This paper unveils the strong competition in container cargo between Hong Kong Port which has been emerging as an international maritime center since the 1970s and Shenzhen Port which has recently gained remarkable achievements in the Pearl River Delta region. Among various competing strategies, the study focuses on the long-term one in which two ports will decide to compete by investing in capacity. The purpose of this research is to examine their decision, making process and to suggest future strategic actions in the current situation. Within its scope, only economic profit brought back from the investment is considered. For this reason, an uncertain payoff two-person game model is developed where an uncertain factor of demand is involved. In applying Uncertainty theory (Liu, 2013), the two methods to solve the game are introduced, including uncertain statistics and the expected Nash Equilibrium strategy. The results obtained from this research generate meaningful suggestions for future competition plan for the two selected ports, which conclude that Shenzhen is the dominant port in this long-term strategy. Compared to existing works on the same topic, the paper shows its distinctiveness by studying the latest competitive situation with regard to the uncertain demand in the game model.

Over the last 30 years the extent of sea-ice covering the North Pole has declined about 15∼20% on average, and it is expected that by the end of the 21st century, vast areas of the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free during the summer season, thus, increasing the possibility of ship navigation across the Arctic Ocean. In this paper, we have developed a model of shipping for the Northwest Passage (hereinafter NWP) in northern Canada to determine whether ice thinning will make this route more economically viable when compared with the Panama Canal. Among the 7 routes of the NWP, Route 2 and Route 3 offer better navigational conditions than the others. However, Route 3 has a depth limit of only 10m, so here we use Route 2 which is suitable for deep draft navigation to carry on our analysis. Container ships of 4,500∼15,000 TEU under Hub and spoke mode, container shipping between Busan port and New York port is simulated for the Panama Canal and the NWP. This paper considers Canada’s sovereignty in matters of navigation over the waters at the Arctic Archipelago, in the form of a toll fee for passage usage. We concluded that the NWP has an advantage over the Panama Canal if it is open for free international passage, regardless of ship size. However, if it is not free, its advantages depend on its toll fee. The lower the toll fee is, the more advantages the NWP will boast.