Establishing door-to-door services for inland transport under carrier haulage The case of International Shipping Lines in Iran

The integration of maritime supply chains with inland transport hasreceived increasing attention from shipping lines (SLs). While researchon this strategy has been conducted in North America and Europeancountries, very little attention has been given to this strategy in theMiddle East. This research evaluates the potential benefits and barriersto offer door-to-door services under carrier haulage-base forinternational shipping companies. The offer of carrier-haulage isregarded as an extension of the logistics services from SLs and a movetowards offering services using intermodal transport operations in theirtransport chains. The focus of the study is on container shippingstrategies from international SLs in Iran. Based on scoping interviewsand a semi-structured questionnaire sent to international SLs active inIran as primary data sources, the research evaluates the potentials andbarriers for establishing such services. The possibility of logisticsintegration and extension of the maritime supply chain is analyzedbased on the interviews and literature from different perspectives. Theresults are shown in a SWOT analysis of the current situation that isused to show potential future developments.

Keywords:

Shipping Line , Inland Transport , Intermodal Transport , Door-to-Door Service , Carrier Haulage