and competitors in maritime transportation was formed, which includes Bulgaria, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. To test the convergence, we tested unit root by using the log differences of the LSCI values of Türkiye and other countries. The countries converging with Türkiye are Bulgaria, Lebanon, Romania, and Ukraine. Since the average LSCI values of the converging countries are lower than Türkiye, they will become possible competitors in the region. Egypt and Greece are diverging and their dominant role in the region will continue. It would be beneficial for Türkiye to strengthen its infrastructure in alternative transportation routes as well as maritime transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forced labour is a widespread risk for workers in the shipping industry. Traditional approaches to tackling the problem rely on the rules of flag state and port state jurisdiction, leaving a significant margin of political discretion in dealing with violations of labour rights. This article examines whether private enforcement mechanisms in the form of tort actions can play a role in securing the labour rights of workers and providing them with access to remedies. Following recent case law, it examines the possibility of enforcing the duty of care as stated in the company materials, in particular the growing number of corporate annual reports. The article relies on empirical material, consisting of the statements published by shipping companies under the UK Modern Slavery Act [MSA]. In addition to the descriptive observations on compliance, the study carries out a content analysis of the statements, seeking to identify the patterns of reporting and industry best practices. The final part of the article examines whether corporate undertakings as laid down in modern slavery statements can serve as grounds for tort liability. Based on the empirical data, the study concludes that the statements provide insufficient grounds for holding companies liable for labour rights violations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of direct connections between countries in container shipping is largely driven by the underlying trade dynamics. It is also the joint result of various other contributing factors, ranging from land infrastructure to carrier strategies. The literature to date has only partially focused on some of the factors that in theory may affect the establishment of direct connections but has mainly focused on the positive impact that a direct connection between two countries may have on bilateral trade development. However, there has been only limited research on the systematic identification of the factors that should be in place, to promote or prevent the establishment of a direct link between countries in container shipping. This paper attempts to fill this gap by undertaking a Systematic Literature Review that examines the issue from various perspectives and classifies the previous research under five themes: (1) Shipping Network, (2) Connectivity, (3) Port Selection Criteria, (4) Trade and (5) Alternative Transport Modes. A framework is subsequently developed which identifies the set of factors that determine the establishment of direct container shipping connections between trading countries and the expected impact (positive, negative or ambiguous) of each factor. The insights from our research and the framework developed can be of use to interested stakeholders across the research and policy domains who have an interest in both the establishment and continuation of direct container shipping connections between trading countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern foreign economic conditions, the development of container shipping through the system of international transport corridors in the Eurasian space is one of the key aspects in order to improve the national transport complex and to ensure the economic sustainability of the federal subjects of Russia. The object of this research is the «Asia-Europe» segment of the container transportation market, the research subject is to make assessment of the feasibility of the container shipping routes diversification in Eurasia.Aim. To consider the possibilities of the Russian transport system in conditions of restructuring supply chains and container shipping intensification through the international transport corridor “West — East”.Tasks. To identify the directions of increasing the competitiveness of the Russian Federation container system; to determine the main routes of the ITC “West — East» system; to implement the statistical analysis of container shipping data in Russia; to complete the comparative analysis of container transportation through ITC “West — East” and through alternative routes in the “Asia — Europe” connection.Methods. The collection of the data on the main ITC “West — East” routes in accordance with the following systems: Organisation for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD), Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), Directorate of International Transport Corridors (DITC), Russian Foreign Trade Academy (RFTA), Centr Ekonomiki Infrastruktury (CEK).Results. The research of the relevant container shipping routes of Russian goods in the current industry conditions and the consideration of the main advantages of containerized cargo delivery routes diversification in the “Asia — Europe” connection were carried out.Conclusions. The demand for container transportation routes passing through ITC “West — East” has increased in parallel with the process of cargo flows redirection. Diversification of containers delivery routes leads to significantly reduction of the transit time and support the development of the national transport system.

