International container shipping is a complex system of interlocked stakeholders. Obtaining reliable data can be difficult and the data for specific routes and container terminals change over time. Intermodal transportation has increased in importance over the years. A relational database model was developed as a tool for stakeholders interested in analyzing specific paths. The database uses data on transportation time, variance of transportation time, transportation cost and green house gas emissions. The user can specify their own set of locations, movements, containers, items and transportation modes. The total logistics cost of a specific importing strategy can be calculated for any path defined by the user. A Floyd-Warshall algorithm was implemented to allow for the shortest path between locations to be determined, based on the preferences of the user for either cost, time or CO2 emissions. In order to illustrate the capabilities of our model and because of our interest in the port of Halifax, we created a dataset from the distances between important locations within the international container shipping system. Using this dataset, some example calculations indicate that the port of Halifax and the port of Montreal could consider cooperating to form a hub-and-spoke relationship for European imports. In another example, the port of Halifax provides the fastest route for imports using the Suez Canal intending to reach Toronto but the cheapest total logistics cost route involves using the port of NY/NJ. By using both the total logistics cost algorithms and the shortest path algorithms, the examples illustrate how stakeholders in the container transportation industry can analyze various routes, terminals and make informed decisions.

Amidst intense port competition in Northeast Asia, competitiveness in port operations is a critical issue in adopting and implementing sustainability practice that incorporate economic, environmental, social and operational perspectives. Notwithstanding the importance of sustainability practice for sustainable port operations, very few studies have investigated its links with operational sustainability and competitiveness. For this reason, in order to encourage the proactive adoption and implementation of sustainability practice in port operations, this study aims to analyse the role of sustainability practice in managing competitiveness and continuous improvements in operational performance, based on mega container ports operations. To address this issue, this study adopted a two-phase research design which incorporates a preliminary field study and empirical research. At first, to understand the specific and general features of sustainability practice in commercial port operations, preliminary field work through semi-structured face-to-face interviews were undertaken. Interviews validated the attributes of sustainability practice in the container port operational context, investigating the relevant issues. Thereafter, based on data collected from 203 organisations engaged in container port operations in Northeast Asia, the feasible relationships among sustainability practice, competitiveness and performance were analysed using hierarchical moderator regression analysis in SPSS 21. Finally, the results revealed that sustainability practice has a significant contribution as a moderator to the relationship between competitiveness, particularly in operational efficiency and service quality, and operational performance. The two-phase research design made it possible to define and validate the role of sustainability practice in managing the relationship between competitiveness and performance. With regard to theory, this study has placed the case of Northeast Asia in a global context. Secondly, the direct relationships between determinants of megaport competitiveness and performance in the context of container port operations were verified. Thirdly, the specific routes, what is achievable and how sustainability practice contributes to enhancing the relationships between determinants of megaport competitiveness and operational performance, were revealed in a container port operational context. For the ports industries, this study has provided useful insights to establish strategies for sustainable port operations and a strategic agenda to assist ports to incorporate sustainability practice, providing evidence that this will contribute to enhancing their overall competitiveness. The findings are expected to be utilised further in future studies on sustainable port development and operations, as well as to provide guidance for port operators in its future improvement strategy.

Whilst container shipping has become increasingly important over the past few decades due to its obvious advantages, container shipping companies have faced various risks from different sources in their operations. Systematic academic studies on this topic are few; and in light of this, this study aims to systematically explore and analyse the risks in container shipping operations and to examine the applicable risk mitigation strategies in a logistics perspective, including information flow, physical flow, and payment flow. This thesis uses Taiwan container shipping industry as a case study, and borrows four steps of risk management as the main method, which includes risk identification, risk analysis, risk mitigation strategies identification, and strategies evaluation. In order to ensure the analysis is inclusive and systematic, risk factors and risk mitigation strategies are identified through a related literature review and are validated through a set of interviews. Risk analysis is conducted through using questionnaires, and then through risk ranking, risk matrix, risk mapping, and P-I graph. Risk mitigation strategies are evaluated through classic AHP and fuzzy AHP analysis. A number of significant findings have been obtained. Firstly, 35 risk factors are identified and classified into three categories: risks associated with information flow, risks associated with physical flow, and risks associated with payment flow. After collecting and analysing the risk-factor survey, the results indicate that the risk associated with physical flow has the more significant impact on shipping companies’ operation. However, one risk factor associated with information flow, “shippers hiding cargo information”, has the most significant impact among the 35 risk factors. Secondly, 20 risk mitigation strategies are identified and classified into three categories: intra-organisational strategies, intra-channel strategies, and inter-channel strategies. After collecting the AHP survey and analysing through classic AHP and fuzzy AHP, the result indicates that “slot exchange, slot charter, joint fleet, ship charter with other container shipping companies” is the most important strategy. The main contributions of this thesis include: (1) based on the literature review, there have been no research on risk management in the context of container shipping operation from a broad logistics perspective, and this thesis is the first attempt to fill this research gap; (2) this thesis uses Taiwan shipping industry as a case study to apply the framework, which generates useful managerial insights; (3) the conceptual model of risk management developed in this thesis can be applied to container shipping operations in other countries and regions; (4) compared with several studies using secondary data, this thesis uses empirical data to conduct the risk analysis, and make the results more close to the reality situation in container shipping; (5) in terms of risk analysis, this thesis ranks the total 35 risk factors rather than only identify the most important one, this can be used to be generalised to the whole container shipping companies in Taiwan, or even to the whole world; (6) in terms of risk management, the previous studies usually analyse only the importance of strategies. However, this thesis analyses the results of AHP from three different angles: reducing financial loss, reducing reputation loss, and reducing safety and security incident related loss. This can provide different angles for the managers who are considering different aspects.

