A non-structural test for competition in the container liner shipping industry

This study examines the competitive conditions of the Containerized Liner Shipping Industry (CLSI). The degree of competition prevailing in this industry will be assessed using the Panzar and Rosse <italic>H</italic>-statistic. The properties of this non-structural methodology (e.g. using firm level data, robustness in small samples, no need to specify a relevant market, etc.) make it an excellent framework for assessing the degree of competition in the CLSI. The empirical specifications are based on an unbalanced panel of data regarding a sample of 18 major liner operators covering the period 1999 to 2008. A significantly positive unscaled value of the <italic>H</italic>-statistic has been found. This means that the hypothesis can be rejected that the CLSI market structure corresponds to a neoclassical monopoly, a collusive oligopoly or a conjectural variations short-run oligopoly.