The Effect of Large Containership and Slow Steaming on Domestic Feeder Service Network in Japan

Container terminals have been developed in many local ports of Japan in the last three decades. They are supposed to be used for container traffics from/to Eastern Asia such as Korea, China, etc. Therefore, the hub function of major ports in Japan has been lost competitive circumstances with ports in neighboring countries. To be restored the hub function of major ports in Japan, the domestic feeder service is expected to reinforce by employing large containerships and slow steaming. In this paper, the authors analyze the effect of large containership and slow steaming on the domestic feeder service network in Japan, by using a mathematical model. Through numerical experiments, in the case of employing larger containership to reduce the number of deployed vessels, the economic viability of the slow steaming can be obtained the possibility in higher fuel cost levels.