One shipping company becoming 100% green can accidentally force its competitors to keep polluting for years.
April 26, 2026
Original Paper
Shore Power Adoption Strategies for Liner Companies: The Role of Market Environment
SSRN · 6637903
The Takeaway
The total success of a single actor in sustainability can suppress the incentive for the rest of the industry to invest in green tech. In a competitive market, a leader's transition to shore power can lock in a green paradox for the remaining firms. We assume that a major success in decarbonization will provide a roadmap for everyone else to follow. Instead, it can create a market environment where the laggards find it more profitable to stay with dirty energy. This structural trap hinders the overall goal of saving the planet.
From the abstract
Under a game-theoretic framework of two ports and two liner companies (A and B), this study analyzes A’s optimal shore power strategies under three competitive scenarios of B: non-adoption, partial adoption and full adoption. The results show that A’s optimal decisions are scenario-based. Non-adoption is optimal if B rejects shore power and both port congestion costs and environmentally conscious shipper volume stay below critical values. When B adopts shore power partially, A favors differentia