Maritime Supply Chains

Thierry Vanelslander, Christa Sys

• Publisher: Elsevier
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780128184219
• eBook ISBN: 9780128189320
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Human Geography
• Index: Social Sciences

Maritime Supply Chains breaks the maritime chain into components, consistently relating them to the overall integrated supply chain. The book not only analyzes and provides solutions to frequently encountered problems and key operational issues, it also applies cutting-edge scientific techniques on the maritime supply chain. Sections consider shipping, ports and terminals, hinterland and the issues that intersect different parts of the chain. Readers will find discussions of the various actors at play and how they relate to the overall function of the supply chain. Finally, the book offers solutions to the most pressing problems, thus providing a unique, well-balanced account.- Provides a comprehensive and integrative account of the maritime supply chain, from shipping, to port, to hinterland- Cuts through the maritime supply chain to offer a transversal picture on how the chain functions- Applies rigorous analytical techniques to give solutions to the most frequent and pressing challenges facing maritime supply chains- Considers advances, such as blockchain, that are set to transform maritime supply chains

Chapter 1

Integration of the maritime supply chain: Evolving from collaboration process to maritime supply chain network

Christa Sys; Thierry Vanelslander Department of Transport and Regional Economics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract

The main theme of the book focuses on the integration of the maritime supply chain. This book provides an analysis of the most-frequently encountered problems in maritime supply chains hampering the move toward network. It furthermore provides solutions for handling those problems. Those are of interest to scientists, as the chapters are at the forefront of methodological developments in their respective fields. Also, the chapters are of immediate relevance to business practitioners at the managerial level and policy makers, as they provide answers to key operational issues. Finally, the book is useful for any supply chain course all over the world. Students, minimally at the master's level or higher, can take useful lessons from the book. The book tackles problems and challenges throughout maritime supply chains. The parts of the book are also built up in that way. The first part deals with the maritime section. Those chapters are of interest to shipping companies, market analysts, and shipbuilders, but indirectly also to port authorities and terminal operators. The second part deals with the port. Again, market analysts can draw useful insights from the provided chapters, just like port authorities and terminal operators. Indirectly, also shipping companies, as customers of the port, can benefit. The third part touches upon the hinterland. Land transport (road, rail, and inland waterway) operators can directly profit from the findings of the research carried out. But due to the increased involvement from other chain players (shipping companies, (inland) terminals, shippers) in land haulage, also those can enjoy useful lessons and recommendations. The final part consists of a transversal chain analysis. Here, the focus is on digital innovation gradually changing the maritime chain.

Keywords

Scene; Aim; Features; Contents

Acknowledgments

As editors, we would like to thank both the authors and the reviewers who contributed to the creation of this book. Next, we would want to thank Patsy Geurts for her organizational support in preparing and hosting the conference. Finally, we also would like to thank Aleksandra Packowska & Selvaraj Raviraj, Elsevier, for their much appreciated assistance.

1 Setting the scene

The main theme of the book focuses on the integration of the maritime supply chain. The maritime supply chain (MarSC) is understood as the “connected series of activities pertaining to shipping services which is concerned with planning, coordinating and controlling (containerized) cargoes from the point of origin to the point of destination” (Lam and Van De Voorde, 2011, pp. 366–367). Next to cargo and financial flows, liner carriers need to coordinate information and communication flows along the maritime supply chain, interfacing with stakeholders such as port operators, terminal operators, shipping agents, logistic service providers, freight forwarders, customs authorities, and shippers. Based on La Londe and Masters (1994), here, the integration of the maritime supply chain refers to all stakeholders along the maritime supply chain entering into a long-term agreement and connecting, including the sharing of relevant data. As opposed to general supply chain integration (a.o. Bowersox et al., 1999; Christopher, 1992; Mentzer et al., 2001; Rai et al., 2006), the literature regarding maritime supply chain integration is rather limited.

Globalization, deregulation, liberalization, and increased competition highlighted that supply chain integration is an important research topic in the maritime and port economies. First, leading logistics companies understood the importance of supply chain orientation, driven by cost reduction, customer value, and competitive advantage (Christopher, 1992; Mentzer et al., 2001). Second, in the maritime business, the ship management and shipbuilding industries soon recognized supply chain partnerships in their corporate strategy (Kumar and Hoffmann, 2002). Last, regarding the maritime supply chain, Heaver (2001) and De Souza et al. (2003) explored managing maritime transport and logistics as an integrated chain. These authors reviewed the strategy of shipping lines in relation to terminal operating companies, intermodal services, and logistics services. Robinson (2002) and Mangan et al. (2008) focused on the effective integration of ports and terminals when delivering value to shippers and third-party logistics service providers. Carbone and De Martino (2003) employed an analytical model to study the actors’ behavior in the supply-chain relationship between a port (Le Havre) and a shipper (Renault automotive). Panayides (2006) discussed the evolution of the maritime logistics concept. Song and Panayides (2008) focused on the impact of the integration of ports in the supply chain on port competitiveness. Their model shows a “positive relationship between parameters of supply chain integration such as use of technology, value added, and user's relationships and parameters of port competitiveness such as cost, quality, reliability, responsiveness, and customization.”

