Differences and Similarities Between the Short Sea and Deep Sea Shipping Markets: the Lessons to Be Drawn from the ECHO Survey

The globalization of trade has been accompanied in recent decades by a reorganization of the maritime and port systems. Deep-sea containerized traffic nowadays essentially passes through the largest ports, and it is this market which attracts the most attention. The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the physical and organizational characteristics of maritime consignments sent from France while attempting to compare those sent by DSS (Deep Sea Shipping) with those sent by SSS (Short Sea Shipping). The latter has not received much attention in the literature in comparison to DSS, but with growing interest on the part of governments in promoting short-sea shipping, it seems necessary to understand more fully the specific features of this market sector. The authors are fortunate in being able to use a survey completed in 2004 that was financed by the French Ministry of Transport. Unlike other transport censuses the ECHO survey identifies individual shipments, and contains information on routing, mode and organization. Using this survey the authors are able to reconstitute actual physical and organizational transport chains. While the results of the ECHO survey have confirmed that the majority of deep-sea consignments pass through the major ports in particular for containerised goods, analysis of the SSS market has revealed a greater diversity with regard to the type of traffic (container, bulk, Ro Ro…). Furthermore, a link is apparent between the size of the hinterland and the type of trade. Finally, this study shows the importance of logistic service providers in SSS.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Franc, Pierre
  • Gouvernal, Elisabeth
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
• Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Container traffic; Freight traffic; Logistics; Markets; Organization; Ports; Short sea shipping; Surveys; Trade; Water transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Consignments; Deep sea shipping; Logistics service providers
• Geographic Terms: France
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01053999
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 07-0854
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 20 2007 9:57AM