Les stratégies des armateurs de lignes régulières en matière de dessertes maritimes

Abstract

Maritime space is often considered to be no longer a challenge for the major companies involved in liner shipping. Shipping lines have achieved a degree of maturity that results in a standardisation of services. They deploy vessels of similar size, serve global markets through their hub and spoke networks, take part in alliances and serve a limited number of major ports of call. From this point of view globalisation produces homogeneity.The aim of this paper is to differentiate the carriers between them by analysing the individual shipping networks of the 26 largest container shipping lines in 2002. Far from being uniform, their networks differ substantially one from another. The system of alliances hide the fragility of the Asiatic shipping lines which are highly dependent on their respective domestic market. They are faced by three European lines who act outside every alliance: Maersk, MSC and CMA-CGM. Besides the common factors related to their recent very strong growth, they are characterised by innovative maritime networks which are truly trans-national as they neither completely depend on the east-west circumterrestrial route, nor on the captive domestic markets.

Keywords

• transport geography
• maritime networks
• containerisation