Abstract
Despite the environmental and climate concerns, steam coal is still the first thermal energy used in the electricity generation worldwide. Faced to an increasing global demand, the steam coal seaborne market is developing considerably. From the 2000s, the steam coal maritime market faces several economic structural changes. The aim of this PhD dissertation is to bring a structural analysis of the steam coal maritime market from the 2000s. Through this research, we want to determine the economic and institutional factors helping to explain the configuration of the market. This PhD thesis involves three chapters. In the first chapter, we define the market over product space. Then, we describe the value chain of the steam coal industry in order to highlight the factors explaining the evolution of the industry, particularly by the oil crisis in the 1970s. In the second chapter, we empirically analyze the configuration of the steam coal maritime market and its evolution from 2000 to 2010. This analysis emphasizes the degree by which the seaborne transport costs and freight costs may represent a relevant barrier to entry on the market. Finally, in the third chapter, we determine the factor(s) explaining the schema and the configuration of the world steam coal market. To do so, we model the exporters’ behavior and their entry strategy faced to unit freight and seaborne costs in a predefined market structure.