The Liner services provides regular shipments of goods between ports within the set timeframe. A fixed route, the obligation of receiving cargo and to go to sea with established schedule distinguishes line service from the sea transportation of bulk cargo.
Containerization, establishment and improvement of routes and infrastructure helped liner shipping to become the driving force of Global economy, which supports the growth of international trade, development of different business forms such as mainly small and medium sized businesses.
The shipment volume of containerized cargo was 37.1 M.TEU in 1994, by 2020 the figure reached up to 143.3 M.TEU. This indicator was growing at a high rate on East-West route during 1990-2016; In terms of North-South, South-South and intraregional route same measure was high between 1990-2004 years. Afterwards, Abovementioned growth has become more stable.
Containerization changed the structure of Liner fleet. If general cargo vessels deadweight was growing during 1970-2010 (From 40.5M Dwt to 99.7M Dwt), in the latest 10 years, the tonnage has been decreasing and as for 2020 it was 74.6M Dwt. In exchange for this the number of container ships have been growing consistently and in 2020 it consisted of 274.7M Dwt.
Maersk became the largest line operator since 2001 (with a market share of 9.4%) and by 2020 it’s share of the business has grown to 17%. The company owns container terminals worldwide, including the Poti container terminal. MSC is on second place (9.4% market share), COSCO is on third place (12.4%) and CMA CGM takes forth place (11.8%).
Keywords: Liner Shipping Services, Containerization, East–West routes, North–South routes, Intraregional routes, General cargo ship, Containership, Liner operator, Container port.
The Role of Liner Shipping Services in Small and Medium Sized
