Container shipping strategy : charting a course for future profitabilityc

Container shipping is a global industry engaged in the business of transporting goods by sea in standard shipping containers, predominantly of 20 feet and 40 feet in length.The industry is dependent on the volume of world trade and consequently is highly cyclical with its profitability being dependent, in large part, on the health of the global economy.It is a highly capital intensive industry requiring large amounts of investment in large scale fixed assets such as ocean vessels, global office networks, and communications infrastructure.Container shipping, while dramatically increasing the efficiency of ocean transportation has a very chequered history of profitability and continues to remain a prisoner to the cycle of world trade.The industry has also tended to limit itself in its extension along the value chain and large portions of value have been captured by other providers of logistics such as freight forwarders and distribution companies.While the industry is slowly consolidating over the longer term, it continues to remain fragmented despite recent mergers and no single company or group of competitors has established a dominant position in the market.This paper will look at various aspects of the performance of one of the largest container shipping companies, Royal P&O Nedlloyd N.V., an Anglo-Dutch container line.As will be shown later in this paper, carriers that pursue differentiation strategies tend to have superior financial performance than cost based operators.P&O Nedlloyd pursues a differentiated strategy but has, to date, had very weak financial performance in comparison to its main competitors and is clearly out of step with the other differentiators.While apparently following the more successful industry strategy the company nevertheless continues to substantially under perform.The paper will seek to identify the key success factors within the industry and then contrast these with P&O Nedlloyd's own internal strategy.Suggested changes to strategy will then be made on the basis of the findings.The paper will conclude by making recommendations on longer-term strategy in order to generate sustainable profitability and financial success for Royal P&O Nedlloyd N.V. in the future. DEDICATIONTo my wife Karen, without whose knowledge, encouragement, support and patience it would have been difficult to start let alone complete all of the courses of study over the last four years.To my parents, Philip and Winifred, who, though they may not have realised it at the time, did manage to instil enough sense into me to know that education mattered.Thanks for your patience while I "

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