OPTIMAL CONTAINERSHIP SIZE

The cost per container movement incurred by a containership per voyage leg on a given route is minimized under various scenarios. The principal conclusions reached from a comparative analysis of the optimal containership sizes are: (1) for a route of a given distance and the same time in port per port call, optimal containership size declines as the number of port calls increase, (2) for a route of a given distance and the same number of port calls, optimal containership size declines as the time in port increases and (3) for the same number of port calls and the same time in port per port call, optimal containership size increases as the distance of the route increases. Rationale for these conclusions are presented.