The Measurement of Capacity Utilization for a Container Shipping Line

In container shipping industry, to find the most efficient way on ships deployment and allocation is still an important task for a container carrier to avoid being driven from market. Other than the traditional approach, focusing on seeking the optimal ship size with a set of operational conditions, this study has presented a method to measure the capacity utilization, from the viewpoint of operating a fleet of containerships, to evaluate the operational efficiency for a container shipping line. Meanwhile, the outcomes from the empirical study show that the fleet developments among the four container lines in Taiwan have experienced a serious over-capacity situation during period studied. Also, it reveals that the employment of big containerships is not a panacea against market competition.