Factors Impacting Maritime Shipping Networks

On the above figure, a maritime shipper is offering a pendulum route servicing two maritime facades. The parameters of this service are influenced by three major factors:

• It can decide upon a frequency of service, which in this case would be 2 calls per week for each port. This frequency is linked with a number of ships and port calls.
• For this loop, 8 ships are required to insure the desired frequency (2 calls per week). Ideally, all the ships should be of the same size, but in this case two larger (4,000 TEUs) ships are available. They each have been allocated on the opposite on the loop sequence to maximize the potential of picking up additional traffic with the best frequency.
• The selection of which ports to call is a complex decision. In this case, if a higher frequency (3 calls per week) is desired, but no additional ship can be allocated, a port can be dropped out of the network. This runs at the risk of additional delays in distribution for the hinterland of the port that was dropped and could cause a loss of customers.