Since the global financial-economic crisis of 2009, particularly in the container shipping industry, overcapacity resulting in low freight rates has put pressure on market players elsewhere along the maritime supply chain. The literature shifts its focus from (backward or forward) integration between two stakeholders (e.g., liner carriers and terminal operators, liner operators and shippers, etc.), which might lead to suboptimization (Lin et al., 2014) toward covering an entire supply chain.

In general, there are different levels of supply chain integration; the highest level is vertical integration.^a Here, vertical integration refers to collaboration agreements between subsequent stakeholders of the same MarSC. In this way, the competition changes from an individual firm-to-firm level toward competition between entire supply chains. Vertical integration is governed by stakeholders who aim to have control over a supply chain by increasing their market power (Lipczynski et al., 2005; Besanko and Braeutigam, 2010). In shipping, Meersman et al. (2010) analyzed the role of the various chain actors toward ports applying a regional input-output approach. The authors conclude that “all parties belonging to a given maritime logistics chain have one interest in common: to ensure that their chain is the most attractive, i.e. that it is the most efficient and the cheapest.”

Lam and Van De Voorde (2011) presented a scenario analysis for examining the nature and level of supply chain integration in container shipping. Woo et al. (2012) assessed the integration of ports into the supply chain using a structural equation model. Lam (2013) found that individualism is a major obstacle to supply chain integration. Van de Voorde and Vanelslander (2014) stated that cooperation is a trend in the development of future maritime supply chains. Horizontal but especially vertical integration happens to a large extent, originating from shipping companies, but more recently also by terminal operators. Attention thereby shifts to the hinterland, as connections to the hinterland have become the crucial cost determinant in maritime supply chains and determine the strength of a port. The role of the latter port authority evolves from being a landlord to being a reliable actor in the supply chain, whose only remaining trump cards are concessions and the potential to lobby with governments for more capacity investment, also in the hinterland (Verhoeven, 2015).

After this, the focus of recent research has shifted to topics such as the security (Banomyong, 2005; Yang, 2011), sustainability (Lam, 2015), and resilience (Christopher and Holweg, 2011; Christopher, 2016; McKinnon, 2018) of the maritime supply chain. These developments contribute to increased complexity of the maritime supply chain. In order to manage the end-to-end integration of maritime supply chain processes, each stakeholder needs to control its maritime supply chain (reduce uncertainty) and create value for every actor involved in the sustainable ecosystem with the aim of serving their customers in a better way.

2 Aim of the book

This book provides an analysis of the most frequently encountered problems in maritime supply chains hampering the move toward network. It furthermore provides solutions for handling those problems. Those are of interest to scientists as the chapters are at the forefront of methodological developments in their respective fields. Also, the chapters are of immediate relevance to business practitioners at the managerial level as well as policy makers, as they provide answers to key operational issues. Finally, the book is useful for any supply chain course all over the world. Students, minimally at a master's level or higher, can take useful lessons from the book.

The book tackles problems and challenges throughout maritime supply chains. The parts of the book are also built up in that way. The first part deals with the maritime section. Those chapters are of interest to shipping companies, market analysts, and shipbuilders, but indirectly also to port authorities and terminal operators. The second part deals with the port. Again, market analysts can draw useful insights from the provided chapters, just like port authorities and terminal operators. Indirectly, shipping companies, as customers of the port, can also benefit. The third part touches upon the hinterland. Land transport (road, rail, and inland waterway) operators can directly profit from the findings of the research that has been carried out. But due to the increased involvement from other chain players (shipping companies, (inland) terminals, shippers) in land haulage, those can also enjoy useful lessons and recommendations. The final part consists of a transversal chain analysis. Here, the focus is on digital innovation gradually changing the maritime chain. More specifically, the potential of blockchain—as a technology that has the potential to fundamentally alter the way supply chains are operating and who is active in them—is addressed. The last chapter is an overview of the key issues and how to handle them. The outcome concerns a general discussion covering the further integration of the maritime supply chains and puts forward some scenarios as to how the industry should evolve from bilateral partner collaboration to a maritime supply chain network.

The issues dealt with generically concern the operator's strategic roles in chains and markets, pricing features, infrastructure investment, and regulatory developments and needs as well as technological items, including IT. The reader will find for each of those topics the latest developments as well as strategies that can be followed to cope with emerging challenges.

3 Features of the book

This book has a number of particular features. First of all, it is the first book in the wider field of transport and logistics that takes a transversal look throughout the maritime supply chain, not staying at the higher level of chain analysis, but breaking the chain down into its components but always keeping the wider integrated chain perspective.

Second, the book groups the key issues in current maritime supply chains. Hence, whatever the role of the reader in the maritime supply chain, or even outside as a scientist or market analyst, the reader will have a very complete overview of the decision items that matter.

Third, the book serves scientists, who have a rather methodological perspective, as well as business practitioners. Methodologically, the chapters apply cutting-edge scientific techniques. For practitioners, the latest state of developments in business practice as well as recommendations can be found in the book.

4 Contents of the book

The book contains 12 chapters and is structured around four themes: shipping, ports and terminals, the hinterland, and transversal issues.

The introductory chapter to the book addresses the red line that runs through the book, so as to identify where the key issues are in the chain. The last chapter comes to overarching ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Chapter 1: Integration of the maritime supply chain: Evolving from collaboration process to maritime supply chain network
• Part I: Shipping
• Part II: Port and terminals
• Part III: Hinterland
• Part IV: Transversal issues
• Index