Impact of Vertical Integration in Liner Shipping and Logistics Chains

This report examines the impact of vertical integration strategies on the maritime industry, focusing on liner shipping and global logistics chains. The analysis begins by defining liner shipping and explaining how vertical integration, which involves extending operations from ocean to landside, ...Read More

INTRODUCTION
TO THE
MARITIME INDUSTRY

1
Question 1
a) Discuss the impact of this strategy on the liner shipping industry
Liner shipping refers to the services of transporting the goods by the means of high-capacity,
ocean going ships that transit the regular routes on fixed schedules. The liner shipping has
fixed and sophisticated routes through which goods are transported anywhere in world
(PANAYIDES, et al. 2012). This system makes the process less complex and reduces the
cost with increment in energy efficiency as well. This type of shipping process is most
efficient and effective way of shipping goods in the worldwide environment. The steamship
companies provide this type of services or shipping lines under which cargo vessel operates
works in a fixed schedule and with the publically advertised freight rates as well. With the
changing environment, the major liner companies have now shifted towards implementing
vertical integration strategy by extending their own business operations from the ocean to
landside (Hall and Jacobs, 2010). Such services of the shipping organizations include services
like supply chain management, freight forwarding services etc.
Vertical integration strategy in maritime industry refers to the process of consolidating the
supply chain and transportation services in the business environment. The company Maersk
can be seen as one of the most distinguished example of vertical integration in the external
industrial environment. The vertical integration process develops the third party logistics
activities in the business environment and reaches out for transformation, distribution and
warehousing activities in external environment (Wilmsmeier and Notteboom, 2011). The
biggest advantage of vertical consolidation is that it helps the organization in reducing the
cost and increasing fuel efficiency as well. Further, talking about the impact of vertical
strategy on the liner shipping industry, it should be noted this strategy saves the cost of single
transaction. Basically, in liner shipping, the service organization works on single route only
so many times they have to come ideal because of their route and operations.
Thus, it should be noted that liner shipping would provide opportunity to the companies to
increase their sales and efficiency by covering more cargos in single route only. Secondly,
this type of strategy would increase the number of transactions as well by making use of
vertical system. As the vertical integration system offers the customers to purchase more
services from a single provider, thus handling the cargo activities well while initiating the
hinterland delivery from the same service provider (Poulsen and Sornn-Friese, 2011). This
type of system improves the logistic and chain management system by creating and adding

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value in it. The vertical integration system can help the liner shipping industries to reach
economies of scope while giving more options of cargos to the customers as well. The liner
shipping industry mainly attains positive impacts from the implementation of vertical
integration strategy in the environment. This process also reduces the cost of the transactions
and makes the industry more sustainable as well. Along with the benefits of vertical
integration strategy, the liner industry also suffers with several risks and threats due to change
in the strategies. The vertical integration process mostly suffers with the problem of
coordination and collaboration and the potential of conflict exposure. The vertical integration
strategy increases the chances of theft and damaging of the product. As with the introduction
of this type of process, the supply chain integration process extends and become more
complicated resulting, in which it becomes comparatively more difficult to track the product
(Yuen and Thai, 2017). This type of system also increases the lodging and transporting
activities, more the loading and unloading activities increase the risk of damaging the goods.
Thus, it can be said that people look for liner shipping services in the maritime industry
because they are safe and secured for their product however, use of vertical integration
reduces the efficiency of the companies as it increase the time delivery of the product and
reduces its security as well (Notteboom, Rodrigue and De Monie, 2010). Thus, it should be
noted that with the implementation of this type of strategy, on one hand when the business
attains competence whereas on the other hand it reduces the satisfaction level of the
customers a well. With the implementation of this type of strategy, the focus of the liner
shipping company reduces and the business starts to focus on different fields and combining
them with other undertakings as well (Heaver, 2010).
The perspective conflict arises with the implementation of vertical integration services by
liner organizations because with the implementation of this type of strategy, the business gets
to focus on landside services as well. Thus, it should be noted that a conflict of interest arise
within the shipping organization with the implementation of this process (Tseng and Liao,
2015). Another impact of use of this type of strategy in the business is occurrence of high
degree of competition. As a result of vertical integration strategy, the liner industry comes in
contact with high degree of competition as now the global carrier will also compete with the
organizations that are third party logistics present for the hinterland coverage (Yap and
Notteboom, 2011). Entering of a maritime company in the landside logistics industry will
make the organization higher degree of threats with bigger organizations in the competitive
environment. The vertically integrated organizations leave the company with the supply chain

