Direct shipping across the Taiwan Strait: flag selections and policy issues

The restriction on direct shipping across the Taiwan Strait under which ships registered in Taiwan were banned from calling at China’s ports might have restricted the expansion of the Taiwanese flagged fleet. The cross-strait direct shipping link was established since the Cross-strait Sea Transport (CST) Agreement was signed in 2008. According to the Agreement, only ships owned and registered on either side of the Taiwan Strait or registered in Hong Kong may, with due approval, engage in direct cross-strait carriage of cargos and passengers. The aim of this study is to find the optimal flag selection for Taiwanese shipping companies under the provisions of the CST Agreement. The Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) method is applied to find the preferred registry location among Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China. Sensitivity Analysis is also applied to test how criteria weights influence three alternative hierarchies. The results show Taiwan is the lowest priority with an unchangeable position in flag selection because Taiwanese national fleets mainly suffered higher operational costs. A lower tax rate and appropriate financial systems are therefore recommended in revising relevant shipping policies. Furthermore, to assist shipping companies to obtain China’s approval is also helpful to inspire ships flag back.     

PRC maritime and the Asian Financial Crisis

This article is concerned with an analytical summary of how the Asian Financial Crisis accelerated reforms in the Chinese maritime industry. Data was collected by the author in his position as Lloyd's List correspondent in Hong Kong covering Greater China. It touches upon very recent shipping line reforms, including COSCO's restructuring, an expansion programme of the shipbuilding industry, and liberalization of the Chinese shipping market. This information is unique, and is not easily accessible to scholars either inside or outside of China.     

Will China’s airline industry survive the entry of high-speed rail?

This study investigates the effects of high-speed rail (HSR) services on Chinese airlines. Our analysis suggests that the HSR service will be competitive in terms of network connectivity, total travel time and cost efficiency. On the other hand, growth of the Chinese airline industry has been unbalanced in terms of traffic distribution, airline network development, airport capacity and share of international traffic. While the long term prospects of Chinese airlines are bright, the carriers must develop effective hub-and-spoke networks and increase their competitiveness in international markets in order to achieve sustainable growth in the coming years. For the Chinese government, continued investment at hub airports and support to low-cost carriers are also necessary.     

Port competitiveness from the users' perspective: An analysis of major container ports in China and its neighboring countries

The objective of this paper is to explore the relative importance of factors that determine container port competitiveness from the users' perspective. Three groups of port users – shipping liners, forwarders and shippers – are considered in this paper. The importance of the various factors is determined on the basis of survey results from the industry experts and then obtained via the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Furthermore, we use the results to evaluate ports in Mainland China, Hong Kong and other Asian cities. Given our results, operators of our sample ports could benchmark their performance with their competitors and identify the areas that they need to improve.     

The decline of the U.K. merchant fleet: an assessment of government policies in recent years—a rejoinder to Goss's comment

In recent years, the Hong Kong port has been challenged by the emergence of the Shenzhen port. This gives rise to a concern that the high terminal handling charges (THC) levied by the Hong Kong terminal operators are undermining the competitiveness of the Hong Kong port. As the major container terminals in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen are operated by the Hong Kong terminal operators, the monopoly power of these operators is commonly believed to be the cause of the high THC in Hong Kong. The theoretical model developed in this study shows that the trigger point mechanism (TPM) used by the Hong Kong Government to control the supply of terminal capacity may be a source of such monopoly power. Two possible scenarios are considered in the model—Scenario 1 in which expansion of capacity is unconstrained (i.e. the Shenzhen port); and Scenario 2 in which expansion of capacity is constrained by TPM (i.e. the Hong Kong port). Under TPM, the Hong Kong Government commits not to grant the right to build new container terminals unless and until the demand for container handling services exceeds the current capacity by a certain amount, which provides the incumbent operators incentives to invest preemptively in excess capacity in order to block the entry of potential entrants. This model is supported by the empirical findings from this study. The results from this study suggest an urgent need for the Hong Kong Government to overhaul the current port development policy as a part of the effort to promote economic integration between Hong Kong and the Mainland China.     

