SELECTION OF THE MOST BENEFICIAL SHIPPING BUSINESS STRATEGY FOR CONTAINERSHIPS

Abstract

Various shipping business strategies have been proposed to tackle the recent uncertainty of global conditions. Some strategies are designed to reduce the total amount of emissions produced by containerships and also to reduce the vessel expenditures especially the bunker fuel cost. To deal with the uncertainties, a scientific decision making model is therefore proposed using an evidential reasoning (ER) method in association with a fuzzy-link based technique and an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach for assisting shipping companies in selecting the most beneficial shipping business strategy. A set of qualitative data has been obtained from expert judgements. A strategy “combination of Mega Containership and Reduction of Ports of Call” is addressed as the most beneficial shipping business alternative in a dynamic operational environment.

Keywords: Shipping Business Strategy; Containerships; Fuzzy-link Based; Evidential Reasoning; Decision Making Technique.