1 Introduction
2 Literature
2.1 Problems responsible for causing the empty container shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic
2.2 Solution strategies developed during the COVID-19 era
3 Methodology
3.1 SWARA (step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis) method
3.2 ARAS (additive ratio assessment) method
3.3 Practice process of the present study
3.4 Instrument, sampling and data collection
N | % | |
---|---|---|
University department | ||
Maritime business management | 7 | 36.84 |
Foreign trade | 6 | 31.58 |
International trade and logistics | 6 | 31.58 |
Total | 19 | 100.00 |
Years of experience | ||
4–6 | 8 | 42.11 |
7–9 | 7 | 36.84 |
10–12 | 4 | 21.05 |
Total | 19 | 100.00 |
Sector | ||
Freight forwarder (FFW) | 11 | 57.89 |
Beneficial cargo owner (BCO) | 8 | 42.11 |
Total | 19 | 100.00 |
3.5 Main criteria and sub criteria identified by the empty-container shortage
Main criteria–sub criteria | Abbrev | Definition |
---|---|---|
Container transportation cost increase | CTCI | Positioning the containers as empty without a return cargo to meet high empty container demands at the points of need causes shipping lines to deal with high transportation costs |
Freight increase | FI | Freight rates have increased to the highest levels in recent years on trade routes where container shortage is considerable |
Demurrage and detention cost increase | DDCI | Restriction and quarantine measures directly affect the workforce, causing port operations to slow down and containers to be kept in port areas or warehouses for long periods. This problem increases the demurrage and detention costs, which are known as free time violations that BCOs have to pay |
Inland transportation cost increase | ITCI | Restriction policies developed during COVID-19 cause delayed port operations, resulting in port congestion. BCOs, who cannot receive service from the ports with heavy cargo and ship traffic, are forced to prefer ports at a distance for their export cargoes |
Domestic inflation increase | DII | Compulsory storage of available cargoes for shipment due to lack of containers, has direct negative effects on the economic structures of countries |
Supply chain uncertainty | SCU | All companies that import raw materials or require an empty container to ship export cargo (i.e., all companies that perform global trade activities at every stage of the supply chain) are negatively affected by the empty-container shortage |
Holding available-to-promise loads | HAPL | As a result of the disruptions in business activities (insufficient number of drivers, slowdown of port and customs operations) experienced because of restrictive measures taken during COVID-19, containers are not transported to inland areas and are kept for long periods of time in warehouses at the port or surrounding areas |
Freight rate uncertainty | FRU | Increased global demand, high increases in daily freighting rates, port congestion, and early launch of peak season surcharge tariffs by some shipping lines are important reasons that cause uncertainty in freight rates |
Loss of companies’ competitive advantage | LCCA | The rapid increase in freight rates from increasing container shortages results in profits from the sales of many cargo groups remaining less than the transportation costs. BCOs struggling with this problem lose their competitive advantage against companies operating in the countries with high global trade |
