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The liner shipping industry underwent a major round of change between 2014 and 2017 where the concentration ratio of the top ten carriers rose from 64 per cent in 2013 to 82 per cent by 2017. This paper aims to analyze the impact of these developments on the state of shipping connectivity for major container transshipment hubs in Southeast Asia, namely, Port Klang, Singapore and Tanjung Pelepas.

The developments in shipping services deployed before and after the latest round of reshuffling in the liner shipping industry were analyzed.

Significant service rationalization took place in the period that saw 38 per cent reduction in the number of shipping services called at the ports. Participation in alliance arrangement was revealed to be important for shipping lines to compete successfully on the Asia–Europe trade route in the new shipping landscape. Terminal operators should expect further rationalization of services should overcapacity persist. Maintaining hub status would require the ability to accommodate the strategic, operational and commercial requirements of the entire alliance rather than just focusing on the key shipping line.

This is the first paper to examine the effects of the latest round of consolidation in the liner shipping industry. In-depth analyses were conducted for shipping services where the service configuration was examined. The case of Southeast Asia and the Asia–Europe trade route was used to illustrate the impact with managerial and policy implications for shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities.

The paper aims to begin with a brief review of early banking and finance methods, early logistics routes through Europe, and message delivery modes in medieval China, the paper then proposes to move on to a comparative study of modern logistics modes in the European Union and in India – in particular the ports of Le Havre (France) and Mangalore (Karnataka).

The data are derived from secondary sources, including the local press in India as well as official European Union (EU) documentation.

Given the cultural and political differences between the EU and India, their logistics and hinterland development are very different in deployment and scope: Le Havre “scores” much more highly than Mangalore and the EU is much more coherently developed than India.

Le Havre, France, and the EU are well placed through their integrated logistics development to merge with the proposed Euro‐Asia‐America “land‐bridge” which initially will be based on a redeveloped Trans‐Siberian rail network; whereas the southern “Silk Road” development, taking in India, is floundering due to many factors inhibiting implementation of this new network.

The paper will be of interest to those who wish to view the development of intercontinental logistics routes, and to grasp the future potential for new trade links between the Pacific and the Atlantic ports.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which supply side flexibility tactics are deployed by operators in the container liner shipping sector in 2009/200 to restrict supply in a market which is characterised by over‐supply (as well as under demand).

Taking a case study approach using the Far East‐Europe trade lane, secondary data are reviewed for each type of internal flexibility capability. This is supplemented by a qualitative Delphi‐based research method so that findings are iteratively verified with leading practitioner personnel.

In 2009, directly after the severe imbalance between demand and supply emerged, liner shipping providing companies were only partially able to exploit the flexibility tactics that were available to them. This improved in 2010 and contributed to an upturn in performance.

Ocean freight logistics provides a vital foundation for contemporary international commerce. However, the viable provision of this service has become significantly more challenging and this research examines why this is the case and what supply side responses are being deployed. Taking a case study approach focussing on 2009/2010 restricts the generalisability of the research that could now be examined on a longer time scale across the whole sector.

This research is novel as there has been no previous research which has looked at the deployment of supply side flexibility tactics in the container liner shipping sector. The findings have considerable bearing on how the industry is run and understood by its providers, customers and regulators.

This chapter explains the impact containerisation has on the various partners of the global supply chain and the challenges companies encounter and the solutions they use in dealing with empty container repositioning.

The phenomenon of imbalanced container flows and its impact on shipping lines, shippers, container haulage companies, port development and the economy are presented. Special attention is given to explain the many solutions companies use to reduce the impact of empty container repositioning, hence tracing out the past research that led to these solutions and pointing to potentially new research directions in the future.

Because of the widespread use of containerisation and the imbalanced container flows that results from globalisation, empty container repositioning will be an ongoing issue for the maritime logistics industry. Many solutions are being used, but there is room for improvement and more research is needed.

Empty container repositioning is an important issue but has not been deemed as such in the literature. This chapter explains the reasons it is important and that its impact is not limited to shipping lines only but affects the whole supply chain.

This paper inspects in detail the seasonality (deterministic) in container freight rates, and compares seasonality patterns in different freight rate indices. A deterministic seasonality unit root test is performed to achieve set objectives. This study concludes that all the indices (tested in this paper) exhibit significant deterministic seasonality. For January and August, there is no seasonal effect observed in all five series. At the same time, all the indices except Exports from Europe Rate Index (EEI) exhibit significant seasonal patterns in February, September, and December. All five indices exhibit significant seasonality during May, and the coefficient sign shows a drop in the freight rates. During March, October, and November; it is observed that only EEI exhibit significant seasonal patterns. The results could be beneficial for carriers and agents who are involved in the containerised freight transport business. Also, shippers could get a clear idea about the freight rates' nature across various trade routes.

Compares and contrasts the largest retail firms based in Asia, Europe and the USA. Data were obtained from AsiaWeek 1000, Fortune 500 and Europe 500 statistics. It is hoped that the baseline obtained through this research might serve as a basis for further research into the financial progress of these mega‐retailers. Continued analysis, it is proposed, will tell us much about the future of global retailing.

Recently the route connecting the trans-Korean railway and the trans-Siberian railway has become of particular interest for many academics and policy-makers in East Asian countries. The extensive review of previous studies, however, reveals that literature on the subject is lacking solid analytical framework. Most studies are one-sided, focusing on the political aspects of the issue or paying little attention to the economic aspects of the problem.

This study intends to develop an analytical framework through which the most efficient route among four major alternative routes connecting the trans-Korean and trans-Siberian railways can be identified. It attempts to assign priorities to the four alternative routes according to their level of economic efficiency.

This study utilizes a simple cost-benefit analysis in evaluating the four routes. Cost side, transportation time, effectiveness of customs procedures, and gauge difference are selected as the main economic factors. The volume of cargo, industrial production in adjacent regions, access to natural resources, and market size and foreign investment climate are used to evaluate the benefits of the routes.

The study concludes that Route 3, which connects ‘Busan - Seoul (South Korea) –Pyongyang -Sinuiju (North Korea) –Shenyang –Beijing - Erenhot (China) –Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) –Ulan-Ude - Moscow (Russia)’ is the most efficient route.

This paper analyses the determinants of transport demand for maritime container transport. Such an analysis is relevant, among others for port planning, since port expansion plans are based on forecasts. Inevitably, different opinions about the future development of (container) transport flows exist, and decisionmakers are confronted with uncertainty. This paper analyses the variables of container transport demand. Seven variables are identified, four related to the overall volume of trade and international transport flows (the GDP, export quote of economies, the direction of trade and the value density of trade) and three related to the containerised proportion of transport flows (the containerisable share of transport flows, the containerisation rate and the share of shipping in international trade). The rise of containerised transport flows from 1980 to 1995 is based on different 'underlying factors'. The future development of the variables is highly uncertain, and a 'extrapolation' of the high growth rates of the past, is not likely to lead to a good forecast for the future. Thus, decision-makers confronted with the uncertainty about future trade flows, should try to maximise flexibility in port planning.

As the Malacca and Singapore Straits are part of the shortest route between Europe and Asia any impedance to shipping has serious commercial and strategic repercussions. What would be the consequences to tankers and container shipping if access was restricted or prevented? This issue is addressed by examining the costs of using alternative tanker routes to the Straits and the flow-on consequences of removing a mega-hub port from the container-shipping network. The analysis highlights differences between tanker shipping, where the ship itself is the prime unit of interest, and container shipping, where the door-to-door network is of paramount importance.