Patterns of maritime supply chains: slot capacity analysis

This paper offers a tool for analysing patterns of maritime supply chains. The study uses empirical data on slot capacity deployed by container shipping lines for analysing ports (as nodes) and routes and shipping lines (as links) that are embedded within the maritime supply chain. The ports of Singapore and Hong Kong are chosen to illustrate the respective transhipment and gateway perspectives. Findings reveal that geographical location and changes in the constitution of players can have reverberations on the maritime supply chain dynamics that traverse the port. Furthermore, evidence from trade route data also shows that maritime supply chain dynamics associated with transhipment and gateway ports could be governed by different levels of scope economies, demand complementarity and market power. The paper illustrates the abundant potential of slot capacity analysis for academic and industry/market research. Thus, future research can be pursued in various contexts and for different applications. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.