Long load shipment times | LLST | Even if the production capabilities of companies are at high levels, they cannot use their inventories when their chains of distribution do not work effectively; however, high demands of BCOs who want to replenish their stock levels that decreased because of the container shortage, cause congestion in ports and chains of distribution |
Volume loss in container transportation | VLCT | The restrictions and quarantine practices at the ports cause prolongation of operation times in the port, but the ship frequency to ports in the regions where quarantine practices are high decreases. This causes periodic volume losses in container transportation |
Increase in dry bulk cargo demands | IDBCD | Container shortage and cost increases in container transportation led to evaluating different alternatives for dry bulk cargo demand |
Dry bulk freight increase | DBFI | The change in the demand increased spot freight rates for dry bulk carriers to their highest levels since 2008 and 2009 |
Intermodal transportation demand increase | ITDI | Container shortages cause the demand to shift from maritime trade, which provides low-cost freight transportation services, to more complex and specialized intermodal transportation |
Highway freight increase | HFI | After unloading the cargo in the import zone, empty containers are kept in warehouses for some period of time until another demand. Accordingly, increased road freight rates increase container transportation costs in addition to storage costs |
Blank sailing announcement increase | BSAI | When considering the reasons that the empty container cannot be quickly positioned, it was observed that shipping lines increase blank sailing announcements for ports located within regions heavily affected by the pandemic |
Disruption of itineraries | DOI | The itinerary reliability is experiencing sharp decreases resulting from the pandemic |
Loss of confidence to shipping companies | LCSC | As of 2020, the sharp decreases in the itinerary reliability and the problems from the container shortage considerably decreased the reliability levels for shipping lines |
Unavailability in ships | UIS | When there is a decrease in the number of ships calling at ports, it becomes difficult to meet the increasing demand for container transportation |
Rollover increases | RI | The demand burst for container transportation from decreased itineraries is not met by the small number of ships calling at the ports, and thus the majority of containers are often rolled over |
Resolution criteria | Abbrev | Definition |
---|---|---|
Shipper-owned containers | SOC | When empty containers cannot be supplied, an important solution would be to purchase them. Moreover, there are various advantages of purchasing containers for the shipper, such as the demurrage and detention costs, which have to be paid to the container shipping company because of excess free time, are eliminated |
Inducement call | IC | By announcing periodic blank sailing within the services with decreased demands, shipping lines can direct ships along this service route to the ports with high demands. Thanks to the increase in the number of ships in the itinerary, BCOs can continue their activities within regions of high demands |
Information communication technologies | ICT | COVID-19 has led to major changes in the structure of business models and global trade, emphasizing that information and communication technologies should be at the center of container transportation, not as an alternative method. Especially during this process, shipping lines benefit from technologies with block chain infrastructure to provide continuous connection in the container transport chain |
