Implications of economies of scale and scope for round-trip shipping canvassing with empty container repositioning

Zhuzhu Song (), Wansheng Tang () and Ruiqing Zhao ()
Additional contact information
Zhuzhu Song: Tianjin University
Wansheng Tang: Tianjin University
Ruiqing Zhao: Tianjin University

Annals of Operations Research, 2022, vol. 309, issue 2, No 3, 485-515

Abstract: Abstract Empty containers need to be repositioned from a surplus area to a shortage area, and the resulting economies of scope mean that the canvassing (i.e., the sale of transportation service) of two routes back and forth is no longer isolated. To study the liner company’s canvassing strategy for round-trip routes, this paper considers a benchmark situation where one forwarder is responsible for two directions and three canvassing sequences with one direction one freight forwarder responsibility. The results indicate that the liner company should focus canvassing on fewer forwarders, and the forwarder should expand service scope. Under one direction one freight forwarder responsibility, it is not necessarily optimal for the liner company that the direction with low potential market demand canvasses first. Examining the preferences of the liner company and two forwarders in terms of canvassing strategy, we find that a triple-win situation can not be formed, but only a win-win situation can be formed between the two of the three participants. Although the canvassing strategy where the direction with high potential market demand canvasses first has the worst effect on balancing cargo flow, it is possible to increase the market share while improving the profit of the liner company.

Keywords: Shipping industry; Canvassing strategy; Game theory; Economies of scope; Empty container repositioning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10479-020-03735-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:annopr:v:309:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10479-020-03735-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/10479

DOI: 10.1007/s10479-020-03735-0

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of Operations Research is currently edited by Endre Boros

More articles in Annals of Operations Research from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().