S.Caschili and F.R.Medda INTRODUCTION The significant expansion of global trade,technological advancements and continuous changes in the world's geopolitical scenarios,has typified the development of the contemporary maritime shipping industry.In 1980 the intercontinental shipping freight volume comprised approximately 23 of the total world volume.At present,many authors estimate that this shipping freight volume ranges between 77 and 90 of the transport demand [1-4].The total number of Twenty-foot Equivalent Units(TEUs)carried worldwide has increased from 28,7 million in 1990 to 148,9 million in 2008;and similarly,average vessel capacity has grown from 1900 TEUs in 1996 to 2400 TEUs in 2006.While in 1996 vessels larger than 5000 TEU constituted only 1 of the world's fleet,in 2001 vessel capacity had increased to 12,7 and to 30 by 2006 [5].In this context the containerization revolution and technical improvements relative to the size,speed and design of vessels,as well as automation in port operations,have been pivotal to the success of maritime shipping activity [2,6].For instance, maritime transport has one of the lowest transport costs per TEU-mile over long distances for large quantities of goods [1].But as Kaluza et al.[7]observe,another reason must account for maritime shipping success,which they reckon is the growth of transpacific trade that has been fuelled by the globalization process.The container shipping industry has arisen as the leading transportation means for inter-oceanic shipping of manufactured goods,and for this reason we focus our critical overview on the container industry. In the rapid development of the global maritime system we can observe the presence of various independent rational agents(shipping companies,commodity producers,ports and port authorities,terminal operators,and freight brokers).Mutual interactions among large numbers of independent rational agents determine the growth,and thus the success,of this industrial sector.From this standpoint,our perspective in the present paper is to examine the container shipping industry in particular as a Complex System of relatively independent parts that constantly search,learn and adapt to their environment,while their mutual interactions shape obscure patterns with recognizable regularities that evolve continuously.The science of Complex Adaptive System(CAS)provides a useful framework for the analysis of shipping systems [8-16];as noted in the literature,CAS refers to a field of study in which its strategic analysis is based on reductionism(bottom-up investigation),and complex adaptive systems are generally composed of a set of rational,self-learning,independent,and interacting agents whose mutual interrelations generate non-linear dynamics and emergent phenomena. Since the 1980s rational agents in the maritime industry have continuously evolved within their organizations in response to external stimuli such as market competition.In logistics and management structures in particular,new forms of inter-firm organizations have emerged in the shipping industry.Rodrigue et al.[2]explain succinctly how this change has occurred: [...many of the largest shipping lines have come together by forming strategic alliances with erstwhile competitors.They offer joint services by pooling vessels on the main commercial routes.In this way they are each able to commit fewer ships to a particular service route,and deploy the extra ships on other routes that are maintained outside the alliance.[...The 20 largest carriers controlled 26%of the world slot capacity in 1980,42 in 1992 and about 58 in 2003.Those carriers have the responsibility to establish and maintain profitable routes in a competitive environment. The development of the shipping industry has gone hand-in-hand with changes in port organization.According to a recent study for the European Parliament [17],ports have undergone major transformations in their organizational structures,i.e.,they have evolved from the containerization process to what is known as the 'terminalisation era',where ports carry out multi-functional operations through the development of highly specialized terminals.S. Caschili and F.R. Medda 2 INTRODUCTION The significant expansion of global trade, technological advancements and continuous changes in the world’s geopolitical scenarios, has typified the development of the contemporary maritime shipping industry. In 1980 the intercontinental shipping freight volume comprised approximately 23 % of the total world volume. At present, many authors estimate that this shipping freight volume ranges between 77 % and 90 % of the transport demand [1-4]. The total number of Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) carried worldwide has increased1 from 28,7 million in 1990 to 148,9 million in 2008; and similarly, average vessel capacity has grown from 1900 TEUs in 1996 to 2400 TEUs in 2006. While in 1996 vessels larger than 5000 TEU constituted only 1 % of the world’s fleet, in 2001 vessel capacity had increased to 12,7 % and to 30 % by 2006 [5]. In this context the containerization revolution and technical improvements relative to the size, speed and design of vessels, as well as automation in port operations, have been pivotal to the success of maritime shipping activity [2, 6]. For instance, maritime transport has one of the lowest transport costs per TEU-mile over long distances for large quantities of goods [1]. But as Kaluza et al. [7] observe, another reason must account for maritime shipping success, which they reckon is the growth of transpacific trade that has been fuelled by the globalization process. The container shipping industry has arisen as the leading transportation means for inter-oceanic shipping of manufactured goods, and for this reason we focus our critical overview on the container industry. In the rapid development of the global maritime system we can observe the presence of various independent rational agents (shipping companies, commodity producers, ports and port authorities, terminal operators, and freight brokers). Mutual interactions among large numbers of independent rational agents determine the growth, and thus the success, of this industrial sector. From this standpoint, our perspective in the present paper is to examine the container shipping industry in particular as a Complex System of relatively independent parts that constantly search, learn and adapt to their environment, while their mutual interactions shape obscure patterns with recognizable regularities that evolve continuously. The science of Complex Adaptive System (CAS) provides a useful framework for the analysis of shipping systems [8-16]; as noted in the literature, CAS refers to a field of study in which its strategic analysis is based on reductionism (bottom-up investigation), and complex adaptive systems are generally composed of a set of rational, self-learning, independent, and interacting agents whose mutual interrelations generate non-linear dynamics and emergent phenomena. Since the 1980s rational agents in the maritime industry have continuously evolved within their organizations in response to external stimuli such as market competition. In logistics and management structures in particular, new forms of inter-firm organizations have emerged in the shipping industry. Rodrigue et al. [2] explain succinctly how this change has occurred: […] many of the largest shipping lines have come together by forming strategic alliances with erstwhile competitors. They offer joint services by pooling vessels on the main commercial routes. In this way they are each able to commit fewer ships to a particular service route, and deploy the extra ships on other routes that are maintained outside the alliance. […] The 20 largest carriers controlled 26 % of the world slot capacity in 1980, 42 % in 1992 and about 58 % in 2003. Those carriers have the responsibility to establish and maintain profitable routes in a competitive environment. The development of the shipping industry has gone hand-in-hand with changes in port organization. According to a recent study for the European Parliament [17], ports have undergone major transformations in their organizational structures, i.e., they have evolved from the containerization process to what is known as the ‘terminalisation era’, where ports carry out multi-functional operations through the development of highly specialized terminals