Shipping guarantee booking | SGB | This application developed by shipping lines contributes to BCOs’ struggle against uncertainties in the supply chain by preventing container rollover during the uncertainty period because of COVID-19, especially during the high-volume raw-material import period |
E2E delivery services | E2EDS | Demand uncertainty because of communication gaps is among the main reasons for the container shortage. Shipping lines provide logistical services to prevent communication gaps in the chain and provide direct communication with the shipper throughout all processes, including the shipment and delivery of the cargo to the customer (end-to-end; E2E), rather than just providing container transportation services |
4 Results
4.1 Calculation of criteria ranking
Expert 1 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Main criteria | Queue | St | kt | qt | wt | |
CTCI | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | 0.3833 | |
SCU | 2 | 0.45 | 1.45 | 0.6897 | 0.2643 | |
VLCS | 3 | 0.35 | 1.35 | 0.5109 | 0.1958 | |
BSAI | 4 | 0.25 | 1.25 | 0.4087 | 0.1567 | |
Total | 2.6092 | |||||
Container transportation cost increase | ||||||
FI | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | 0.3949 | 0.1514 |
DDCI | 2 | 0.35 | 1.35 | 0.7407 | 0.2925 | 0.1121 |
DII | 3 | 0.75 | 1.75 | 0.4233 | 0.1672 | 0.0641 |
ITCI | 4 | 0.15 | 1.15 | 0.3681 | 0.1454 | 0.0557 |
Total | 2.5321 | |||||
Supply chain uncertainty | ||||||
HAPL | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | 0.3510 | 0.0550 |
FRU | 2 | 0.35 | 1.35 | 0.7407 | 0.2600 | 0.0407 |
LLST | 3 | 0.25 | 1.25 | 0.5926 | 0.2080 | 0.0326 |
LCCA | 4 | 0.15 | 1.15 | 0.5153 | 0.1809 | 0.0283 |
Total | 2.8486 | |||||
Volume loss in container transport | ||||||
ITDI | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | 0.4332 | 0.0848 |
DBFI | 2 | 0.75 | 1.35 | 0.5714 | 0.2476 | 0.0485 |
IDBCD | 3 | 0.45 | 1.25 | 0.3941 | 0.1707 | 0.0334 |
HFI | 4 | 0.15 | 1.15 | 0.3427 | 0.1485 | 0.0291 |
Total | 2.3082 | |||||
Blank sailing announcement increase | ||||||
UIS | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | 0.4770 | 0.1261 |
DOI | 2 | 0.85 | 1.25 | 0.5405 | 0.2578 | 0.0681 |
RI | 3 | 0.75 | 1.15 | 0.3089 | 0.1473 | 0.0389 |
LCSC | 4 | 0.25 | 1.15 | 0.2471 | 0.1179 | 0.0312 |
Total | 2.097 |
Main criteria | Ranking | Weights |
---|---|---|
CTCI | (1) | 0.3504 |
SCU | (2) | 0.2397 |
VLCS | (3) | 0.2210 |
BSAI | (4) | 0.1887 |
Container transportation cost increase | ||
FI | (1) | 0.1322 |
DDCI | (2) | 0.0786 |
DII | (3) | 0.0758 |
ITCI | (4) | 0.0636 |
Supply chain uncertainty | ||
HAPL | (1) | 0.0646 |
FRU | (2) | 0.0591 |
LLST | (3) | 0.0588 |
LCCA | (4) | 0.0572 |
Volume loss in container transportation | ||
ITDI | (1) | 0.0588 |
DBFI | (2) | 0.0553 |
IDBCD | (3) | 0.0552 |
HFI | (4) | 0.0515 |
Blank sailing announcement increase | ||
UIS | (1) | 0.0569 |
DOI | (2) | 0.0511 |
RI | (3) | 0.0462 |
LCSC | (4) | 0.0344 |
4.2 Calculation of alternative ranking
Container transportation cost increase (CTCI) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Weights | 0.3503 | 0.2397 | 0.2210 | 0.1887 |
Sub criteria | FI | DDCI | ITCI | DII |
Optimal values | 56.6442 | 47.1252 | 30.8617 | 33.6621 |
SOC | 56.6442 | 47.1252 | 25.2376 | 32.5803 |
IC | 44.4703 | 41.3827 | 26.3886 | 33.6621 |
ICT | 44.5072 | 34.4911 | 29.0413 | 31.4131 |
SGB | 52.6801 | 46.9664 | 30.8617 | 30.9411 |
E2EDS | 33.5620 | 34.0236 | 29.7509 | 24.9430 |
Total | 231.8641 | 203.9891 | 141.2804 | 153.5398 |
