A Study Of The Determinants Of Customer Loyalty In Container Ports

With the development and maturation of shipping market,the competition among container ports has increased.Port competition refers to the development and application of differentiated strategic alternatives so as to not only attract more customers to competitive ports,but also retain the existing customers.It is essential for port customer relationship management to enhance customer loyalty in order to obtain and/or sustain a competitive edge over its competitors.Bearing the above in mind,this paper aims to investigate empirically the determinants of customer loyalty in container ports using the framework of Structural Equation Model,under which elements and factors influencing customer loyalty will be identified in the context of three major container terminals of Shenzhen port.This paper firstly addressed the research topic from the perspectives of theoretical studies and port operational status in China.Following a detailed review of relevant literatures,this paper specified three determinants of customer loyalty in container ports, which were service quality,switching cost and external environment.A conceptual model articulating the determinants is proposed and discussed,some observed indexes were respectively used to measure three exogenous latent variables,namely service quality,switching cost and external environment,and one endogenous latent variablescustomer loyalty in container ports.This first theoretical step is complemented by a field survey.A questionnaire has been developed and submitted to a sample of shipping companies and shipping agencies,currently operating in Shenzhen.This paper estimated the effects of three determinants on customer loyalty in Shenzhen port through the empirical analysis of field survey and presented development strategies for container ports.The results revealed that the customer loyalty theory,which had been extensively employed in conventional service industries,can also be applied to the study in shipping industry.The findings of this paper confirms that,both from a theoretical point of view and also from the data collected through the interviews,three determinants have positive effects on customer loyalty in container ports,among which switching cost is the key determinant,followed by service quality and external environment.The results also indicated that there was no significant difference in cognition regarding the research topic between shipping companies and shipping agencies.