This paper presents a new concept for a hub-and-spoke network structure, called "sub-hub", applied to global operations of liner shipping. Hub-and-spoke networks are widely used in transportation due to the economy of scale offered to the demands between hubs. However, efficient network structures require more than an economy of scale with regard to transport costs. This study therefore, aims to demonstrate that lower transport costs are achievable by a hub-and-spoke with sub-hub structure because the economy of scale this model provides is combined with shorter alternative paths. A short sea operation in liner shipping is a circular route at cluster level (the hub and its allocated spokes). A deep sea operation functions as a direct connection between hubs. A sub-hub is an intersection point between two regional (cluster) routes, thereby allowing the transshipment of goods, for certain demands, without using hub nodes. Hubs and sub-hubs are selected between the existing ports (nodes), and installation costs are not included for these models. A cutting plane approach was implemented. Although the computation results of the models, which are classified as hub location-routing problems, were compared on small instances, a Variable Neighbourhood Decomposition Search (VNDS) was implemented to test large instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shipping lines face various marketing risks, with outcomes that need to be mitigated. A current, serious, example of this has been the COVID19 pandemic and the severe supply chain disruptions that followed it. During such times, unmitigated marketing risks can lead to corporate failure, significant losses, or irreparable adverse impact on a carrier's brand name, due to sailing schedule unreliability. We cast a look at the marketing risks of shipping lines deriving, for instance, from adverse market developments, competitor moves, operational mistakes, unreliability (schedule integrity; supply of containers to customers, etc.), and we propose avenues of risk mitigation. Our methodology includes a combination of literature review and Spherical Fuzzy Theory. Among other conclusions, our results show that it is the 'unexpected' and 'unanticipated' -e.g., a natural disaster; a war; a tsunami; or COVID19-that poses the greatest risk to carriers: Intense competition amongst them, geared to short-term profit maximization, and coupled with the fine-tuning of capacity management within alliances, does not allow them the luxury of affording built-in buffers or slacks that could 'absorb' the unexpected. Not unexpectedly therefore, COVID19 has been the greatest risk factor of all times, mitigated –quite profitably one should add—by the joint capacity management of global shipping alliances. • In-depth literature review on marketing risks in shipping and risk mitigation strategies. • Risks mitigated: adverse market moves; competitor moves; threat of new entry; cybersecurity; unreliability. • Implements the Spherical Fuzzy Methodology in the marketing risk analysis of liner shipping • Highlights the most important marketing risks and risk mitigation strategies in shipping, to ensure resilience against crises. • External developments (e.g., COVID-19) pose the greatest risk due to lack of built-in buffers to absorb the unexpected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the government's optimal subsidy strategy for the China–Europe Railway Express (CERE) considering environmental impacts and industry competition. Specifically, we consider three subsidy options: no subsidies, subsidies to CERE carriers, and subsidies to shippers. A game theory framework is developed to analyze the problem of developing a sustainable supply chain consisting of the government, competitive carriers, and shippers. First of all, we find that for the government, indirect subsidies to CERE carriers and direct subsidies to shippers lead to the same total social welfare. We then examine the conditions for phasing out government subsidies. Our results indicate that the government's optimal subsidy strategy switches at a threshold level of CERE's environmental advantage. In particular, when the environmental advantage of CERE is high, the government should subsidize CERE by subsidizing either the carrier or shipper. In contrast, when the environmental advantage of CERE is low, the government should opt out of subsidies. At last, we find that this threshold of CERE's environmental advantage is further impacted by CERE's capacity and marginal operating costs. This study differs from prior research by investigating various subsidy strategies while taking into account CERE's emission advantage and the timing of subsidy withdrawal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to obtain the biggest economic benefits, large shipping firms widely use hub-and-spoke network to operate ships. The reasonable shipping network not only decreases the cost of infrastructure construction to achieve scale economies, but also be efficient to allocate the existing resources of maritime business. Shipping firms usually are in pursuit of the large-scale container ship, leading some firms to blindly upgrade vessels and cause the loss of profit. Since the operating costs and transportation time is the major problem for shipping firms to get more profit, in this study, we research the relationship of route design, fleet planning and container freight to build the objective function in view of the minimization of time and cost. This study proposes the mixed integer linear programming model of hub-and-spoke network and liner ship fleet planning to choose the appropriate ship location and distribution, and applies Lagrange Heuristic Algorithm to solve the model. The simulation results verify the validity of this algorithm, showing that when firms invest the large ship, it usually gets lower freight rate, by contrast, small vessels have cost and scale advantages. But in order to cope with changes in market demand, for the operations of shipping firms, owning large vessels are still necessary. Our two-phase model considers problems comprehensively to complete the network design of liner ship fleet planning. Lagrange Heuristic Algorithm can get high quality solutions in a relatively short time, it provides reference