The Impact of Global Maritime Network Design on Fuel Consumption for International Liner Transportation Companies Exemplified by Maersk in Europe and North America

This research paper aims to understand the impact of network design on fuel consumption, considering both operating costs and atmospheric emissions, in the liner shipping industry. The two hypotheses underlying the study are the following: it is possible to mitigate the impact of fuel consumption on the costs of liner shipping companies through network design; it is possible to reduce polluting emissions through maritime network design without compromising the service level. The first chapter introduces the theoretical foundations on the design of global service networks and on how fuel consumption is influenced by network design. Moreover, the first chapter presents theories on the minimization of costs in logistics networks, on the measurement of operational performance, on the consolidation hubs networks, on the priorities in the routing of cargo, on the repositioning of containers in backhaul, on the interdependencies of congestions in service networks, and on the navigation speed optimization. The second chapter investigates the business case on the maritime networks of the liner shipping company Maersk in Europe and north America, taking into consideration the role of strategic concentration agreements in the expansion of maritime networks, port infrastructures, terrestrial feeder networks and tonnage providers. Finally, in the third chapter the results of the work and the managerial implications are discussed.