The role of reliability in container shipping networks

Abstract

Container transportation has a pivotal role in global supply chains and thus the quality of high reliability container shipping services is of critical importance. The literature shows that the word “reliability” has often appeared in different aspects of maritime transportation, accompanied by a variety of interpretations. Few studies have investigated reliability in container shipping networks in any systematic way. Therefore, this research seeks to address this gap by providing a detailed understanding of such reliability and a comprehensive approach to assess it, and investigates four research questions: (RQ1) How is reliability best understood in the context of container shipping networks? (RQ2) What factors influence the network reliability? (RQ3) How can the impact of these factors on container shipping networks be measured? (RQ4) Would there be a more comprehensive approach to assess the reliability? A mixed-methods approach was adopted comprising: (i) a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews which contribute to the elaboration of a holistic definition of reliability, encompassing different influencing factors; (ii) a review and classification of existing metrics and measuring methods across a variety of fields; and (iii) network analysis and simulation of the shipping network between Asia and Europe to assess the network reliability. The selected network comprises 115 strings operated by five shipping companies, among which 89 nodes from 38 countries are involved. More specifically, the AIS data of 86 ships within the network in the period of 1 November 2021 – 31 January 2022 was captured to analyse the network performance. This necessitated observing the different AIS position and movement signals of each of the 86 sample ships every day over the three-month period. As well as detailing specific characteristics of the selected network, the research led to the development of a systematic framework comprising three themes (infrastructure reliability, network configuration reliability, and connectivity reliability) for understanding reliability in the context of container shipping networks. The output of the research contributes to helping stakeholders identify – for any container shipping network – the key nodes and links, sources of risks and vulnerable elements, and then decide what actions are necessary to avoid and mitigate disruptions, and to ensure networks become more resilient.