Liner Shipping

Vessels that sail on a fixed schedule between fixed ports are often termed “liners”. Ships could be carrying on board General cargo, Containers, Passengers etc. This kind of shipping is very different from another broad distinction called “tramps”. In liner shipping, vessels sail on a given schedule - whether full or not.

History
Transportation by sea in the early days was done by sailing ships, which depended on wind and weather. Reliability came in as steam engines started to propel ships and scheduled services started by early 18th century. There was an increasing need for shipping following increased colonization in the 1800’s. Finished goods moved from Europe to the colonies and raw material, tea and spices moved back from the Colonies.

Operators on the same trade lane with same ports of call started to co operate to share the huge fixed costs. In a way, thus originated the conference system (Calcutta conference in 1875), which was formed to share costs and prevent price wars. Switching costs were high for shippers using services and carriers of one conference to change to other shipping lines (Loyalty Discounts)

Current Day
Containerisation brought about a big change in the way trade was done. It has all the benefits of standardization with the additional benefits of pilferage prevention, productivity improvements etc.

Of all the cargo that is carried by liner shipping, a large chunk in terms value and volume is containersed. Containers carry a wide variety of cargo from branded shoes, Garments on Hangers to French wine and frozen meat. Cargo volumes has been growing steadily over the last 55 years and the Global container trade is estimated to be at 125 Million TEU (2009 - ESCAP).

Ships on which these containers are carried vary widely in size. Sizes range from a few TEU's on Barges or Feeders to Ultra Large container ships which carry greater than 10,000 TEU on board.(Read - Container Ship)

Trade lanes exist between the production centers and the consumption belts and today the biggest trade lanes are the 3 main East-West trades.


 * Asia Europe
 * Trans Pacific
 * Trans Atlantic

Intra Asia trades and North-South trades are growing at a robust rate and increasing in prominence.

Links
Container Asset Management

Ocean Liners

Container Ships

Steam Ships

Ro Ro Ships