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activities only without any corporate identity. Thus, it should be noted that with the
introduction of this line in the business, flexibility also reduces. The coordination and
cooperation becomes a great issue for the company as it increases the repetition of activities
and increment of functions in the system as well (Notteboom, 2012). Thus, it can be said that
vertical integration strategy works good for the liner company however; it works bad on the
part of customers present in the environment.
This type of system increase complex activities for the company but at the same time, it adds
value in the services of the company as well. The operation cost of the company is reduced
with the introduction of this process as it increases the productivity of the business and makes
them earn in the round business activity (Tran and Haasis, 2015). The economies of scope
and economies of scale increases with the introduction of vertical integration strategy in the
liner shipping industry that subsequently increases profitability of the companies as well.
Thus, it should be noted that the liner industry is already a successful industry that is working
effectively in the maritime industry. However, the companies present in this industry are
highly profitable and competitive and use of this type of strategy increases as well as reduces
the efficiency of the company (Felício, Caldeirinha and Dionísio, 2015). It increases the
efficiency in such a way that it provides opportunity to the company to tap on new market
while reduces the efficiency by increases competition and complexity in the process as well.
The liner shipping industry will mostly be profitable with the implementation of vertical
integration activities in the industry. This type of activity will help the liner organizations
Maersk to attain higher degree of profits in the external environment and increase their
competitive advantage as well. Extending the ocean activities on the landside will help the
companies to target a wider market base while increasing their scope of actions as well. Thus,
in this way, about mentioned are the impact of vertical strategy on the liner shipping industry.
b) Discuss the impact of this strategy on global logistics chains
The vertical integration strategy impacts the global logistics industry in both positive and
negative ways. The global logistics industry refers to the industry that is largely related to the
process of managing the flow of goods through the supply chain process in the external
environment. Under this type of system, the products are transferred from the places where
they are made to the places where they are actually. Global logistics is a wider term that
focuses on the complex operations of delivering the goods from one place to another on time.
The maritime industry is a part of the global logistics industry as it is also concerned with

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delivering the goods but through ocean ways and not any other means of transportation (Xu,
et al. 2013). However, implementation of the vertical integration strategy in the global
logistics industry opens ways for several maritime companies to enter in the logistics
business. This aspect on one hand increases the service delivery and productivity of the
global logistics industry while on the other hand it increases the competition of small scale
companies working only in the landside logistics.
As the companies present in the maritime industry initiate their operations on large scale
because the business activity require huge investment cost so entrance of such companies in
the landside field act as a threat for other companies as they can eat out their profits. Logistics
is seen as the backbone of the economy of any country so inefficiency in this system can lead
several issues in the country as well. The vertical integration strategy in global logistics helps
the business to increase the fuel efficiency by eliminating the repetition of work and
increasing the workforce efficiency as well. The vertical integration strategy affects the
global logistics industry by increasing the competitive advantage of the companies to work
effectively (Meersman, Van de Voorde and Vanelslander, 2012). This system give rises to
driving forces that attracts people in the logistics industry. The vertical integration strategy is
an innovative strategy that can provide several benefits to the industry as this type of process
provides modality of technological progress that the people would perform. This process will
help the global logistics industry to implement technological innovation in the business and
increase effectiveness as well. This type of process gives rise to accountability in the system
but it also increase several folds in the process. For instance, if a parcel would get delivered
to its nation within 5 working days, now it would get delivered with 7 working days because
there would be several other products also that the business would deliver in between the
way. Further, it should also be noted that high demand of products in the international
environment gathers the need of global logistics industry (Álvarez-SanJaime, et al. 2013).
The vertical integration strategy in this industry might help in the reducing the cost and
increasing the efficiency but it might also bring the risk of damaging the goods as well. This
strategy can change the face of logistics industry by making maritime industry superior and
collectively work on the critical matters as well (Zhang and Lam, 2015). It should also be
noted that with the implementation of this type of process in the business, the global
expansion process also increases as the organizations becomes comfortable in sharing the
routes and working in other areas of network as well. The vertical integration process digs out
the good in the system, however the only drawback of this process is that it makes the rich

