Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Hub – and- Spoke Transshipment Model

Hub and Spoke is a system of distribution of goods, passengers and data, in which  the items to be distributed are routed in to / out  through a center point. This system is widely used in transportation (air & sea) and also in supply chains. The Hub & spoke model is named for the bicycle wheel, which has a stable centre part connecting to multiple spokes which holds the wheel.


In maritime industry the hub and spoke model is used for transhipment of containers. Transhipment is a process of moving containers from one ship to another keeping a port as a temporary buffer storage area. So, the hub and spoke maritime network has a  fixed centre point called HUB (transhipment) PORT , which connects short distance cargo ports called feeder ports by spokes namely feeder ships. The hub port generally will be geographically a central location, which has an easy access to the region. Colombo is a popular hub port for Indian Sub-Continent region.

Hub & Spoke Transshipment Port - Colombo 

The Shipping lines chose hub ports in strategic regions to achieve economy of scale and to optimise services.



How shipping lines do chose hub ports? The choice depends on the line’s overall logistics strategy and the seaport’s geographical, strategical, economical, physical, political, environmental and inter-modal advantages.  



The hub and spoke system also is used in intersection transhipments where in the hub port act as a point for changing containers from one long distance ship to another long distance one , continent to continent transhipments. Example of Rotterdam port is given below.