significance for solving related problems in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime transport relies on a large amounts of fossil fuels. It provides cargo-carrying services but simultaneously emits enormous amounts of by-products such as CO2, which cause climate change. The IMO has adopted mandatory measures to reduce the shipping industry's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 70% by 2050, relative to 2008. In this paper, we select 11 liner shipping companies as decision-making units (DMUs) that account for more than 80% of the world's shipping capacity. Utilizing the directional distance function, we estimate their environmental efficiency in 2019, 2020, and 2021. The directional vector serves to expand desired outputs and contract undesirable outputs. The larger the distance, the farther the evaluated unit is from the production frontier, and the less environmentally efficient it is assessed. This study compares the impact of environmental regulations on liner shipping based on two methods of dealing with undesirable outputs. Since the results indicate the low overall environmental efficiency of liner shipping, firms should strengthen their decarbonization efforts to achieve environmental efficiency goals. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that environmental regulations significantly impact liner shipping companies and that they need to reduce by-product outputs to comply with regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the joint optimization problem of vessel scheduling and refueling strategy for container liner shipping with cooperative agreements signed by the container terminal operators and the shipping company with multiple vessel arrival time windows, multiple start and end times, and multiple handling rates. A non-linear mixed integer programming model for vessel scheduling and refueling strategy problem of liner shipping is established considering fuel price difference and discount factors at different refueling ports, which aims to minimize the total cost of liner shipping service. A set of discretization and linearization technique is applied to the original model in accordance with the vessel navigation controlling practice. Taking the AEX1 route served by China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited as an example, a large number of simulation verifications are conducted. The results of numerical examples show that the joint optimization of vessel scheduling and refueling strategy helps shipping companies to flexibly adjust vessel sailing speed. It can significantly reduce the total cost of liner shipping service. The sensitivity analysis indicates that the total cost of liner shipping service and the vessel refueling volume in a voyage will reduce with the expansion of time window of vessel arrival at port in the cooperative agreement. No matter how the fuel price changes, the joint optimization of vessel scheduling and refueling strategy can effectively reduce the total cost of liner shipping service.

• Proposed a reliable liner shipping planning problem under uncertainties. • The correlation between freight rates and demand can be captured by extended model. • Designed a column-and-constraint generation algorithm enables faster model tackling. This paper investigates a reliable ship fleet planning problem with the uncertainties of container shipping demand, transport costs and freight rates in liner shipping services, and this problem is formulated as a two-stage robust optimization model. In our model, the first-stage decision is to determine the types and quantities of ships, as well as their allocation to different routes, and the second-stage is to fulfill container shipping demand after uncertain information is revealed. Compared to the models proposed in existing researches, our model involves multiple uncertainties aforementioned, and it can also capture the correlation between demand and freight rates. Due to the difficulty of directly solving the two-stage robust optimization model, the column-and-constraint generation algorithm and the benders-dual cutting plane algorithm are developed to address this model. Based on a real shipping network case, extensive computational experiments are conducted to test the practical significance of the presented model and the applicability of our algorithm. The computational results indicate that considering multiple uncertainties simultaneously can significantly save the worst-case costs, demonstrating that the developed two-stage robust optimization model provides a valuable decision-making reference for liner companies seeking to enhance the reliability of ship fleet planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The maritime shipping network is the backbone of global trade. Data about the movement of cargo through this network comes in various forms, from ship-level Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, to aggregated bilateral trade volume statistics. Multiple network representations of the shipping system can be derived from any one data source, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. In this work, we examine data in the form of liner shipping service routes, a list of walks through the port-to-port network aggregated from individual shipping companies by a large shipping logistics database. This data is inherently sequential, in that each route represents a sequence of ports called upon by a cargo ship. Previous work has analyzed this data without taking full advantage of the sequential information. Our contribution is to develop a path-based methodology for analyzing liner shipping service route data, computing navigational trajectories through the network that both respect the directional information in the shipping routes and minimize the number of cargo transfers between routes, a desirable property in industry practice. We compare these paths with those computed using other network representations of the same data, finding that our approach results in paths that are longer in terms of both network and nautical distance. We further use these trajectories to re-analyze the role of a previously-identified structural core through the network, as well as to define and analyze a measure of betweenness centrality for nodes and edges.

