Handbook of Container Shipping Management, Vol. 1

Table of Contents

Globalisation and Container Shipping: Major Trade Flows
Enno Langfeldt (PhD, University of Kiel) is director of the Institute of Macroeconomics and professor at Kiel University of Applied Sciences.
This paper will provide an overview on the trade flows of manufactured goods, the primary user of containerised liner shipping. It starts by briefly reviewing theory and empirical evidence on the question why countries trade and what roles transportation in general and container shipping in specific play in this context. In the next section, the recent trends in world trade and output, the key manufactured goods traded worldwide, the leading trading nations and regional trade blocs, and the accompanying trade flows are identified. Finally, an outlook on future trade developments and their implications for container shipping is given.

Container Shipping: an Overview of Development Trends
Professor Dr. Zachcial is director at the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL), in Bremen, Germany. He is head of the Department of Maritime Economics and Transport and teaching as a professor at the University of Bremen for Transport Economics and Statistics. He is a leading authority on transport economics, planning, logistics and transport policy.
Dr. Burkhard Lemper is senior economist and project manager at the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL), in Bremen.
The following article gives an overview about the demand in goods traffic markets, also highlighting the factors which are decisive for the immense growth of the container traffic development. Long-term prognoses, presented in the contribution, forecast a further doubling of container handling within the next decade. The supply development in container shipping, namely the fleet patterns and the driving and limiting factors of the expected steep evolution of the ships' sizes, are another feature. While the maximum size of future container ships remains difficult to predict, the authors deem a size range of about 13,000 TEU within the year 2006 realistic. Furthermore, the article follows the traces of the recent boom in chartering and gives account of the recent mergers in liner shipping.

Trends in World Economics and Trade - An Analytical Guide to Global Trade
Ben Hackett, an Executive Managing Director with Global Insight, Inc., responsible for Global Transportation and International Consulting, has 30 years of experience in the trade and transportation industry ranging from economic analysis to marketing and management. Mr. Hackett leads the company's consulting and research in areas of strategic planning, marketing, infrastructure feasibility and development in the transportation industry.
The outlook for world trade and assumptions of the long-term containerised trade growth presented in the following article is based on the expertise of Global Insight, one of the leading economic consulting and information companies focused on forecasting economic trends. This contribution completes the foregoing topics on world trade and container traffic by world trade forecasts. As indicated in the sub-title, this contribution is an analytical guide to global trade patterns. Therefore at the beginning a snapshot of the 'global economy', namely the current developments and predictions for 2006 is presented. The 'outlook for world trade' highlights the basic economic indicators determining international trade developments. The containerised trade, which will continue to grow faster than other forms of trade, is presented with an emphasis on regional developments.

Dynamics of World Container Ports
Christel Heideloff is the deputy head of the Department of Maritime Economics and Transport at the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) in Bremen.
Container ports became gateways of foreign trade and make a vital contribution to the growing international globalisation process, as nodes in a value-driven logistics chain. This article shows, that the development of container trade and the increase in the number of large container ships has led to a concentration of fewer but highly specialised ports (hubs) in Asia, Europe and North America. These hubs have developed into logistics load centres within their regions with emphasis on feeder networks and inland freight distribution in their hinterlands. Regional traffic analyses, based on the ISL port data base, highlight the phenomenal container traffic growth from and to Asian ports which changed the 'world container port dynamics' significantly since the 1990s.

The Regulatory Framework of Container Shipping
Katrin Ewert (MBL) works at the Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation in Hamburg, Germany.
This article provides an overview of the history and traditions underlying today's regulatory framework of shipping in general, as far as it is relevant to the container shipping industry. Topics covered include international, European, national and territorial law with an emphasis placed on the portrayal of the most important international organisations and their conventions as they apply to the maritime setting. It addresses as well a regulatory and statistical overview about ship's registration focussed upon the common practice of 'open registers'.

