Wang (2006) and many studies argued that the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (1998) in the US allowed confidential shipping contracts between shippers and carriers and it would actually act to lessen the market power of the shipping conferences (or cartels) in the international container shipping industry. A conjecture following such arguments is that the price would fall, reflecting the new competition in the market. In this article, we want to empirically test the conjecture: the OSRA (1998), if effective, would move freight rates downward. To do so, we collect data and test the hypothesis especially on two US-related international shipping routes: Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific routes. Two types of specifications are considered: Times series OLS and ARIMA models. Especially, the ARIMA results show that the new Act lowers the price at least on some routes. Especially the effect turns out to be very significant on the eastbound leg of the Trans-Atlantic route.
목차
Abstract Ⅰ. Introduction Ⅱ. Empirical Analysis and Tests on Freight rates 1. Testing Hypotheses 2. Data and Modeling Ⅲ. Conclusion Reference