The container shipping industry is essentially a service industry, based on the derived need of shippers wanting to transport their goods to buyers around the world. The industry relies on the volume of world trade and consequently is highly cyclical with its profitability being dependent, in large part, on the health of the global economy. It is also a highly capital intensive industry that requires large amount of investment in large scale fixed assets, such as ocean vessels, ports facilities, terminal equipments, global office networks and communication infrastructure. The industry has been undergoing a period of restructuring and consolidation in the 1990s, reflected in both merger and acquisition and in the formation of global alliances. This paper will explore the literature on growth alternatives and competitive advantages of the industry. The specific case on NOL/APL growth path and its key success factors of strategy-performance relationship will also be identified. This paper will conclude by making some suggestions on longer-term strategy for the company in order to generate sustainable profitability and financial success for the NOL/APL group.

In its theoretical -- methodical part, the thesis is focusing on the subject of containerization, characterizes the liner sea transportation (shipping lines), describes the current situation on the sea freight market, characterizes selected shipping lines operating on the trade: Latin America -- EU and describes the ports on the export side: Callao and Paita. In the practical part, it addresses the progression of the transportation chain, beginning with the client's inquiry and ending with delivering the cargo at the consignee's premises. I am also presenting the transportation string through an actual shipment from the Peruvian port of Callao to Prague.

I detta examensarbete genomförs en omfattande analys om hur prissättningsstrategier tillämpas inom sjöfraktindustrin. Denna bransch har en nyckelfunktion i världens globala försörjningskedjor och spelar en viktig roll i världsekonomin. Trots det präglas industrin av låga vinstmarginaler samt höga kostnader och påtaglig konkurrens. Syftet med studien är således att analysera hur prissättningsstrategier kan hantera kostnadsproblematiken och skapa positiva ekonomiska effekter för aktörer inom industrin. Därefter introduceras en konceptuell strategi som förslag på ytterligare intäktsoptimering relaterat till avbokningsproblematik. Denna strategi bygger på en dynamisk avbokningsavgift som baseras på fraktpris och säsongsindikatorer. Modellen testas och analyseras för att undersöka dess ekonomiska effekter. Studien genomförs med en kvalitativ forskningsmetod där respondenter från två internationella rederier med filialer i Sverige intervjuas; CMA-CGM och Maersk. Detta för att få en inblick över hur kostnadsproblematiken ter sig i verkligheten och hur prissättningsstrategier kan hantera den. Slutsatserna av studien är att de två företag som jämförts använder sig av befintliga strategier för att kunna hantera den kostnadsproblematik som ständigt förekommer inom sjöfrakten. Dessa strategier innefattar områden som; utrymmesutnyttjande, allokering baserat på kundkategorier samt överbokning. För att skapa ekonomiska fördelar utvärderas dessa strategier kontinuerligt för att företagen ska kunna uppnå maximal vinst. Det är även av största vikt att företagen är flexibla i den utsträckning som tillåts då marknaden präglas av kraftig konkurrens. Genom att använda centrala delar av de befintliga strategierna har en konceptuell modell tagits fram som potentiellt sett kan öka företagets intäkter vid avbokningar. / In this bachelor thesis, a comprehensive analysis of how pricing strategies are applied in the sea freight industry is carried out. This industry has a key function in the world's global supply chains and plays an important role in the world economy. Despite this, the industry is characterized by low profit margins as well as high costs and considerable competition. The aim of the study is thus to analyze how pricing strategies can deal with the cost problem and create positive economic effects for actors in the industry. Subsequently, a conceptual strategy is introduced as a proposal for further revenue optimization related to cancellation problems. This strategy is based on a dynamic cancellation fee based on freight prices and seasonal indicators. The model is tested and analyzed to investigate its economic effects. The study is carried out with a qualitative research method in which respondents from two international shipping companies with branches in Sweden are being interviewed; CMA-CGM and Maersk. This is to gain an insight into how the cost problem appears in reality and how pricing strategies can handle it. The conclusions of the study are that the two companies that have been compared are using existing strategies to deal with the cost problems that constantly occur in sea freight. These strategies include areas such as; space utilization, allocation based on customer categories and over booking. In order to generate economic benefits, these strategies are continuously evaluated in order for companies to achieve maximum profit. It is also of the utmost importance that companies are flexible to the extent that is permissible since the market is characterized by strong competition. By using central parts of the existing strategies, a conceptual model has been developed that potentially can increase the company's revenues linked to cancellations.

