ABSTRACT
Sustaining the profitability of a shipping company is one of the key questions in the maritime sector. In this chapter, we examine two issues that have an effect on profitability: the decision of whether to own or to charter the fleet and the size of the personnel of the company. We use as a research approach a longitudinal case study (1994–2022) of a North European shipping company. In earlier literature, case studies from this topic are rare, especially those concerning a long-term perspective. In the examined period, the company’s geographical focus, type of vessels and customers remained unchanged, but the company’s profitability altered significantly. The start of the global financial crisis (GFC) was the moment that led to a change in the fleet ownership strategy and a longer-term approach concerning the number of personnel. This chapter presents knowledge concerning the impact of various ownership and workforce strategies to a shipping company’s profitability in different market situations. In built regression models, it was shown that profitability and its components were driven by the number of personnel (negative co-efficient) and the amount of vessels, especially chartered (positive co-efficient).
