TRAN 411 Case Study: Containerization of US-Asia Wood Pulp Transport

This case study examines the containerization of bulk trades, specifically focusing on the transport of wood pulp between the United States and East Asia. The study explores the challenges and significance of containerization in this context, highlighting the imbalance between eastbound and southbound container cargo movements as a key factor. It identifies the problems related to containerization, such as the need for IT knowledge and security concerns, and proposes alternative actions like implementing suitable host operating systems and container-optimized OS for security. The research emphasizes the importance of understanding financial variables in shippers' transportation mode choices and suggests that the impact of these variables differs among East Asian nations. The study concludes by recommending proper guidelines and best security practices throughout the container life cycle to address the challenges associated with containerization.

Containerization of bulk trades: A case study of US–Asia wood pulp transport
I. Summary
The primary purpose of the summary is to develop the nature of the background from which
the issue/problem/situation evolved. What is the environment that enabled this problem to exist?
In the latest centuries, containerization of bulk cargo has gradually appeared, especially along
the trade route between the US and East Asia (China, Japan, and South Korea). An imbalance
between eastbound and southbound container cargo movements along this path is one of the key
variables in the creation of this occurrence (Kawasaki & Matsuda, 2014). The variables affecting
containerization, however, have not yet been identified. We perform empirical analysis to know
how, based on the current financial circumstances, shippers choose transportation modes.
In carrying wood pulp, a mass commodity that travels from the United States in East Asia,
we strive to disclose the critical variables in selecting bulk carriers versus container vessels. Our
findings can help shippers and shipping businesses secure the most advantageous method of
travel. Our primary finding is that there are differences between the three East Asian nations in
the impact of financial variables on the transport mode choice.
II. Problem
Containerization is a comparatively fresh technology, so you may not have the IT knowledge
of your organization to correctly configure containers. Nathaniel Quist, the chief risk investigator
at Palo Alto Networks, said that more often than you believe, "IT managers attempt to correctly
configure their containers, possibly keeping them exposed and generating important safety
hazards for their organization." There are many challenges faced by IT personnel like the
selection of adapting processes for supporting containers, selecting suitable and right container
technology, maintaining container security, using required infrastructure for containers, etc.
III. Significance of the problem
By altering the fundamental structure of a Second World War tanker ship, Malcolm McLean
circumvented this protracted shipping transport problem.
During the containerization, security is the main aspect to look after as it is difficult to move
data securely between locations and/or cloud services. Building and applying applications to the
container are uncertainty with limited knowledge, increasing container security risk, as there are
many limitations for porting applications from cloud-to-cloud or on-premise to cloud. Such
problem results in deploying these applications to any private data center, the public cloud, or to
any developer’s personal laptops (Rua, 2014).

IV. Development of alternative actions
Alternative Action # 1- By implementation of suitable host operating system for
containerization.
Advantages –Duplication of the software will have less probability and can be shared with
multiple users.
Disadvantages – Debugging will become a difficult task and the problem of reliability will arise.
Alternative Action # 2- For assuring the security, the container-optimized OS can be used.
Advantages –It provides automatic updates and locked-down as a default. Due to a smaller
footprint, the chances of a potential attack were reduced.
Disadvantages – Third party kernel modules or drivers cannot be installed as it will lock down
and it does not support execution of non-containerized applications (Oluwatimi, Midi, Bertino,
2017).
Recommendation
Significant notable growth in the history of container ships was noticed when significant
maritime organizations recognized the singularity provided to the marine domain by shipping
containers. Proper guideline about appropriate control and practice should require defining
workflow and meeting security standards. The transparent and relatively painless security
governance framework can be created through embedding best security practice throughout the
container life cycle (Oluwatimi, Midi, Bertino, 2017).
Significant notable growth in the history of container ships was noticed when significant
maritime organizations recognized the singularity provided to the marine domain by shipping
containers. This acknowledgment was also characterized by the setting of laws and laws
regarding container sizing. The International Standardizing Authority, to introduce a popular
base to all containers

References
Kawasaki, T., & Matsuda, T. (2014). Containerization of bulk trades: A case study of US–Asia
wood pulp transport. Maritime Economics & Logistics, 17(2), 179-197.
Murugan, P., Subramanian, S., & Rajinigirinath, V. (2018). Using Docker for Containerization in
High-Performance Computing Applications. International Journal Of Trend In Scientific
Research And Development, Volume-2(Issue-3), 2005-2009.
Oluwatimi, O., Midi, D., & Bertino, E. (2017). Overview of Mobile Containerization Approaches
and Open Research Directions. IEEE Security & Privacy, 15(1), 22-31.
Rua, G. (2014). Diffusion of Containerization. SSRN Electronic Journal.