CONTAINER TRAFFIC PROJECTIONS USING AHP MODEL IN SELECTING REGIONAL TRANSHIPMENT HUBS

Shipping is a major link between the global economy and international trade. More than 90% of world merchandise trade is carried by sea and over 60% of that volume is containerized. The increasing number of container shipments causes higher demands on the seaport container terminals, container logistics and management as well as on technical equipment. In the Asian region, the existence of ports such as Singapore and trade evolving from developing countries makes it one of the busiest container sea routes in the world. The average vessel size registered in 2008 was approx 3400 TEU’s as against 2500 TEU’s in 2001. However, in line with the present global economic slowdown, Ocean carriers are carrying out a slew of cost-cutting measures by withdrawing services, reducing deployments, merging services, etc. In an effort to better understand the current container transshipment scenario in the study area, we undertook meetings with the major lines operating within the regions assessed in the study.