Track: Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Container ports play a significant role in the supply chain, but their poor performance has an impact on the logistics costs at ports. Organizations seek to gain cost advantages by reducing their logistics costs, which consist of their transportation, inventory, and administrative costs. Logistics costs are the result of logistics activities from upstream to downstream. However, there is very little literature investigating the impact of container ports’ performance on logistics costs on the manufacturer’s side, and for the logistics service provider (LSP). To fill this gap, this paper used the resources dependence theory (RDT) and stakeholder theory to investigate the root causes and impact of problems at ports on the logistical costs perceived by port operators, producers, and the LSPs. To capture the real problem at the ports and the consequences for logistics costs, this paper used a case study approach. This paper drew the conclusion that loading and unloading activities at a container port cause the high transportation, inventory, and administrative costs. Inefficient supply chain activities trigger logistics costs, so that supply chain integration is the key to reducing these logistics costs.