Modeling price and service time competition among regional multiple ports

This paper focuses its analysis on price and service time guarantee competition strategies among regional multiple ports. In the paper, the profit-maximization models are developed , firstly to obtain the optimal price and service time guarantee under port competition and cooperation with different demand characteristics and secondly, to examine how the ports´ competition and demand characteristics affect the optimal price, optimal service time guarantee and profit of individual port. In addition, the sensitivity analysis on the impact of demand parameters on the optimal results is performed. Finally, some practical insights and testable implications are summarized from the analytical results.