Uncertainties in port handling efficiency can cause port delays in the liner shipping system. Furthermore, policies on carbon emission reduction, such as EEXI standards, restrict the potential for speed optimization in liner shipping operations. Traditional tactical planning speed optimization is unsuitable for operational-level decision making, leading to unreliable schedules. From a schedule-reliability and energy-efficiency perspective, we propose a real-time speed optimization method based on discrete hybrid automaton (DHA) and decentered model predictive control (DMPC). We use a dynamic adjustment of sailing speed to offset the disturbance caused by port handling efficiency uncertainties. First, we establish a DHA model that describes each ship’s hybrid dynamics of state switching between sailing and berthing; then, we develop a prediction model for the DMPC controller, which is analogous to the DHA model. The schedule is transferred into time–position coordinates as controller reference trajectories in the receding horizon speed optimization framework. We consider determining tracking errors, carbon emissions, and fuel consumption as our objectives, and we carry out engine power limitation (EPL) analysis for the sample ship, which turns the EEXI standards into constraints. We attain the recommended speed by solving a mixed-integer optimization. We carry out a case study, and our results indicate the effectiveness of our proposed DHA-DMPC scheme in lowering port delays and achieving the best trade-off between schedule reliability and energy efficiency. Additionally, we conduct further experiments to analyze the impacts of various carbon reduction policies on the performance levels of liner shipping operations.

The Covid-19 pandemic affected almost all sectors of the economy. The maritime industry was also affected by the pandemic in various ways. During the pandemic period, the maritime industry experienced such challenges as empty container shortages, port congestion, labor shortages, etc. Different sectors of the maritime industry developed resilient strategies against these challenges. Liner shipping companies also developed horizontal integration strategies along supply chains to control and manage the whole process of door-to-door transportation. In this study, factors that accelerated the supply chain integration strategies of liner shipping companies during the Covid-19 pandemic period were investigated. In this context, the relevant literature was investigated in the SCOPUS database, and 24 articles were examined in a detailed manner. As a result of the literature review, the factors that accelerated the supply chain integration of liner shipping companies were coded through the MAXQDA 20 qualitative data analysis program, and the relationship between these factors was determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted the world economy, generating an unprecedented shock that pushed carriers to adapt to the collapse of demand. Most of the related adaptation actions (e.g., blank sailings) appear as temporary initiatives being insufficient to reach a long run equilibrium. Moreover, while carriers managed to adjust their own supplied capacity to the ongoing crisis, the port sector has been greatly impacted by the fall in transport demand, not being able to counteract the demand shortages as effectively as the carriers. Against this backdrop, the paper introduces a model for assessing the effects of demand shocks (e.g., due to the pandemic) on the integration strategies of carriers. We focus on the possible initiatives that demand shocks may trigger on the horizontal and vertical integration among the actors of the shipping industry. In doing so, the present study provides useful insights for better understanding potential future market modifications and their impact on social welfare. Using non-cooperative games, profit-maximising strategies, in case of such integrations, are compared in order to study how carriers and terminal operators might react to demand shocks in the medium and long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the problem of vessel fleet deployment for liner shipping. The objective is to minimize the total cost, i.e., the sum of vessel chartering cost and vessel-route operating cost. In the considered problem, the shipment demand for each route is uncertain and its distribution is unknown. Due to lacking historical data, we use the moment-based ambiguity set to characterize the unknown distributions of demands. We then introduce a distributionally robust model and propose a new approximation approach to solve this problem. Finally, numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the performance of our approximation approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cargo (laden container) routing and empty container repositioning are crucial components in liner shipping, which are closely relevant. However, most existing works focus on cargo routing and empty container repositioning separately, which cannot optimize the global shipping cost. In addition, (1) appropriate repacking operations for laden containers can curtail the total handling costs, and (2) the perfect information for uncertain laden and empty container demands may be difficult to obtain due to insufficient historical data. This work investigates an integrated cargo routing and empty container repositioning problem with repacking operations in which only partial information about uncertain laden and empty container demands is known. The objective is to minimize the total costs including repacking operation cost and laden and empty container transportation costs. For the problem, a new chance-constrained programming model based on moment-based ambiguous sets is formulated. Then, four distribution-free solution approaches are adopted to solve the investigated problem. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the vessel fleet deployment problem for liner shipping under uncertain shipment demands. The aim is to minimize the sum of vessel chartering cost and route operating cost, while controlling the risk of shipment demand overflow, i.e., the risk of demand exceeding the shipping capacity. We use moment knowledge to construct an ambiguous set to portray the unknown probability distributions of the demands. We establish chance constraints with risk tolerance for shipping service routes, in a distributionally robust (DR) framework. We propose a mixed integer programming reformulation to approximate the concerned problem with DR chance constraints. We show that the state-of-the-art approach is a special case of our designed approximation method, and we prove the sufficient and necessary conditions such that our approximation method outperforms the state-of-the-art approach, respecting the given risk level. We conduct numerical experiments to demonstrate the advantages of our approximation method. We also show that our novel approximation approach can significantly save the total cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vessels face uncertain factors during a voyage, such as bad weather and harsh sea conditions along a route in container liner shipping. As such, the real vessel speed during each leg of a voyage often deviates from the planned one, which may lead to fluctuations in vessel schedule and bunker consumption. This paper investigates the problem of vessel scheduling and bunker management with speed deviations (VSBMSD) for liner shipping in the presence of collaborative agreements. By establishing the worst-case scenario of the maximum bunker consumption function with vessel sailing speed as an independent variable, we develop a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model to minimize the total liner shipping route service cost. A piecewise linear secant approximation method is designed, and then a CPLEX solver is used to solve the problem. The results of the computational experiments conducted for the AEMX route indicate that VSBMSD in the presence of collaborative agreements can enable shipping companies to design vessel schedules reasonably and reduce the total cost of liner shipping route service by at least 2.95% compared to the results from similar studies.

Within the context of a geographically integrated capitalist economy, containerized transport networks act as the cogwheel of the global market, undertaking the circulation of commodities. While transport chains become the media of industrial circulation facilitating the augmented reproduction of industrial capital, transport is in itself a distinct sphere of investment, which ultimately opts to ensure its self-expansion. By employing Marx’s circuit formula M−C−M′, we investigate how the pace of reproduction of transport capital affects the evolution of concentration process in containerized supply chains within the context of contemporary capitalist development. Additionally, by adjusting the circuit for the case of liner shipping and terminal operators, the impact of transport innovations in the attached media functions of transport actors and hence in the velocity of their circuits, is examined. Analysis indicates that innovations, act as catalysts in accelerating the circuits of transport actors, reinforcing the concentration process within the sphere of circulation.

Managing safety has become increasingly important in global operations. Surprisingly, the literature provides limited clues on what influences future accident hazards after the happening of a recent minor operational incident (MOI) in an organization. We examine the impacts of internal context (direct MOI experience) and external context (indirect MOI experience) on a focal organization's future serious accident hazard. Using an archival incident dataset from the liner shipping industry and drawing upon normalized deviation and social contagion theory, we find that after a recent MOI in a focal organization, the direct (internal context) and indirect (contagion source) MOI experience "increase" the likelihood of accident hazard. Furthermore, within the indirect MOI experience, there is "no" differential impact between related (same type and same region) and unrelated experience, whereas within related experience, spatial (region) and social (type) proximity do not differ in influencing the chance of future serious accident hazard happening. Our findings provide important implications for theory, practice, and policy‐making in safety management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) and Maritime Silk Road (MSR) provide important avenues for cargo transport between China and Europe. This paper addresses the issues of the subsidy for China-Europe Railway Express (CERE) on the SREB and the sulfur emission control for liner shipping on the MSR from a perspective of building a community of shared future for mankind. Two welfare maximization models are proposed for determining the optimal subsidy and the optimal sulfur emission control coverage within which the sulfur in ships' fuel oil is required to be less than 0.1%. One considers the competition between two transport modes (CERE and liner shipping), in which their own net profit is maximized. The other concerns the cooperation between two modes, in which their total net profit is maximized. The properties of the two models are analytically explored and compared. The results show that