本研究主要在探討台灣貨櫃航商之競爭策略，首先聚焦在全球整體海運業之定期船業務，因其運送約七成貨物價值之貨載，而貨櫃航運業運輸量則佔定期船運量超過九成，重要性不言可喻。台灣貨櫃船公司更在世界航運舞台，扮演重要角色成效斐然，因此以台灣貨櫃航運業為研究對象，專注於研究台灣貨櫃船公司所面臨的環境壓力衝擊、分析產業競爭問題、產業風險及成本結構、以歸納建議因應當代變局的關鍵競爭策略。 透過與業界深具實務經驗的資深專家訪談，並以進行面對面深度訪談及勾選問卷聚焦填答方式，對於研究問題經由具決策權之高階管理專家，得到更深遠寬廣的義涵與解答。本研究歸納受訪專家的結論認為：要改善貨櫃海運產業的激烈競爭態勢，當務之急是航商之間應擇優策略聯盟，不該盲目跟進大量訂造新船，宜審慎避免過度投資及過量增加船舶艙位，造成產業運能供給與需求失衡。 規劃產業的競爭策略最重要的是要把公司放入「環境」中考量。貨櫃航運業歷經逾五十年的發展，已逐步過渡到溫和成長的「成熟期產業」階段。這個階段伴隨技術成熟與極度標準化的國際競爭加劇，而使產業獲利走低，業者必須格外著重降低成本與提升服務品質，執行風險管理，並兼顧產品組合之合理化及正確訂價，且要積極穩固忠誠的老客戶，才足以因應嚴峻情勢變化與挑戰，同時必須實施流程創新與再造，及加強管控產業的各項「不確定性」風險。 業者應積極整合組織中外顯與內隱的競爭優勢，以科學管理方式實踐合理化，創新性與競合式發展策略，並強調知識經濟與核心能力為主的差異化策略，實質確保永續優勢的「競爭策略」。 / This study explored the competitive strategies of Taiwanese container shipping companies. I focus on the impact of the environmental pressures on these companies, and highlighted their key competitive strategies. Based on depth interviews and questionnaire with industrial senior executive experts, this study suggests that Taiwanese container shipping companies consider to reduce their risk exposure by forming strategic alliances and to avoid making excessive new vessels building and investment, in facing increasing imbalance of worldwide fleet loading capacity in container shipping industry. Global container shipping industry has developed over than 50 years and is now toward “Industry maturity period”. Competitors in such an industry should focus on lowering cost and strengthening the quality of service to secure customer loyalty. At same time, competitors in the industry should also strive for process innovation and better risk management. They should also develop the core competence and try to differentiate themselves from other competitors in order to ensure their sustainable advantages.

Le transport maritime par conteneurs est devenu universel compte tenu de son caractère multimodal. Le succès de ce mode de transport est aussi lié à l’implication de plusieurs professionnels tant du monde privé que du monde public. Cependant, le transport de conteneurs constitue un univers de contentieux parfois inconnus. L’usage de ces boîtes fait l’objet de contentieux de nature privé, mais également des contentieux de nature administrative. Bien que des Conventions internationales règlementent le transport maritime en général, l’inadaptation de certaines de ces normes ne facilite pas la résolution de ces contentieux. Et, comme l’administration des douanes est en amont et en aval dans l’exécution du contrat de transport, son intervention ne reste pas sans soulever des contentieux dont la résolution implique deux ordres de juridictions. / The container shipping has become universal because of its multimodal nature. The success of this mean of transport is also linked to the involvement of many professionals from both private and public sectors. However, the container shipping constitutes a field of litigation sometime ignored. The use of these boxes involves not only litigations of private nature but also of administrative nature. Although some international conventions regulate shipping in general, the unsuitability of some of these norms does not help the settlement of these litigations. And, as the customs administration is upstream and downstream involved in the execution of the contract of carriage, its involvement is a source of disputes whose settlement implies two different kinds of courts.