Chapter 4: Empty container management

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51 - 65The costs associated with containers can be up to one-fifth of a container shipping company's total costs. A container shipping company can achieve a competitive advantage by integrating, building, and reconfiguring a set of internal and external resources to manage empty containers. Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, this paper aims to investigate how container shipping companies manage empty containers for cost improvement. To achieve this objective, a field study through literature review and interviews with industrial experts was carried out to identify the key dimensions of empty container management. Our findings suggest that strategic planning, procurement of empty containers, movement of empty containers, and technical efficiency are important elements to manage empty containers in a cost-effective manner.

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