intermodal competition outperforms intermodal cooperation in terms of social welfare, consumer surplus, and environmental pollution, though at the cost of carrier profit and total subsidy from the regulator. The regulator may efficiently control the adverse impacts of an increase in the fuel oil price or in the marginal cost of air pollution on the social welfare of the system through adjusting the CERE subsidy and the sulfur emission control coverage. • Address the issues of the optimal subsidy for China-Europe Railway Express and the optimal emission control coverage for liner shipping on Maritime Silk Road. • Propose social welfare maximization models under the competition and cooperation of the China-Europe Railway Express and liner shipping. • Intermodal competition outperforms intermodal cooperation in terms of social welfare, consumer surplus, and environmental pollution, though at the cost of carrier profit and total subsidy from the regulator. • The regulator may efficiently control the adverse impacts of fuel oil price rise through adjusting the subsidy for China-Europe Railway Express and the sulfur emission control coverage for liner shipping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the liner shipping industry, if a shipper wants to transport its cargo by container ships, it first needs to contact a carrier to book container slots based on the estimated transportation demand. However, one problem in the booking process is that the actual demand is uncertain, resulting in mismatch between the required demand and the booked quantity. To address this issue, this study develops a Newsvendor model to find the optimal order quantity of container slots for the shipper. In addition, uncertainties in the quantity of container slots booking made by the shipper might cause revenue loss to the carrier and low utilization of ship capacity in the daily operations of liner shipping services. Therefore, this study suggests that the shipper should pay reservation fee when booking container slots. This study also aims to find the maximum profit for the carrier under the optimal order quantity of the shipper. In sensitive analysis, how different prices per container slot offered by the carrier would influence the reservation fee, the optimal order quantity of the shipper, and the expected profit of the carrier are explored and discussed. This study can help to manage and promote the online container booking systems in the liner shipping industry.

It is well known that the international logistics and supply chains are subject to the domination of seaports and shipping lines each with increasingly significant market power. This implies that international supply chains, which typically involves sea transport as a key chain segment, could be subject to the double marginalisation problem. This means, chain operators are likely subject to both technical and allocative efficiency issues. The former is related to the use of inputs in production and distribution, and the latter is generally related to the market structure that affects resource allocation. The current study seeks to study the simultaneous relationships between three components, namely logistics integration, technical efficiency, and allocative efficiency in international container shipping. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling are conducted using data collected from a survey of global shipping lines. The analysis results show that logistics integration comprises of two main interrelated aspects, namely relational integration, and operational integration. It has significant effects on both technical and allocative efficiency. Technical efficiency and market contestability are affected by relational integration, while allocative efficiency and infrastructure capacity are affected by operational integration. Based on the analysis results, implications for port, terminals and stakeholders are also discussed.

Abstract Decarbonization provides a crucial challenge for the maritime industry, resulting in growing concerns about how to achieve the initial IMO strategy on reduction of GHG-emissions from ships. In this context, R&D cooperation has become an important domain for industrial practice, constituting a preeminent strategic framework and vital factor for actively shaping the industry’s development towards a sustainable future. Leading global liner-shipping companies emphasize the importance of R&D to surmount disruptive challenges. However, based on the variety of R&D cooperation models, it remains to be investigated how such collaborations should be configured. This paper seeks to address practical collaboration concepts by defining holistic requirements from a corporate perspective, which are subsequently matched with a portfolio of external stakeholders and cooperation configurations. For this process, a mixed-methods research design has been adopted, sourcing the required information from expert interviews with the primary stakeholder groups and culminating in the construction of two multi-criteria decision-making models to draw dynamic inferences. On this basis, econometric analysis suggests knowledge-based R&D cooperation models, and early-stage involvement of academic institutions and classification societies. This provides the framework for actively engaging in a variety of further technological test-phases in the future, to evaluate imminent GHG-reduction alternatives and perpetuate sustainable value creation. The research results empirically support theoretical literature on environmentally related R&D cooperation and contribute to the understanding of strategic partnerships. This adds economic robustness to a widely discussed topic.

