Maritime Supply Chains: How They Experienced the Regulation Change

Abstract

The change in regulation in the Baltic Sea concerning sulphur emissions from shipping was a demanding change. Finnish and Estonian companies took a ‘wait and see’ strategy approach, where only one major shipping company invested in scrubbers on a large-scale. Many shipping companies have made initial investments in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) ships, which are serving, or are going to serve in the near future, RoPax, container and bulk customers. Despite these investments, in the previous decade, shipping company asset amounts have been declining, and revenue growth has been minimal. Yet some actors have shown abnormally high profits, even in this very demanding environment. Hinterland transportation logistics actors did not benefit from sulphur regulation, and an analysis shows that their profit margins are thin and their business risks are high. Some terminals receiving and distributing LNG ships were built during the build up to the environmental emission reduction, but this was for a number of reasons. It remains to be seen whether the transition to LNG is economically sustainable, because its prices fluctuate, and show the same uncertainty as can be seen with oil. The private sector expects a lot from LNG, and this together with seeking new cargo routes were seen as the most important strategies tackling change.