Information Management for Container Lines
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WORLD MARITIME UNIVERSITY Malmö, Sweden INFORMATION MANAGEMENT FOR CONTAINER LINE Case study for container line of Lithuanian shipping company (LISCO) between ports in Lithuania, Belgium and Germany By AUDRIUS DRUNGILAS Lithuania A dissertation submitted to the World Maritime University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in SHIPPING MANAGEMENT 1999 Ó Copyright Audrius Drungilas, 1999 Audrius Drungilas 1999 DECLARATION I certify that all the material in this dissertation that is not my own work has been identified, and that no material is included for which a degree has previously been conferred on me. The contents of this dissertation reflects my own personal views, and are not necessarily endorsed by the University. ....................................................... (Signature) ........................................................ (Date) Supervised by: Name: Patrick Donner Office: Associate Professor, Shipping Management World Maritime University Assessor: Name: Bernard Francou Office: Associate Professor, Port Management Institution: World Maritime University Co-assessor: Name: Mr. Eskil Engholm Office: Manager Institution: Engholm Consultancy AB, Rydebäck, Sweden Dissertation Page ii Audrius Drungilas 1999 ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: Information management for container line. Case study for container line of Lithuanian Shipping Company (LISCO) between ports in Lithuania, Belgium and Germany. Degree: MSc The dissertation is a study of information management in today’s shipping industry, analysing the developments of information technology (IT) and its effect on the functioning of the shipping industry and LISCO in particular. A brief look is taken at the need for information in shipping and general sources of this information are identified. The need for proper management of information is examined and the developments in the areas of electronic data processing (EDP), electronic data interchange (EDI) and Internet were analysed. Due to the rapid developments in the information technology, there are new opportunities and threats arising every moment. A number of international projects are looking at the legal and technical aspects of these developments and the study conducted has identified and analysed the biggest problems related to the shipping industry. The example of the way information is managed in the real shipping company and its container line is based on the case study for the container line of the Lithuanian Shipping Company. Finally, the summary of findings and the recommendations on how information management in the LISCO Conline can be improved are given. KEYWORDS: Information management, Information technology, Container line, LISCO, EDI, IT. Dissertation Page iii Audrius Drungilas 1999 TABLE OF CONTENT Declaration...............................................................................................................ii Abstract....................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents .....................................................................................................iv List of Tables ...........................................................................................................vi List of Figures ..........................................................................................................vii List of Abbreviations................................................................................................viii 1. Introduction...........................................................................................1 2. Information in shipping ........................................................................4 2.1. Need for information 6 2.1.1. Legal aspects ........................................................................7 2.1.2. Commercial aspects .............................................................8 2.2. Sources of information.....................................................................9 2.2.1. Ship information...................................................................9 2.2.2. Office information................................................................10 2.2.3. Trading information.............................................................12 2.2.4. Market information...............................................................12 2.2.5. Legislation and regulations ..................................................13 3. Information management.....................................................................14 3.1. Need for information management ..................................................14 3.2. Information and communication technology...................................16 3.2.1. Electronic Data Processing...................................................17 3.2.2. Electronic data interchange ..................................................21 3.2.3. Internet..................................................................................23 4. Recent developments of IT and IM .....................................................27 4.1. Legal developments .........................................................................27 4.2. Technological developments............................................................29 4.2.1. Security.................................................................................29 4.2.2. Speed and availability of the networks.................................31 4.3. Other developments .........................................................................33 Dissertation Page iv Audrius Drungilas 1999 5. Lithuanian shipping company (LISCO) and LISCO Container line...........................................................................36 5.1. Lithuanian shipping company (LISCO)...........................................36 5.1.1. Overview..............................................................................36 5.1.2. Fleet structure.......................................................................38 5.1.3. Management structure..........................................................39 5.2. LISCO Conline.................................................................................40 5.2.1. Overview..............................................................................40 5.2.2. The route...............................................................................42 5.2.3. Employed and potential fleet................................................42 5.2.4. Management .........................................................................43 6. Information management for the container line between ports in Lithuania, Belgium and Germany .......................................................44 6.1. Information infrastructure................................................................44 6.1.1. Port of Klaipeda ...................................................................45 6.1.2. Port of Antwerp....................................................................46 6.1.3. Port of Bremen/Bremerhaven...............................................48 6.2. Information flow and its management in LISCO Conline ...............50 6.2.1. Lithuanian shipping company..............................................51 6.2.2. Agent in the port of Klaipeda ..............................................53 6.2.3. Agent in the port of Antwerp ...............................................54 6.2.4. Agent in the port of Bremen.................................................55 6.3. Internet and LISCO Conline ............................................................55 7. Conclusions ............................................................................................59 7.1. Information management in the shipping industry..........................59 7.2. Information management in LISCO and LISCO Conline................61 Bibliography .............................................................................................................64 Annex I. MARTRANS related projects..........................................................68 Annex II. LISCO Organisational chart.............................................................73 Annex III. Characteristics of the 'Vytautas' type vessels...................................74 Dissertation Page v Audrius Drungilas 1999 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Transaction overview of APL’s information exchange........................ 24 Table 4.1 Electronic commerce related security countermeasures. ..................... 30 Table 4.2 Satellite communication providers....................................................... 32 Table 5.1 LISCO financial figures for the period of 1995-1997.......................... 37 Dissertation Page vi Audrius Drungilas 1999 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. Growth of World Sea borne fleet. ..................................................... 4 Figure 2.2. “The onward march of communications through time” .................... 5 Figure 2.3. Communications in cargo handling................................................... 6 Figure 3.1. Growth of Maritime software providers and software packages........................................................................ 20 Figure 3.2. Screen shot of the APL’s customisable web service “HomePort”.................................................................... 25 Figure 5.1 Container handling through the ports of east coast of the Baltic Sea in 1998. ..................................................................