Market structure of short sea shipping in northeast Asia

Purpose Short-sea shipping (SSS) plays an important role in regional transportation networks by supporting trade and improving inter-modality. In particular, countries north-east Asia, such as China, South Korea Japan have been served well local SSS services. While markets Northeast Asia (NEA) developed bilateral routes with sub-markets, the market structure of each sub-markets varies depending on concentration competition levels government intervention. The purpose this paper is to analyse Asia. Design/methodology/approach Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) ratio are adopted measure from 2013 2017 for NEA. Additionally, balance between supply demand investigated measuring capacity utilisation factor (CUF) based slot capacity. Findings NEA influenced firms’ behaviour under different governmental Shipping firms a more intervention entry tend focus balancing rather than increasing share, whereas less (and competition) increase their share pursuing efficient management. Research limitations/implications period data set limited 2013–2017. Furthermore, prices or revenue specific not available. Originality/value This sheds light players market. addition, work has value