Maritime transport chains: carrier, port and shipper choice effects

A maritime transport chain is a network over which carriers, ports and shippers are involved in the movement of cargo. This paper investigates the effects of carrier chain profit, port chain throughput and shipper chain logistics cost on the maritime transport chain choice by carriers, ports and shippers, respectively. The paper concludes that: (1) a carrier's (water and land) chain profit has positive direct and positive indirect effects on the carrier's choice of a maritime transport chain, (2) a port's chain throughput has positive direct and positive indirect effects on the port's choice of a maritime transport chain, and (3) a shipper's chain logistics cost has negative direct and negative indirect effects on the shipper's choice of a maritime transport chain.