New concepts of economies of flow, connection, and fusion in maritime logistics

The maritime logistics associated with the international trade of container cargoes are concerned with the flows of cargo, information, finance, and images among stakeholders. The stakeholders include shippers, consignees, freight forwarders, third-party logistics providers (3PL), land and sea carriers, ports, and government agents and customs officers.1 The seamless, smooth flow of container cargoes and related information among the stakeholders contributes to reduced logistics costs and, consequently, to the improved competitiveness and productivity of each stakeholder and increased competitiveness in international trade. In this regard, we propose three innovative concepts of economies in maritime logistics - namely, the economies of flow, economies of connection, and economies of fusion technology. 2 Numerous stakeholders share the cargo information on the origin and destination of internationally sea-transported container cargoes, which relates to economies of flow and economies of connection. Information technologies (ITs) such as radiofrequency identification (RFID), global positioning systems (GPS), cargo tracking systems, and electronic data interchanges (EDIs) (Lee et al., 2000) have been applied to maritime logistics. Moreover, the single window system (SWS) collaboratively operated by the private and public sectors in Singapore and Korea has contributed to accelerating the flow of container cargoes and the sharing of the container information among the stakeholders.