Container Shipping Interfaces
Ralf Behrens is director business development of the Port of Kiel/Germany.
Efficiently and reliably working container ports are a pre-requisite for container shipping success in a competitive environment. The booming container trade results in capacity stress and operations constraints in major container ports, unless adequate investments are made in time. Any shortage of container port capacity could seriously affect economic development and world trade.1 Consequently, there is no doubt that there is a need of enhanced capital investment in container terminal and hinterland access infrastructure, particularly at the most competitive port locations. Financing said investments is widely the obligation of the port authorities. As a consequence of the decreasing direct possibilities of influence of port authorities on operations, it is at least arguable within the European port ranges if concessions etc. will achieve sufficient coverage of investment costs. Interport competition and socio-economic benefits for the individual port region may justify the acceptance of losses covered by the public expenditure budgets, while micro-economic benefits and profits remain with the terminal operators and will be privatised all over the world. Strategies need to be developed to facilitate growth and to ensure the provision of adequate capacities while ensuring participation is value–added at the port.

Logistics Strategy in Ocean Container Shipping
Dr. Alfred Baird is Head of the Maritime Research Group at Napier University's Transport Research Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland.
This chapter presents the results of a questionnaire survey of the top-20 container shipping lines, the aim of which was to explore and analyse logistics strategies of ocean container lines. Where appropriate the results of the survey have been augmented by information obtained from other sources. The survey investigates a number of key aspects relating to logistics strategy, including ownership and/or relationship of logistics operations to liner shipping company, global/regional coverage, types of logistics services offered, specific industry focus, and operating revenue from logistics activity. The purpose of the survey is to inform what/how liner shipping competitors are doing with regard to logistics and value-added activities. Thereafter, an in-depth appraisal of each of the top-20 carriers is given with regard to the respective strategies pursued in connection with provision of logistics services. The findings suggest there are broadly three main strategic groups of carriers based around the extent of logistics services offered and turnover from logistics services.

Cooperation and Concentration in athe Container Shipping Industry
Katrin Ewert (MBL) works as an investigator at the Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation in Hamburg, Germany.
Reflecting the variety of cooperation forms in the container shipping industry, this article explores the legal and economical differences between the traditional cooperation forms such as conferences, alliances, consortia and joint ventures as well as recent trends in market concentration like individual service contracts. It contrasts the common goals of shipping companies with the competitive aspects imbedded in the concentrating effect. Additionally, it provides an overview about common contractual essentials regarding cooperations in use.

Non-Operating Owners in Container Shipping
Dr. Thomas Pawlik is Director of the Institute of Supply Chain and Operations Management and Professor at Kiel University of Applied Sciences where he lectures in Maritime Shipping, Transport Management, Operations Management and Corporate Environmental Management.
Since the late 1980s, the importance of non-operating owners in container shipping has grown year by year. In this article it is argued that an increased focus on core competences has forced liner operators to look for reliable partners among the non-operating owners. An operations management's perspective is used to analyse liner operators' possible decisions in regard to chartering and vessel-ownership. Finally, the author discusses the inter-organisational relationships between liner operators and non-operating owners and emphasises the importance of trust within these relationships.

Financing Container Ships
Gerhard Winklmeier is Head of Asset Finance of Helaba (Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen) New York Branch.
Although not intended to be a complete reference guide, this chapter tries to give an overview of today's ship finance focusing on the various instruments used in financing of container ships. An introduction to the history and principles of ship finance is followed by a listing of risks and considerations investors have to familiarise themselves when dealing with shipping risk. The spectrum of instruments for construction and term ranges from equity over mezzanine to debt, highlighting some of today's most important developments.

Container Shipbuilding Developments
Arnulf Hader, Transport Geographer, joined the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics in 1979. Within the department of Maritime Economics and Transport, his research activities focus on short-sea shipping including container, roro and hinterland transport, technical as well as market developments in shipbuilding and cruise shipping.
In 2006, the container industry celebrates two jubilees: 40 years of Transatlantic container services, and 50 years of U.S. coastal services. The author takes this opportunity to sketch the development of 40 years of container ship construction, including the first trials with reconstructed ships and the following differentiation of subtypes. He explains why container ships ran very fast after a few years of development, why they became slower in the 1970s and 1980s, and why they have higher speeds again today in spite of increased fuel prices. It is an interesting story how fuel price hikes made the most modern ships obsolete and how operators, shipyards, and engine builders reacted to create a means of transport which is more economic than ever. The detailed analysis of countries and shipyards building container vessels also spans from the early days over the present building boom into the near future. Parallel to the shifting of shipyard activity from the USA and Europe to Asia, the business links between owners and shipyards have changed dramatically.