Supply chain uncertainty (SCU) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Weights | 0.1322 | 0.0786 | 0.0636 | 0.0758 |
Sub criteria | LCCA | FRU | HAPL | LLST |
Optimal values | 77.5595 | 56.4845 | 56.5221 | 59.1488 |
SOC | 53.7686 | 54.6967 | 52.1422 | 47.4304 |
IC | 55.1970 | 39.8257 | 45.9136 | 54.7510 |
ICT | 68.2828 | 46.6060 | 56.5221 | 47.4498 |
SGB | 77.5595 | 56.4845 | 50.8902 | 59.1488 |
E2EDS | 34.1473 | 32.4698 | 34.6452 | 37.9423 |
Total | 288.9555 | 230.0829 | 240.1136 | 246.7224 |
Volume loss in container transportation (VLCT) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Weights | 0.0572 | 0.0591 | 0.0646 | 0.0588 |
Sub criteria | ITDI | IDBCD | DBFI | HFI |
Optimal values | 68.6913 | 61.2956 | 57.2613 | 48.6189 |
SOC | 54.2547 | 54.3676 | 51.5894 | 39.4703 |
IC | 55.4120 | 49.1203 | 43.9511 | 48.1737 |
ICT | 68.6913 | 61.2956 | 57.2613 | 48.6189 |
SGB | 64.2280 | 51.9102 | 53.6213 | 44.4890 |
E2EDS | 26.2644 | 26.7975 | 31.6554 | 29.0847 |
Total | 268.8507 | 243.4914 | 238.0787 | 209.8368 |
Blank sailing announcement increase (BSAI) | ||||
Weights | 0.0588 | 0.0552 | 0.0553 | 0.0515 |
Sub criteria | UIS | LCSC | DOI | RI |
Optimal values | 51.9071 | 52.6893 | 60.0266 | 57.2747 |
SOC | 32.3597 | 33.6263 | 38.3663 | 45.0151 |
IC | 46.6866 | 49.8301 | 54.1732 | 57.2747 |
ICT | 51.9071 | 52.2278 | 60.0266 | 54.8104 |
SGB | 42.0872 | 52.6893 | 54.4254 | 54.1832 |
E2EDS | 25.9920 | 29.6552 | 27.8526 | 28.0962 |
Total | 199.0329 | 218.0290 | 234.8442 | 239.3798 |
Container transportation cost increase (CTCI) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Weights | 0.3503 | 0.2397 | 0.2210 | 0.1887 |
Sub criteria | FI | DDCI | ITCI | DII |
Optimal Values | 0.0855 | 0.0553 | 0.048 | 0.0413 |
SOC | 0.0855 | 0.0553 | 0.039 | 0.0400 |
IC | 0.0671 | 0.0486 | 0.0412 | 0.0413 |
ICT | 0.0672 | 0.0405 | 0.0454 | 0.0386 |
SGB | 0.0796 | 0.0552 | 0.0482 | 0.0380 |
E2EDS | 0.0507 | 0.0399 | 0.0465 | 0.0306 |
Supply chain uncertainty (SCU) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Weights | 0.1322 | 0.0786 | 0.0636 | 0.0758 |
Sub criteria | LCCA | FRU | HAPL | LLST |
Optimal values | 0.0354 | 0.0193 | 0.0149 | 0.0181 |
SOC | 0.0246 | 0.0186 | 0.0138 | 0.0145 |
IC | 0.0252 | 0.0136 | 0.0121 | 0.0168 |
ICT | 0.0312 | 0.0159 | 0.0149 | 0.0145 |
SGB | 0.0354 | 0.0193 | 0.0134 | 0.0181 |
E2EDS | 0.0156 | 0.0110 | 0.0091 | 0.0116 |
Volume loss in container transportation (VLCT) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Weights | 0.0572 | 0.0591 | 0.0646 | 0.0588 |
Sub criteria | ITDI | IDBCD | DBFI | HFI |
Optimal Values | 0.0146 | 0.0148 | 0.0155 | 0.0136 |
SOC | 0.0115 | 0.0131 | 0.0140 | 0.0110 |
IC | 0.0117 | 0.0119 | 0.0119 | 0.0135 |
ICT | 0.0146 | 0.0148 | 0.0155 | 0.0136 |
SGB | 0.0136 | 0.0126 | 0.0145 | 0.0124 |
E2EDS | 0.0055 | 0.0065 | 0.0085 | 0.0081 |
Blank sailing announcement increase (BSAI) | ||||
Weights | 0.0588 | 0.0552 | 0.0553 | 0.0515 |
Sub criteria | UIS | LCSC | DOI | RI |
Optimal values | 0.0153 | 0.0133 | 0.0141 | 0.012 |
SOC | 0.0095 | 0.0085 | 0.0090 | 0.0096 |
IC | 0.0138 | 0.0126 | 0.0127 | 0.0123 |
ICT | 0.0153 | 0.0132 | 0.0141 | 0.0118 |
SGB | 0.0124 | 0.0133 | 0.0128 | 0.0116 |
E2EDS | 0.0076 | 0.0075 | 0.0065 | 0.0060 |
Alternatives | Si | Ki | %Ki | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
Optimal values | 0.4325 | – | – | – |
SOC | 0.3788 | 0.8760 | 87.6044 | 3 |
IC | 0.3670 | 0.8487 | 84.8777 | 4 |
ICT | 0.3818 | 0.8828 | 88.2846 | 2 |
SGB | 0.4112 | 0.9507 | 95.0792 | 1 |
E2EDS | 0.2721 | 0.6292 | 62.9281 | 5 |