The objective of the exploratory study is to gain a holistic view of the perceptions of
senior managers attached to agencies and regional offices representing global container
lines. The total population of agencies and regional offices was considered for the stage
one survey in order to maximise the number of diverse perceptions captured in the
study. As it is an investigation of all the individual elements which made up the
population, this sampling method is identified as a census (Cooper and Emory 1995; De
All container line regional offices or their agencies selected for the survey represent
global container lines which call at the Port of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Port of
Colombo is the main gateway to the Indian subcontinent, which has an economy with a
growth of nine per cent per annum (UNCTAD 2010). Its strategic location in the middle
of the main international sea route connecting the Far East and Western Europe has
enabled the Port of Colombo to connect cargo to various destinations in the world. It
has been a regional transhipment hub port since the early 1970s when containerisation
was first introduced to the region. The large south port development in Colombo has
further strengthened Sri Lanka‟s claim as a regional transhipment hub (Fossey 2010). This strategic importance has influenced all leading global container lines to set up their
operations in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Fossey 2010). All the agencies and regional offices
selected for survey have been in operation for at least five years; which is another
indication of the strategic importance of the Port of Colombo, because long period of
operation of these global lines have a stronger presence in Port of Colombo to
substantiate its claim as a maritime hub. Further, these global container lines
represented by the regional offices and agencies account for a total volume of 12 million
TEUs or 90 per cent of global TEU capacity in the year 2010 (Alphaliner 2010). Lu‟s
(2007) study was also conducted in a similar maritime hub in Taiwan. The comparison
between cultures and work ethics may be different between the hubs, as explained in
Chapter Two. Globally, container lines are represented by regional offices and agencies
and these agencies and regional offices are the life lines of the container lines. They are
responsible for the marketing of container services, handling shipping documents and
handling vessel operations, and how vessels reach the port (McCalla, Slack and
conduct has an impact on the services offered by container lines. Due to these reasons
Lu‟s (2007) study also recognises the importance of understanding the perceptions of senior managers in container lines and their agencies concerning the contribution of
resources to the market performance of container lines. Thus, their views and
perceptions are important for container lines when they plan strategic co-operations.
The regional offices are operated by local employees but the senior manager or CEO is
employed from the container line‟s country of origin. The agencies are either solely representing the container line or the firm has a separate office to represent the global
container line. Although agencies do not have capital invested in transport equipment or
physical handling of containers, they provide the same services as the container lines
from the perspective of marketing, ship operations at the port, and document handling to
shippers and consignees (Lu 2007).
The agency offices are organised and operate in the same manner to the container line
offices they represent. The customer care strategies, marketing, HR and financial
systems of these offices are the same as to those of the container line they represent.
This includes the logo and colours of the container line being used to decorate the
agency offices; all letterheads and other documents with which a container line
corresponds with external organisations. In addition, the container lines train the staff of
the agency to represent them with the same corporate identity. Therefore, the shippers
or consignees are made to feel that they are dealing with the container line directly.
The total population of regional offices and agencies consists of 84 firms. These firms
(2000), Wimmer and Dominick (2005) and Fowler (2008) recognise that identifying the
population accurately is vital for the accuracy of data gathered, therefore in the current
study several sources are used to confirm the population data. The information
identifying the 84 senior managers representing global container lines is obtained from
the Ceylon Association of Ship Agents (2009/2010) directory. This is an annual
directory which provides detailed information about global container lines. It contains
all the contact details of senior managers of each container line and each agency
(representing global container lines) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In addition, Ship Link
Directory (http://www.shiplink.lk/Shipping-Lines-Local-Agents.html) is a web-based
directory containing the websites of all the leading container lines and information
about container lines and their agents established in Sri Lanka. This was a useful means
to check the accuracy of the other directory. This information was also verified using
the website of each individual container line, which provides information about the
regional offices and agencies representing them. The searches revealed that four
agencies have not taken the membership of the Ceylon Association of Ship Agents;
therefore, their names did not appear in the directory. The contact details of these four
members were taken from the Ship Link directory. The next section discusses the
reasoning for selection of respondents from agencies and regional offices for the stage
one survey.