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companies richer and poor companies poorer due to which several budding logistics
companies fear of entering in the industry because of bog sharks present in the environment.
There is supply risk and the risk of disruption also connected with the industry. The
companies entering in the landside market have little or no information available about such
industry due to which it is difficult for the customers to rely on such companies.
Resulting in which, it can be said that due to higher disruption in the activities of such
companies, the trust level of the customers reduces. The desire of ultimate control over the
goods also reduces with the introduction of such practices in the global logistics industry.
Absolute control over the manufacturing or the raw goods quality is reduced as flexibility is
provided by the companies in the external environment (Gutiérrez, Lozano and Furió, 2014).
Further, it should also be noted that on one hand it is believed that the cost of such process is
less while on the other hand it should also be noted that several loading and unloading
practices attract taxes at several places for the company. The companies have to pay services
tax again and again for the same good due to which the cost of providing logistics services on
the landside also increases. There is higher degree of threat on landside for the companies
having experience of only maritime sales.
Thus, it should be noted that vertical integration activity is an efficient as well as effective
practice that every business should implement in their organization. However, if the
organization is present in the global logistics industry then they should focus on the ways to
drive profitability through such activities without harming the interest of overall industry. As
discussed above that most of economic value of the country is driven through the global
logistics services so it is critical for the maritime companies to implement such strategies in
the business wisely. Further, it should be noted that technology can be seen as one of the
important source that is important for most of business in the external environment along
with the global logistics industry as well (De Borger and De Bruyne, 2011). Thus, this
strategy provides opportunity to the companies to make use of innovative technology in the
business environment to grow and succeed as well. Technology helps the logistics companies
to create an online web and channels through which work to evaluate market features. These
features of the country help the companies to perform their logistics actions and attract the
visitors as well. Thus, the fact should be acknowledged that with the help of this type of
system, the logistics companies have started using technology as a tool to grow and increase
their scope of actions.

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The vertical integration strategies in the business is good for the liner organization however,
it is not good for such organizations on the landside area or in the global logistics industry.
The logistics sector is widespread and diversified that does not welcome any single strategy
for the business growth, instead this process make use of combination of several strategies
based on market trend and work upon them as the business needs to work upon strategies that
deliver the greatest amount of satisfaction to the customers in the external environment
(Panayides and Wiedmer, 2011). Thus, summarizing all the above mentioned facts, it should
be noted that the global logistics industry is a widespread and diversified that cannot single
handed grow using one strategy in the external environment. Also, the industry welcome all
kinds of logistics companies based on their work and trust of the customers on them that the
company will safely deliver the products on time as well. Thus, the vertical integration
strategy can effectively show results on the growth of the industry but it has several
drawbacks in the system as well.
Question 2
Among the different ports in Australia, the port of Melbourne and port of Hedland acts two
major ports through which cargoes are transferred. Port of Hedland is largest port in Australia
in terms of annual throughput and the largest bulk mineral port in all across the globe. The
major reason for selecting this port as a port for supplying minerals is the fact that Pilbara
region of Western Australia is rich in minerals. In this also the major commodity is Iron ore.
This port was the first port within Australia that exceeded 100 million tonne per annum
ceiling in the year 2004-05. Port of Melbourne Group is a private leaseholder and strategic
manager of the Port of Melbourne’s commercial operations and assets announced by the
government of Victoria in the year 2016. It is known for safe reliable as well as responsible
and efficient movement of goods. These two ports are at different parts of Australia having a
distance of 4601.7 km hence acting an important port for transport of goods from different
parts of the country.
a) Compare and contrast
The financial year of 2017-18 has been good for the trade in Australia. Both the ports, Port of
Hedland and Port of Melbourne has played a very major role in their trade operations.
Criteria Port of Hedland Port of Melbourne
Major cargoes The major cargo that gets transfer Major cargoes that gets transported

