THE OCEAN SHIPPING REFORM ACT OF 1998: CARRIER AND SHIPPER RESPONSE IN WEST COAST AND PACIFIC NORTHWEST SHIPPING

In the wake of passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998 (OSRA), interviews were conducted with shippers, carriers, and 3rd party agents engaged in international ocean liner shipping in the West Coast and Pacific Northwest of the U.S. This paper draws several implications about effects of OSRA from these interviews. Under OSRA, the use of collusive agreements among carriers to set rates and service has all but disappeared. Instead, carriers are pursuing large-volume, recurrent shipping contracts to exploit efficiency gains under the new regulatory environment. Large shippers tend to negotiate such contracts with carriers on their own. However, small- and medium-size shippers are forming coalitions with the aid of 3rd party agents to negotiate more favorable contracts with carriers. An emerging 3rd party agent is the shippers' association whose sole responsibility is rate negotiation. These implications suggest that the market-driven incentives under OSRA are inducing significant changes in the organizational and contractual arrangements between the parties.

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    Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali

    Via Ruggero Bonghi, 11/B
    Rome,   Italy  00184
  • Authors:
    • Stewart, H G
    • Inaba, F S
    • Blatner, K A
  • Publication Date: 2003-6

Language

  • English

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00961686
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Aug 14 2003 12:00AM