Research On The Horizontal And Vertical Alliance Strategy Between Ports And Shipping Companies In The Post Epidemic Era

Since the financial crisis in 2008,the global macroeconomic situation has become more uncertain,and the frequent fluctuation of international shipping prices has made the shipping market increasingly competitive.To ease the competition,ports and shipping companies have adopted a grand alliance strategy.However,the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019 has changed the supply and demand situation in the shipping market.First of all,the import demand for electronic products,medical supplies and household goods in Europe and the United States and other regions hit hard by the epidemic continues to grow,international commodity trade has rebounded sharply,and port container freight demand has exceeded pre-epidemic levels.Secondly,the customs and other port departments have intensified the inspection of foreign trade ships in accordance with the relevant requirements of the state,and the level of epidemic prevention has also become the focus of port competition.Finally,with the increase of foreign goods,COVID-19 easily flows from ports to hinterland markets along with goods,causing serious social losses.The differences in port operation and management mean that the existing spatial competition model cannot describe the competition and cooperation relationship between ports and navigation in the post-COVID-19 era.Therefore,it is urgent to establish a new model based on factors such as port epidemic prevention to explore integrated development and sustainable operation strategies of ports in the post-COVID-19 era.The goal of this study is to explore how two ports and a shipping company,as decision-makers,formulate epidemic prevention plans and alliance strategies to maximize their respective interests in the post-epidemic era.This paper comprehensively considers multiple epidemic prevention factors,such as the level of port epidemic prevention,the probability of cargo carrying the virus,and the loss caused by inflow to the hinterland.This paper uses the two-stage game method to construct the income model of each decision-making subject to compare different competition and cooperation strategies.The profit changes of ports and shipping companies under port competition strategy,port horizontal cooperation strategy and vertical alliance strategy of ports and shipping companies are compared and analyzed to provide basis for alliance strategy of each decision-making body.The results show that: When the epidemic prevention level of the two ports is the same and the virus rate of cargo is low,the port competition model is more favorable than the horizontal cooperation and the port-ship alliance;otherwise,the port-ship alliance is the best.When the epidemic prevention levels of two ports are different,if the probability of the cargo carrying the virus is low,the shipping company tends to form an alliance with the port with a lower epidemic prevention level;otherwise,the shipping company tends to form an alliance with a port with a higher epidemic prevention level.Only when the epidemic prevention level of the two ports and the probability of the cargo carrying the virus are both moderate,it is most beneficial to build a port alliance.The conclusions of this study provide theoretical support for the port and shipping alliance strategy in the post epidemic era.