Determinants for a Feasible Short Sea Shipping: Lessons from Europe for ASEAN

This paper aims to review the key factors for a feasible Short Sea Shipping (SSS) operation that is currently beginning to regain its popularity across the globe through the survey of literature beginning from the year 1999 to 2014. Although the literature has addressed a myriad of important factors through research conducted particularly in Europe, it could be argued that the important determining factors that are required for a particular route or area may not be applicable to another route or area. In Europe, SSS is introduced with the main purpose of diverting freight transportation away from the congested roads whilst for the ASEAN countries, SSS has been part of the initiative to ensure the attainment of a well-connected ASEAN community. Hence, although important lessons could be learned from the European experience, a thorough study would have to be conducted before any SSS endeavour is initiated to ensure the important determining factors for its success are identified. This would enable SSS investors and authorities of countries involved to focus their limited resources to ensure the success of their SSS undertaking.