Charter Market Segmentation in Response to Trade’s Needs

Abstract

Chartering is the part of international shipping business which broadly deals with the proper matching of cargoes’ transport needs and vessels’ commercial trading. Different charterers have different transportation needs. They do not all require the same sea transport service and not all charterers charter a particular vessel for the same reasons. Therefore, this paper intends to present how the charter market may be structured in response to trade’s needs and charterers’ requirements. The main objective of this paper is to constitute an overview of the shipping market segmentation into the various market segments. The analysis is based on the behavioural segmentation approach. This paper discusses mainly the conditions of charter market segmentation through relevant theories, reviews and some real cases analyses. Segmentation involves homogeneous buying behaviour of charterers within a segment but heterogeneous buying behaviour between segments. In respect of the trade’s needs, emphasis is given on charterers’ requirements in bulk market (dry and liquid) and on shippers’ requirements in liner market. Furthermore, the paper examines how the shipping companies should respond to their clients’ demands. Shipping enterprises have unique capabilities concerning the means, the resources and the management abilities for their ships. The matching of the shipping enterprise capabilities with the needs and the desires of its clients is fundamental for the provision of the desired transport services, the satisfaction and retention of charterers and thus the commercial success of the enterprise. Main objective of charter market segmentation is to assist the company focus its efforts to the most promising opportunities.