Abstract for: The Role of Maritime Logistics Value to National Economies: A Conceptual Application with System Dynamics

Maritime logistics systems make a significant contribution in promoting a country’s economy by enabling exports and imports between different geographical locations through ocean carriages. This strategic importance motivates many countries to develop and implement maritime logistics policies to improve their national economic development. However, formulating maritime logistics policies poses a challenge caused by complicated interactions of maritime logistics service providers in the systems, such as freight forwarders, port terminal operators, and shipping lines. Consequently, it becomes important to outline the complexity of maritime logistics systems by identifying the value-creating processes of each actor involved in the systems. This study applies system dynamics to empirically examine the value creation of maritime logistics systems and their role in the national economy. The simulation model provides an experimental tool that can be used to effectively determine policies with a broader impact on national economic development.