• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.1-15
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• 2015

During global recessions, such as the 2008 financial crisis, Korean shipping companies have been undergoing a liquidity crisis that is comparably worse than other shipping companies worldwide. One of the reasons behind this repetitive vicious cycle can be the lack of ability to foresee the future by analyzing and understanding the volatile shipping market. Traditionally, in order to assimilate the shipping market, larger Korean shipping companies have been purchasing market reports published by Europe-based research companies and shipping brokers, leading to a digital divide by company size. To resolve this issue, the Maritime Exchange Information Center (MEIC) has been publishing shipping market reports that include essential shipping information such as freight rates by different routes; commodity trends for iron ore, grain, and coal; ship-building trends for new-building, second-hand, and demolition markets; as well as bunker price and port congestion. This research was conducted to analyze the effectiveness of four variables-information usefulness, market reflection, information composition, and latest information-on information satisfaction. If the information satisfaction was found to be adequate, the analysis of actual proof was used to determine if the customers would be willing to purchase MEIC's report when it is chargeable. All the four variables were found to have positive effects on information satisfaction. In particular, latest information was found to directly affect the intention to purchase. Furthermore, high information satisfaction was related to the intention to purchase.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.73-94
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• 2013

The necessity of shipping market information services has been on the rise which emphasizes the relevance of transaction information and market information to parties both in and outside the shipping industry. However, previous related researches have been restricted to explorations limited by the offerings of existing shipping market information providers. Users today require effective information, an efficient contents management system, interfacing to help the information provider, graphing and spread sheets to facilitate and present the analyzed information through diverse formats, and reliable web and mobile services to provide information effectively with limited human resources. As a first step, service information has to be defined, so that it takes into account user utility, information retrieval and data development. Second, benchmark information and services must be provided from leading shipbrokers and research institutes. Third, a review of the latest technical trends is required to identify the most suitable technologies for servicing shipping market information. Finally, analysis is required on the implementation of a system with selected technologies, as well as the development of channels to post information which have been analyzed by users. Such a process would enable the continual redefinition of the shipping market information users actively need. The application of an X-Internet based WCMS, with a single-window dashboard providing user-customized information, and used to obtain and manage processes, add spread sheets to sustain calculations using the latest information, graph results, and to input additional information following predefined rules. Access to data and use of the system would require agreement that the system will incorporate user data and user-analyzed information into the market report, web portal, and hybrid app to provide current shipping market information appropriately and accurately to service users.