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The purpose of this paper is to resolve three problems in ship routing and scheduling systems. Problem 1 is the anticipation of the future cargo transport demand when the shipping models are stochastic based on this demand. Problem 2 is the capacity of these models in processing large number of ships and cargoes within a reasonable time. Problem 3 is the viability of tramp shipping when it comes to real problems.

A commodity-trade forecasting system is developed, an information technology platform is designed and new shipping elements are added to the models to resolve tramp problems of en-route ship bunkering, low-tide port calls and hold-cleaning cost caused by carrying incompatible cargoes.

More realistic stochastic cargo quantity and freight can now be anticipated, larger number of ships and cargoes are now processed in time and shipping systems are becoming more viable.

More support goes to ship owners to make better shipping decisions.

New norms are established in forecasting, upscaling and viability in ship routing and scheduling systems.

This paper aims to identify the dimensions of service quality (SQ) in liner shipping and examine their effects on customer satisfaction.

The indicators of SQ in liner shipping were identified from reviewing the literature and interviewing six qualified industry practitioners. An online survey was then administered to 183 liner shippers in Singapore. Subsequently, exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis were conducted.

SQ in liner shipping can be represented by four key quality dimensions. In descending order of their impact on customer satisfaction, they are reliability, speed, responsiveness and value. Service differentiation by time-related attributes results in greater customer satisfaction than practising cost leadership in liner shipping.

Allocation of resources to develop SQ in liner shipping should mirror the priorities established in this research. In addition, the developed measurement model for SQ can serve as a reference for liner shipping firms to assess the quality of their services.

A parsimonious and updated set of variables can now be used to represent SQ in the liner shipping sector. The paper also identifies the key drivers of customer satisfaction in liner shipping.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the types and the nature of innovations developed by small companies in a traditional service sector, as well as the ways that innovations impact their strategic capabilities.

The paper provides evidence from three case studies captured through a number of interviews with senior managers within the companies. The paper adopted a comparative analysis, selecting two cases that have managed this process with great success and one showing evidently less success.

Organisational and process innovations are critical aspects of a dynamic strategy in small service companies. Although a successful innovation strategy does not require the development of technological systems and knowledge intensive services, it does necessitate their sophisticated usage. Innovation enables the firms to access new markets and the reconfiguration of strategic capabilities in the long term.

The paper identifies the existence of strong linkages between organisational and process innovation and dynamic capabilities in the small companies in a traditional service sector. The research has used qualitative methods and a case study methodology. Further research (e.g. other service industries) and ideally statistical evidence are required to generalise these findings into the wider service sector.

This work calls for managers in small companies in a traditional service sector which wish to grow to pay more attention to their active involvement in organisational and process innovations and the sophisticated usage (or development) of knowledge intensive services.

The paper brings together a number of concepts from the innovation studies and the strategic management literature to investigate management practices and strategies of small companies in a traditional service sector, the tramp shipping sector.

World shipping is going through a severe recession; Japan's cutback, the US import surcharge and a mild winter reducing oil demand have all taken their toll. Roger Eglin, Industrial Correspondent of The Observer, looks at the prospect of Britain's merchant fleet, the most modern ever.

Shipping courses contain much technical and specialist knowledge and present particular challenges for English medium instruction (EMI). This paper aims to investigate both student perceptions of the importance and satisfaction level of EMI in shipping courses in higher education in Taiwan and the perceptions of expert stakeholders through qualitative interviews.

Importance-performance analysis (IPA) is used to gather data on participants’ perceptions of what is (un)important and (un)satisfactory. Based on past studies, four dimensions with 20 items were developed and 121 effective questionnaires were collected. Further, qualitative interviews with expert stakeholders (n = 9) are undertaken to gather data to contextualize and complement the quantitative student data.

Findings show students attributed high importance but low satisfaction to items such as course learning objectives and students’ English level, and low importance and high satisfaction to items such as electronic teaching platform and relevance of subject to practice. Factor analysis and cluster analysis were used to divide samples into three groups. Qualitative interview results confirm many of the quantitative findings but also show where some quantitative findings require more attention or investment when delivering EMI programmes.

Questionnaire samples focus on university students. Other related field samples (e.g. EMI teachers, shipping teachers, English teachers, etc.) could be surveyed and compared in future studies. Qualitative interviews could also be expanded to other stakeholders such as government policymakers.

The findings of IPA in the shipping courses and the qualitative interviews can be used for both teaching design and implementation in related courses by university lecturers and other stakeholders (e.g. policy and decision-makers). Such approaches can enhance students’ learning motivation and teaching performance.

This paper provides important guidance and diagnosis for how to introduce English teaching in shipping courses. Related courses can be further applied in higher education to popularize and promote EMI teaching in shipping and related fields.

EMI has seldom been studied in the context of shipping courses in the past. This paper adopts IPA method and qualitative interviews to complement previous studies and address gaps in recent research. It is expected that the research findings could be adapted and applied in other fields.

This paper aims to study the implication of the stochastic gross-profit-per-day objective on the ship profitability and the ship capacity and speed.

The paper has used the mathematical model and the solution methodology given by El Noshokaty, 2013, 2014, 2017a, 2017b, and SOS, 2019.

The paper finds that if the ship owner follows the rate concept and the cargo demand forecast, he can improve the profitability of his company and be able to select the proper capacities and speeds for the ships used.

The findings are not only useful for the shipping or other cargo transport companies but also for businesses like gas reservoir development, car assembly lines in the industry, cooperative farming and crop harvesting in agriculture, port cargo handling in trade and road paving in construction.

The contribution of this paper lies in notifying the ship owners of the possible profitability improvement and the consequences of building ships of larger capacities and slower speeds.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the tactical planning of the stakeholders of the midstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply chain, using an optimisation approach. The results can contribute to enhance the proactivity on significant investment decisions.

A decision support tool (DST) is proposed to minimise the operational cost of a fleet of vessels. Mixed integer linear programming (MILP) used to perform contract assignment combined with a genetic algorithm solution are the foundations of the DST. The aforementioned methods present a formulation of the maritime transportation problem from the scope of tramp shipping companies.

The validation of the DST through a realistic case study illustrates its potential in generating quantitative data about the cost of the midstream LNG supply chain and the annual operations schedule for a fleet of LNG vessels.

The LNG transportation scenarios included assumptions, which were required for resource reasons, such as omission of stochasticity. Notwithstanding the assumptions made, it is to the authors’ belief that the paper meets its objectives as described above.

Potential practitioners may exploit the results to make informed decisions on the operation of LNG vessels, charter rate quotes and/or redeployment of existing fleet.

The research has a novel approach as it combines the creation of practical management tool, with a comprehensive mathematical modelling, for the midstream LNG supply chain. Quantifying future fleet costs is an alternative approach, which may improve the planning procedure of a tramp shipping company.

To inform readers comprehensively and sufficiently about the new (July 1, 2004) legal regime of SOLAS/ISPS code concerning security of ports and ships.

The paper estimates the code's impact on vessels' security and on ships' ownership and control as well as on seafarers.

The maritime security measures costing $626 million (and $168 million per year) had to be seen as the third pillar of the international shipping policy and to facilitate instead of obstructing free flow of international sea transport.

The very recent implementation of ISPS code made this paper prognostic in nature.

This is the first account of the new regime and is of interest to shipowners and ports, US and EU seafarers.