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Structural Factors Underlying Mergers and Acquisitions in Liner Shipping

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  • Mike Fusillo

    (The Louis Berger Group, Inc., New York, NY)

Abstract

The virtual disappearance of liner shipping conferences from US markets and their elimination in European trades create a significant risk that in place of these collusive price-setting groups, the industry could become increasingly consolidated. The absence of the conference pricing cushion could end up giving an advantage to large, cost-efficient carriers who will drive smaller players from the market. During this competitive process, shippers could see lower freight rates and better service but as the industry consolidates towards oligopoly, there is the risk that shippers will be faced with fewer alternatives to move their goods, lower service quality and significantly higher prices. The impact on merchandise trade could be substantial. This paper is intended to reveal basic structural characteristics of the liner shipping industry that could point to more accurate predictions of future consolidation activity. In particular, a series of mergers and acquisitions in the industry will be examined against the backdrop of industry structure and regulatory constraints. Ultimately, a Poisson model is formulated and estimated to extract and quantify the structural factors that increase the likelihood of horizontal merger and acquisition activity. Maritime Economics & Logistics (2009) 11, 209–226. doi:10.1057/mel.2009.3

Suggested Citation

  • Mike Fusillo, 2009. "Structural Factors Underlying Mergers and Acquisitions in Liner Shipping," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 11(2), pages 209-226, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:marecl:v:11:y:2009:i:2:p:209-226
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Louca, Christodoulos & Panayides, Photis M., 2012. "Valuation effects of mergers and acquisitions in freight transportation," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1221-1234.
    2. Alexandridis, George & Kavussanos, Manolis G. & Kim, Chi Y. & Tsouknidis, Dimitris A. & Visvikis, Ilias D., 2018. "A survey of shipping finance research: Setting the future research agenda," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 164-212.
    3. Alexandridis, George & Antypas, Nikolaos & Gulnur, Arman & Visvikis, Ilias, 2020. "Corporate financial leverage and M&As choices: Evidence from the shipping industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    4. Michael Fung, 2014. "Ocean Carriers’ Collusion Under Antitrust Immunity: Evidence of Asymmetric Pass-Through," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 45(1), pages 59-77, August.
    5. Fan, Lixian & Gu, Bingmei & Yin, Jingbo, 2021. "Investment incentive analysis for second-hand vessels," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 215-225.
    6. Alexander M. Goulielmos, 2017. "“Containership Markets”: A Comparison with Bulk Shipping and a Proposed Oligopoly Model," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 67(2), pages 47-68, April-Jun.
    7. Theo Notteboom & Giovanni Satta & Francesco Parola, 2022. "Brand strategies of container shipping lines following mergers and acquisitions: carriers’ visual identity options," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 24(1), pages 9-40, March.
    8. Arman Gülnur & Nikolaos Antypas, 2023. "Favourable funding conditions: friend or foe of shipping M&As?," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(4), pages 728-754, December.
    9. Pierre, Cariou & Francesco, Parola & Theo, Notteboom, 2019. "Towards low carbon global supply chains: A multi-trade analysis of CO2 emission reductions in container shipping," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 17-28.
    10. Alexandrou, George & Gounopoulos, Dimitrios & Thomas, Hardy M., 2014. "Mergers and acquisitions in shipping," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 212-234.
    11. Ziyi Gao & Shigeru Yoshida, 2013. "Analysis on Industrial Structure and Competitive Strategies in Liner Shipping Industry," Journal of Management and Strategy, Journal of Management and Strategy, Sciedu Press, vol. 4(4), pages 12-20, November.
    12. Richard B. Freeman & Alice O. Nakamura & Leonard I. Nakamura & Marc Prud’homme & Amanda Pyman, 2011. "Wal‐Mart innovation and productivity: a viewpoint," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(2), pages 486-508, May.

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