The aim of this research is to test the volatility spillover between the stock values of the major liner shipping companies in the world and the freight indices measuring the freight revenues in the container market. The dataset in the study consists of 9 stock values of the top 10 biggest liner companies in 2018 and 3 container freight indices on weekly basis covering the period between 05.11.2010 and 06.07.2018. Volatility spillovers have been determined to some companies' stock values from some container freight indices, and the most influential freight index has been determined as New ConTex. Moreover, some volatility spillovers from some companies' stock values to freight indices have been also determined. These results suggest that some stock investors position their portfolios in the market according to the flow of information from freight indices while some investors position by following macro variables.

Maritime shipping, an integral component of global trade, accounts for nearly 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions and faces significant challenges in mitigating its carbon footprints. This study addresses the shortcomings of current carbon emission surcharges levied by shipping companies and the deficiencies of allocation methods utilized by the government, such as the inequity of uniform carbon emission charges across diverse origin–destination (od) pairs and the reliance on potentially inaccurate self-reported emissions data to assign carbon emission allowances. We propose a novel approach to carbon emission allocation per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container per od pair in liner shipping from the perspective of the government, aiming to enhance government oversight and minimize social costs. Leveraging a bi-level programming model, our research navigates the complex interplay between government regulatory objectives and shipping companies' operational decisions, identifying a socially optimal carbon allocation policy. Our approach introduces three innovative carbon allocation methods that advance beyond the traditional metric that typically focuses solely on emissions and cargo volume. Our first two innovative methods integrate shipping distances into the carbon allocation process, specifically considering both the actual traveling distance and the shortest sailing distance. Furthermore, we propose the third innovative "harmonic distance," which is a convex combination of the actual traveling distance and the shortest sailing distance. This measure effectively reflects both the operational realities and equity concerns associated with shipping services. Our findings reveal the effectiveness of utilizing the shortest sailing distance for carbon allocation per TEU per od pair, offering a straightforward, route-independent, and equitable solution. This approach diverges from current industrial practices, favoring a fairer emission allocation basis and balancing the interests of governments, shipping companies, and consumers. Through comprehensive experiments, we demonstrate the superiority of this method in minimizing total social costs and providing a viable path toward environmental sustainability and economic efficiency in liner shipping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the complex structure of the transportation systems, disruptions in transport operations may occur from time to time. In liner shipping, it is seen that shipping lines frequently deviate from the transit times announced in their vessel schedules, and this leads to schedule unreliability. This leads to schedule unreliability and affects all stakeholders. Based on actual transportation data, this study aims to evaluate the transit time reliability performance of shipping lines and the factors that may affect transit time reliability to investigate schedule reliability in liner shipping. To evaluate the transit time reliability of shipping lines', transit time deviations were calculated based on observations containing 5080 transport data of shipping lines and current performances are discussed. Hypotheses were tested with independent sample t-test and Welch's ANOVA to examine the factors affecting transit time reliability. Tamhane's T2 post-hoc test was used to determine the difference between groups. Results show that transit time reliability of shipping lines is low. It has been observed that the type of service, season, vessel age, and TEU capacity of the vessel factors affect the transit time reliabillity. With this study, shipping lines can evaluate their reliability performances according to the competition. At the same time, lines can use these results to understand, evaluate and manage factors that affect their transit time reliability. In this direction, suggestions have been made to the shipping lines to contribute to improving transit time reliability and service quality. This article is regarded to close the gap in evaluating transit time reliability in liner transportation because it relies on actual transportation data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fleet deployment problem is a tactical planning problem in the shipping industry that seeks to efficiently assign ships to predetermined shipping services to meet the uncertain and seasonal changing demands caused by a highly fluctuating market. Once the fleet deployment plan is fixed, the allocated capacity on each service affects the possible flows transported and the profit obtained. This paper proposes a two-stage robust optimization model for ship fleet deployment and shipping revenue management of a liner shipping network under demand uncertainty. The randomness of demand in our model is represented by probability-free uncertain sets. A column-and-constraint generation based exact algorithm is designed to solve our model based on the analysis of its structural properties. To further accelerate the convergence of our algorithm, an M -tightening technique has been exploited. Finally, extensive computational experiments based on realistic instances are conducted to validate the effectiveness of our model and the efficiency of the algorithm; further, managerial insights are acquired