Assessing demand for inland waterway cargo services

What is shaping shipbuilding

Shipbuilding and maritime services depend on a deep supplier ecosystem, skilled workforce and port infrastructure, with long project cycles and strict standards.

• Supplier capability limits how fast yards can scale
• Skilled trades are scarce and ageing
• Port users judge performance on turnaround and reliability

A logistics and vessel operator, working in Ganga and Brahmaputra corridors, India. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

A logistics and vessel operator

Sector

Shipbuilding

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Research consultancy, Business panel, Financial modelling

The operator was considering investing in barges for inland waterway cargo but was unsure whether shippers would shift from road and rail.

• Deliver on the brief: assessing demand for inland waterway cargo services.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of shipper.
• Uncover the motivations and barriers people do not state in a survey.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 9 weeks.

The work focused on 60 shipper.

• shipper60

Audiences we typically reach in shipbuilding

Shipyards and project managersMarine equipment suppliersSkilled workers and traineesPort users and shipping linesMaritime regulators

Coverage: Ganga and Brahmaputra corridors, India. Market: India.

• India

A qualitative design, built to uncover motivations, decision processes and the language people actually use.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Shipper interviews
3. 3Cargo flow analysis
4. 4Viability model
5. 5Insight

We interviewed manufacturers, traders and logistics firms about cargo volumes, routes, transit time needs and pricing, then modelled scenarios for vessel utilisation and economics. We also visited terminals and spoke with port officials about loading facilities, seasonal water levels and connections to road and rail networks.

Research consultancyBusiness panelFinancial modelling

shipper

60

• Business respondents were screened on role, company size and involvement in the decision before being invited.
• Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
• Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.

• The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
• Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
• Secondary sources and client data were compiled and cross-checked before modelling.

• Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
• Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
• Review of open-ended answers
• Recordings and transcripts for every session
• Re-screening of qualitative recruits
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
• Journey and decision mapping
• Market model built from secondary data and primary evidence

• Demand was strongest for bulk cargo such as cement and fertiliser on specific routes, where transit time was less critical.
• The model included seasonal water-level scenarios, which shaped the vessel design and the routes chosen for the first year of operation.

Matching vessels to the right cargo mattered more than total market size.

• Build on the core insight: matching vessels to the right cargo mattered more than total market size.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: demand was strongest for bulk cargo such as cement and fertiliser on specific routes, where transit time was less critical.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The operator started with a smaller fleet focused on those cargo types.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: where are the gaps in the supplier ecosystem?