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from this port is the minerals.
Some of the major minerals that
get transported through this port
are hydrocarbons, chemical
compounds. Apart from this, it is
also used for transporting general
and containers (Pilabara port
authority, 2019).
from this port are furniture,
electrical equipment, transport
equipment, cement, cereal grains,
Iron & Steel, Machinery, cereal
grains, crude oil, timber etc. This
port transports larger variety of
materials from their ports to other
parts of the world (Port of
Melbourne. 2018).
Countries The major countries for which this
port is utilised for transporting the
cargoes are Australia, China,
Singapore, India, Taiwan,
Province of China and Sri-lanka.
Major countries in which the
products were transported from the
port of Melbourne is Japan,
Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea,
United States, Taiwan, United
States, Hong Kong, Vietnam and
New Zealand.
Total annual
throughput
It was around 519.3 Mt (Pilabara
port authority, 2019).
It was around 2.93 million TEU
(Port of Melbourne. 2018).
The shipping at the Hedland is easily done through a process where prior to entering into the
vessel traffic service area, the ships need to call Port Hedland VTS on VHF Ch12 stating
about their arrival and arrival draft. Automatic registration is done at the first reporting point
at the port Hedland. Vessels wishing to book a birth at the port of Hedland need to complete
berth application prior to entering port waters. Harbour masters decide the shipping priority
and the authority will not be liable for any damage or loss caused to any shipping. Birth
application form can be fulfilled through online mediums. The shipping is done in accordance
with the provision of Marine Order 64 2013 (Pilabara port authority, 2019). The schedules
are published every day at 16:30 and are issued to all the cargo owners 24hrs before. This
port meets the requirement of the future and everything is working with the help of
technology. It is the biggest port in the whole world that exports iron ore. For this only this
port has been designed to carry larger ships that have heavy loads. As stated above that the
major reason why this port was designed to export minerals is that it is a port that is closer to
the mineral sites in Australia.

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The port of Melbourne is the Australia’s largest containerised and cargo ports. The movement
of goods through any port typically includes different kinds of service providers and
companies. The processes for shipping are same for the port of Melbourne when compared
with the port of Hedland. This port contains two international container terminals and multi-
purpose birth that handles variety of cargoes especially for vehicles and timber. This port has
specialised birth for dry cargoes handle grain, gypsum, cement, sugar and fly ash (World port
source, 2019). They also have special facilities for variety of liquids, from molasses to crude
oil and petrochemicals with the help of latest handling methods. Since when comparing with
the port of Hedland this port has capacity to handle lesser weight ships and also the sizes of
the ships are smaller than others. The major reason for this type of shipping is that this port is
open for all kinds of goods. Since Melbourne is also one of the major cities for the trade and
commerce within Australia hence many types of goods can be transported through this port
for which they have designed a port where all types of ships can be accommodated.
Port of Melbourne is more technologically advanced port when compared with port of
Hedland. This can be understood in terms of the fact that the loading of containers and other
operations can be done at this port with the help of technology. On the other hand at the port
of Hedland there is use of technology at certain points only.
b) Specific cargoes characteristics
There are different types of cargoes that are shipped from both the ports. There are different
kinds of ships that are used for transferring these cargoes. Every cargo requires different
kinds of ships to be used. The vessels for different cargoes are also different. Since the sizes
of the materials that are used in the cargoes are also different hence it becomes critical for the
companies to take use of the cargoes that are made of different quality of materials as well as
of different shapes and sizes. For the liquid fuels there is use of different types of cargo.
These shapes are generally designed in such a manner that it does not get leaked. On the other
hand for chemical transportation there is use of specific kinds of ships that are chemically
inert (Portinfo, 2019). In today’s time no company or the ports could effort loss due to
improper handling of the products hence it is critical that proper ships might be used for
specific product transport at both the ports of Hedland and Melbourne.
In the age of commercialised shipping, there is an excessive requirement for different kinds
of ships that are able to carry large amount of ships and at the same time ensure that the

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materials within it can be transported to another location carefully and according to the
requirements of the company. It is basically divide into three types of cargoes. They are:
Dry Cargo ships: These are the dry cargo vessels that are used for merchant fleets. They are
geared ship that is equipped with their own cargo loading equipment usually in the form of
derricks. The cargo would be stowed in different holds and speed (Opensea, 2019).
Effectiveness of the unloading/loading process would depend on the skills of the crew
members on the ship as well as the port workers. There are different subcategories of these
dry cargo ships which depend on the type of materials they are carrying. Dry Cargo ships
include general and beerbulk, bulk, reefer, Ro-Ro and reefer.
Bulk carriers: These are also the type of the dry cargo ships that are able to transport
cargoes of very higher weight to cost ratio such as grain, ores, and coal. These types of ships
are generated for economies of scale. These ships are divided into several separate holds that
are covered through hatches. In port, cargoes are loaded through spouts or by cranes and grab
and some of them are geared. These geared ships do not need shore equipment (Shipoverseas,
2019).
General cargo ships: These are lesser in numbers because they have been replaced by bulk
carriers. These cargoes are mostly in the shape of bags or pallets and are known as break-
bulk. These ships are often smaller in size when compared with the tanker ships or the bulk
ships but it is not always true. Irregular or loose cargo is also carried through these cargo
ships (Gupta, 2016). In this case the vessel’s crew and port crew packs the cargo so as to
minimise the damage and maximise the space utilisation.
Container vessels: These are the ships that are of standard size to simply transportation.
Containers can accommodate anything from electrical equipment to automobile to foodstuffs.
It is a multi-purpose ship available in different sizes and can also transport liquids and
refrigerated cargoes also. Standard containers are measured as TEUs (Twenty-foot
Equivalent Units) and are generally 20 feet or 40 feet. All the standard shipping containers
are 8 feet wide and 8 feet 6 inches tall (Portinfo, 2019). There are also customised ships
available in the market in terms of sizes but it is less common. Container ships comprises of
several holds each of which is equipped with cell guides. Once the first layer of container are
placed then hatches gets closed then extra layer of cargo is placed above it. This Container
vessel are utilised predominantly on the liner routes and are some of the largest vessels afloat.

