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This research examines how bidding competition influences bid amounts among carriers in the maritime industry.

February 28, 2026

Bidding Competition Between Carriers in Maritime Tenders

Key Points

This research examines how bidding competition influences bid amounts among carriers in the maritime industry.
Analyzed a dataset of 23,614 bids from nine ocean carriers
Utilized a hedonic pricing framework to assess bid variations
Applied conditional fixed-effect Logit regressions to study carrier differences
Carrier differences have a minimal effect on bid variation
COSCO, a Chinese carrier, tends to submit lower bids more frequently when facing a larger number of competitors

Abstract

This paper focuses on bidding competition among carriers in the ocean container industry. Using a data set of 23,614 bids from nine carriers by a European retailer in 2017, we apply a hedonic pricing framework to identify differences in the average bids. We find that differences between carriers have little impact on the variation in bids. We further disentangle differences at the contract level using conditional fixed-effect Logit regressions. Among the various carriers, the Chinese state-owned carrier COSCO is much more likely to submit a lower bid than its competitors when there are many bidders.

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Bidding Competition Between Carriers in Maritime Tenders

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Abstract

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