Title: Supply chain integration of liner shipping companies towards hinterland: an accelerator effect of COVID-19
Authors: Umur Bucak; Gülden Oral
Addresses: Department of Maritime Business Administration, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Türkiye ' Department of Maritime Business Administration, Zonguldak Bulent Ecevit University, Zonguldak, Türkiye
Abstract: COVID-19 had certain economic, social, and environmental impacts on maritime transport. Although it is widely thought that these effects accelerated digitalisation, but also supply chain integration has shown an increase during this period. In this study, the factors that motivated liner shipping companies for the supply chain integration during the pandemic period were investigated in the context of property rights theory. It was tried to reveal which factors impact on which ones. The cause-effect interaction between these factors was demonstrated by the fuzzy DEMATEL method. As a result of this study, 'e-commerce' was determined as the most impactful factor in the model. Again, the experts evaluated 'port congestion' as the furthest factor that was affected by the others in the model. The theoretical contribution of this study and the managerial implications were presented. For further studies, the factors handled in this study may be evaluated by the other MCDM methods.
Keywords: COVID-19; supply chain integration; property rights theory; fuzzy DEMATEL; container transport.
DOI: 10.1504/IJSTL.2024.140428
International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, 2024 Vol.18 No.4, pp.431 - 448
Received: 22 Oct 2022
Accepted: 12 Mar 2023
Published online: 08 Aug 2024 *