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Larger container ships are restricted at many ports and are also able to transit certain areas
due to draft or in the case of canals beam, restrictions.
Reefer Vessels: These are specially designed for carrying refrigerated items containing
perishable items. For instance fishing or meat products are generally transported through this
kind of ship. Fruits and vegetables are another important kind of product that is being
transported with the help of such products (Opensea, 2019). These ships have external power
source and are designed in such manner that regular inspection can be done easily. These
ships also come in different sizes and usually have power source that lasts for long tours.
Ro-Ro Vessels: RoRo or Roll on Roll Off ships is those types of ships that will be used for
transporting vehicles from one place to another. In this when ships are on-board they are
braced with ship’s deck to keep them from moving around while the ship moves in the sea.
Some of the shipments that have been done in the world were approx. the size of 6000 car
equivalent units (CEU) (Portinfo, 2019). Another major reason for carrying these ships has
multiple vehicle decks comprising of parking lanes that is linked with internal ramps.
Liquid cargo ships: These are the ships that are able to carry different kinds of liquids. Since
the liquids that are transported through these kinds of ship are in huge quantity hence the size
of these ships are also large. These are the ships that are of different types known as product
carriers, crude carriers, liquefied Gas Carrier, and Chemical Carriers (Gupta, 2016). These
carriers are made with extra safety and precautions as the products they carry products that
are very much harmful. Some of the size of the liquid cargo that is being transported through
these ships has been over 4,000 tons in weight. The risk associated with these ships are also
large as even the small mistake can lead to huge accidents which can be disastrous for the
marine life.
Livestock Carriers: These ships are designed for carrying large numbers of animals or
living creatures from one place to another. These ships have special kinds of food, water and
ventilation. Some are in such large that they are able to transport 120,000 sheep (Portinfo,
2019). Most of these cattle are transported from Australia to Middle East. From the Hedland
port there were around 5,000 cattle that were transported from one part to another. The
necessity of particular type of ships for transport of particular type of goods can be
understood by this ship example only. Since the items that is being transported through these
ships might die if they get transported in some other ships hence these ships are very useful.

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Heavy lift carriers: There are ships that are also designed for carrying heavy items which
includes items such as ships, cruises (Portinfo, 2019). These ships are so big in size that they
can carry multiple ships from one place to another. The sizes of the shipment might not be so
big but it is of higher value. These even have larger size than bulk carriers.
Since the nature of the products that are delivered by these ships and there spoilage chances is
different hence the shape and sizes of the products also differs. It is also seen that there are
different ports that are being used by Australian government according to the requirements in
that particular area. Since the nature of the cargoes carried by the ships differs hence it is
critical that there is use of ships that makes the process of carrying these cargoes easier. Since
every port has different orientation and water logging feature hence every cargo cannot be
transported through every port. Port restrictions also play an essential part in the type of ships
that is used for the transporting any particular kind of products from any specific ports
(Gupta, 2016). The design of the ports have a critical role in this regards hence these days
ports are made according to the purpose that government wants to achieve from that
particular port. The shipment size also describes the size of the ship that will be used along
with the demand of the companies. These days shipping companies are looking for the ships
that are customised and can be used for multi-purposes.
Port restrictions also comes into the play in terms of the fact that certain ports does not have
proper facilities for holding the shipments of that particular kind. In this case it becomes
difficult for the organisations to maintain the quality of the products they are delivering
(Portinfo, 2019). This becomes extremely critical when the supply chain management for the
companies plays a critical role in the management of business.

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