Cost structure in a short sea shipping line

Abstract

Several years ago the Public Administration, especially the European Union, has been promoting the implementation of the Short Sea Shipping (SSS), basically due to both the necessity to reduce the road goods transport (the congestion of the road could be an important problem in the near future) and the positive environmental effects of using the maritime transport instead of road ways. A combination of road and maritime transport in a logistic chain is the main issue. The aim of this article is to analyze the power of the SSS studying two main aspects related to it: cost of port operations and the ship´s economies of scale. For this, an expression of generalized cost of transport considering maritime transport is developed, which is compared to the cost of a logistic chain without utilizing the ship. Port operations and shipping cost are included in the model. The expressions are applied to a numerical case. The works permit analyzing the influence of the variables which have a relevant role in the election of the transport supply chain. In this way the main aspects to improve the maritime transport can be identified.