Container Movements Between U.S. and China

Container shipping between China and the U.S. is a booming market. The related logistics system involves many key stakeholders including: cargo shippers and receivers, ocean carriers, port operators, inland transportation carriers, third-party logistics service providers, and relevant regulatory bodies.

Container ShipsKey challenges faced by these stakeholders include: choice of appropriate ocean carrier, choice of appropriate ports and sailing schedules, congestion in the ports, congestion in the inland transportation carriers, and meeting requirements of all the regulatory bodies. Cargo shippers/receivers are trying to deal with these issues as they attempt simultaneously to increase the speed to market of their products and decrease their overall supply chain costs. And all of these choices must be made in an increasingly competitive and complex global marketplace, in an environment of different laws, languages and trade practices.

Phase 1 of this project focuses on the best practices being used by shippers/receivers in the trade between China and the U.S. Because a particular best practice may apply to a relatively unique situation, different industries and practices will be analyzed. Phase 2 focuses on creating a computer simulation model which will generalize from the individual case studies researched in Phase 1 to enable analysis of broad patterns of business situation characteristics. This model will facilitate the determination of best practice as it applies to specific patterns of key characteristics.