A research on operational patterns in container liner shipping

Abstract

This article studies operational patterns in container liner shipping with the emphasis on End-To-End (ETE), Round-The-World (RTW), and pendulum patterns. The first research issue deals with their deployment on designing shipping routes on the East–West corridor. The second issue compares their operational characteristics to realize their strength and weakness. The empirical work is carried out using 2074 route records of the top 20 shipping lines from 1995 to 2011. During the period, ETE was the dominant pattern. From 81 to 93% of the surveyed routes operated under this pattern. Pendulum was in favour in the early 2000s, but its use later declined. Round the world had been expected as an innovation in the industry but it was employed limitedly. An important feature of RTW and pendulum patterns is to include multiple trades on a single route, which can bring about the advantages of traffic bundling and less fleet requirement. On the other hand, multiple trades result in more complexity of these patterns, displayed through long voyage distance and time, a greater number of visited regions and more ports of call. Additionally, the deployment of mega vessels is also restricted due to traffic discrepancy between trade lanes.