based on the numerical results. • Consider ship fleet deployment in liner shipping with revenue management under uncertainty. • Develop a two-stage robust optimization model. • Develop a column-and-constraint generation based exact algorithm. • Conduct extensive numerical experiments to test the model and algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the fundamental vessel deployment problem in the liner shipping industry, which decides the numbers of mixed-type ships and their sailing frequencies on fixed routes to provide sufficient vessel capacity for fulfilling stochastic shipping demands with high probability. In reality, it is usually difficult (if not impossible) to acquire a precise joint distribution of shipping demands, as they may fluctuate heavily due to the fast-changing economic environment or unpredictable events. To address this challenge, we leverage recent advances in distributionally robust optimization and propose distribution-free robust joint chance constrained models. In the first model, we only assume support, mean as well as lower-order dispersion information of the shipping demands and provide high-quality solutions via a sequential convex optimization algorithm. Comparing with existing literature that chiefly studies individual chance constraints based on concentration inequalities and the union bound, our approach yields solutions that are less conservative and less vulnerable to the magnitude of demand dispersion. We also extend to a data-driven model based on the Wasserstein distance, which suits well in situations where limited historical demand samples are available. Our distributionally robust chance constrained models could serve as a baseline model for vessel deployment, into which we believe additional practical constraints could be incorporated seamlessly. • Distributionally robust joint chance constrained models for the vessel deployment problem. • Examples on the meaning and applications of the mean and dispersion ambiguity set in maritime industry. • Extensive experiments in data-driven setting. • More robust but less conservative deployment plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of sharing economy has effectively changed the gap between market participants and promoted the emergence of new business modes, which has also brought enlightenment to the operation of shipping e-commerce. In this paper, we develop a liner shipping system consisting of one ship space booking platform and two Non-Vessel Operating Common Carriers (NVOCCs). Under two rental modes proposed by platform, the NVOCCs separately determine the order quantity of ship spaces and then consider whether to share the remaining idle ship spaces on the platform before the start of voyage. Introducing multi-party game theory, the optimal sharing strategy and ship space rental mode are obtained. The results reveal that both NVOCCs choosing sharing strategy will achieve a win–win situation, which is also beneficial for the platform. Furthermore, we find the most appropriate operation mode of the platform is to provide differentiated rentals, and this choice is independent of NVOCCs' sharing strategies. The differential rentals mode is also more beneficial to the NVOCC with larger potential demand, but adverse for the NVOCC with less potential demand, so the latter is more inclined to share remaining spaces under the same rental mode. We also extend the model to multiple NVOCCs and present numerical analysis to verify the validity of the conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Strategic alliances are the most common type of collaboration agreement used by shipping lines to provide worldwide maritime container transport services. Since their first appearance just before the mid-1990s, they have progressed to account for 90% of global container shipping capacity with the top eight container operators organizing today their East/West route services through one of the main three strategic alliances. This paper reviews comprehensively and critically the literature on the subject, over 25 years of research on this topic. This includes 85 articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 1994 and 2019, and analyzed and grouped into three main research areas: formation, management, and optimization of strategic alliances. The output of the analysis is then used to provide a future research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each shipping line is expected to establish a reliable operating model, and the design of ship schedules is a key operational consideration. Long-term profits for shipping lines can be expected from a well-designed ship schedule. In today's liner service design, managing the time factor is critical. Shipping schedules are prone to different unexpected disruptions. Such disruptions would necessitate a near-real-time analysis of port capacity and re-design of the original ship schedule to offset the negative externalities. Ship schedule recovery strategies should be implemented to mitigate the effects caused by disruptions at ports or at sea, which may include, but are not limited to, ship sailing speed adjustment, handling rate adjustment at ports, port skipping, and port skipping with container diversion. A proper selection of ship schedule recovery strategies is expected to minimize deviations from the original ship schedule and reduce delays in the delivery of cargoes to the destination ports. This article offers a thorough review of the current liner shipping research primarily focusing on two major themes: (1) uncertainties in liner shipping operations; and (2) ship schedule recovery in response to disruptive events. On the basis of a detailed review of the available literature, the obtained results are carefully investigated, and limitations in the current state-of-the-art are determined for every group of studies. Furthermore, representative mathematical models are provided that could be further used in future research efforts dealing with uncertainties in liner shipping and ship schedule recovery. Last but not least, a few prospective research avenues are suggested for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]