Swedish shippers’ strategies for coping with slow-steaming in deep sea container shipping
Abstract When container shipping lines experience over-capacity and high fuel costs, they typically respond by decreasing sailing speeds and, consequently, increasing transport time. Most of the literature on this phenomenon, often referred to as slow-steaming, takes the perspective of the shipping...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SpringerOpen
2018-05-01
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| Series: | Journal of Shipping and Trade |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41072-018-0033-2 |
| _version_ | 1818332880773840896 |
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| author | Christian Finnsgård Joakim Kalantari Zeeshan Raza Violeta Roso Johan Woxenius |
| author_facet | Christian Finnsgård Joakim Kalantari Zeeshan Raza Violeta Roso Johan Woxenius |
| author_sort | Christian Finnsgård |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract When container shipping lines experience over-capacity and high fuel costs, they typically respond by decreasing sailing speeds and, consequently, increasing transport time. Most of the literature on this phenomenon, often referred to as slow-steaming, takes the perspective of the shipping lines addressing technical, operational and financial effects, or a society perspective focusing on lower emissions and energy use. Few studies investigate the effects on the demand side of the market for container liner shipping. Hence, the aim of this study is to elaborate on the logistics consequences of slow-steaming, particularly the strategies that Swedish shippers purchasing deep sea container transport services employ to mitigate the effects of slow-steaming. Workshops and semi-structured interviews revealed that shippers felt they had little or no impact on sailing schedules and were more or less subject to container shipping lines’ decisions. The effects of slow-steaming were obviously most severe for firms with complex supply chains, where intermediate products are sent back and forth between production stages on different continents. The shippers developed a set of strategies to cope with the low punctuality of containerised shipping, and these were categorised in the domains of transfer-the-problem, transport, sourcing and distribution, logistics and manufacturing, and product design. All firms applied changes in the transport domain, although the lack of service segmentation limited the effects of the strategy. Most measures were applied by two firms, whereas only one firm changed the product design. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:42:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8cfee5de353349db80fa457a270aa97d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2364-4575 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:42:47Z |
| publishDate | 2018-05-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Shipping and Trade |
| spelling | doaj.art-8cfee5de353349db80fa457a270aa97d2022-12-21T23:43:32ZengSpringerOpenJournal of Shipping and Trade2364-45752018-05-013112410.1186/s41072-018-0033-2Swedish shippers’ strategies for coping with slow-steaming in deep sea container shippingChristian Finnsgård0Joakim Kalantari1Zeeshan Raza2Violeta Roso3Johan Woxenius4SSPA Sweden AB, Chalmers Tvärgata 10VTI - Swedish National Road and Transport Research InstituteUniversity of GothenburgChalmers University of TechnologyUniversity of GothenburgAbstract When container shipping lines experience over-capacity and high fuel costs, they typically respond by decreasing sailing speeds and, consequently, increasing transport time. Most of the literature on this phenomenon, often referred to as slow-steaming, takes the perspective of the shipping lines addressing technical, operational and financial effects, or a society perspective focusing on lower emissions and energy use. Few studies investigate the effects on the demand side of the market for container liner shipping. Hence, the aim of this study is to elaborate on the logistics consequences of slow-steaming, particularly the strategies that Swedish shippers purchasing deep sea container transport services employ to mitigate the effects of slow-steaming. Workshops and semi-structured interviews revealed that shippers felt they had little or no impact on sailing schedules and were more or less subject to container shipping lines’ decisions. The effects of slow-steaming were obviously most severe for firms with complex supply chains, where intermediate products are sent back and forth between production stages on different continents. The shippers developed a set of strategies to cope with the low punctuality of containerised shipping, and these were categorised in the domains of transfer-the-problem, transport, sourcing and distribution, logistics and manufacturing, and product design. All firms applied changes in the transport domain, although the lack of service segmentation limited the effects of the strategy. Most measures were applied by two firms, whereas only one firm changed the product design.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41072-018-0033-2Container liner shippingCoping strategiesSlow-steamingShippersInventory |
| spellingShingle | Christian Finnsgård Joakim Kalantari Zeeshan Raza Violeta Roso Johan Woxenius Swedish shippers’ strategies for coping with slow-steaming in deep sea container shipping Journal of Shipping and Trade Container liner shipping Coping strategies Slow-steaming Shippers Inventory |
| title | Swedish shippers’ strategies for coping with slow-steaming in deep sea container shipping |
| title_full | Swedish shippers’ strategies for coping with slow-steaming in deep sea container shipping |
| title_fullStr | Swedish shippers’ strategies for coping with slow-steaming in deep sea container shipping |
| title_full_unstemmed | Swedish shippers’ strategies for coping with slow-steaming in deep sea container shipping |
| title_short | Swedish shippers’ strategies for coping with slow-steaming in deep sea container shipping |
| title_sort | swedish shippers strategies for coping with slow steaming in deep sea container shipping |
| topic | Container liner shipping Coping strategies Slow-steaming Shippers Inventory |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41072-018-0033-2 |
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