Multicommodity network flow model for Asia's container ports

This paper seeks to develop a multi-commodity network model to analyse the flow of containers within the Asia Pacific context. The model is used to evaluate the impact of container throughput in Asia's port by varying terminal handling charges and turnaround time. The three main regions analysed are north-east Asia, east Asia (Chinese port region) and south east Asia. Using the model, it could be shown that Busan port, which is an important transhipment hub in north-east Asia, could boost the container activities in the north-eastern part of China by improving its service quality. It is also found that the efficiency of the land link between Hong Kong and mainland China plays a crucial role for the future of Hong Kong port. While Singapore port maintains its position as a transhipment hub in south-east Asia, there would be expected competition from neighbouring low costs ports.     

Port resources rationalization for better container barge services in Hong Kong

The manufacturing base in the Pearl River Delta of China is moving westwards, where the Pearl River system has extensive coverage. This makes container barge transport a new growth area for Hong Kong Port. Traditionally, Hong Kong Port has been the main gateway for containers transported through the Pearl River system, but this advantageous position is under challenge from the adjacent ports in South China, especially from Shenzhen Port, which is keen to take a bigger share of the new growth by improving the access of barges to its port facilities. While services at Shenzhen Port are improving, barge operators have been experiencing high congestion at Hong Kong Port. Improving the quality of barge container services becomes crucial for Hong Kong Port. In this study, we propose and investigate three improvement strategies: to enhance the consolidation of small container flows, to increase the efficiency of berth allocations for barges, and to optimize the overall utilization of port resources in Hong Kong. These strategies can be instrumental for keeping Hong Kong's status as the gateway for the Pearl River system and help maintain its competitiveness as an international shipping hub.     

Impact of special shipping across the Taiwan Straits on the employment of Taiwanese ship officers

Nowhere else in the world are there marine transportations highly confined than across the Taiwan Straits (mainland China and Taiwan). This study strives to explore the present employment status of Taiwanese ship officers under the influence of special shipping across the Taiwan Straits, and to make sure if such an employment trend has a negative impact on the future operating mode of Taiwan shipping companies. By means of field interview and questionnaire, this study collected the employment data of ship officers from 21 leading shipping companies in Taiwan, and made a statistical analysis. The research findings show that the existing cross-strait shipping relationship, which is seriously distorted by the hostility between the governments of Taiwan and mainland China across the Taiwan Straits, has made Taiwanese shipping companies turn to flagging-out in order to enter the extensive shipping market of mainland China. This leads to a decline of job opportunities for Taiwanese ship officers. Ironically, the ship officers from mainland China pose a biggest threat to those in Taiwan in this respect. In addition, the operating modes of Taiwanese shipping companies also change gradually in tune with the increasing number of non-Taiwanese ship officers (mainly those from mainland China).     

Impact of special shipping across the Taiwan Straits on the employment of Taiwanese ship officers

Nowhere else in the world are there marine transportations highly confined than across the Taiwan Straits (mainland China and Taiwan). This study strives to explore the present employment status of Taiwanese ship officers under the influence of special shipping across the Taiwan Straits, and to make sure if such an employment trend has a negative impact on the future operating mode of Taiwan shipping companies. By means of field interview and questionnaire, this study collected the employment data of ship officers from 21 leading shipping companies in Taiwan, and made a statistical analysis. The research findings show that the existing cross-strait shipping relationship, which is seriously distorted by the hostility between the governments of Taiwan and mainland China across the Taiwan Straits, has made Taiwanese shipping companies turn to flagging-out in order to enter the extensive shipping market of mainland China. This leads to a decline of job opportunities for Taiwanese ship officers. Ironically, the ship officers from mainland China pose a biggest threat to those in Taiwan in this respect. In addition, the operating modes of Taiwanese shipping companies also change gradually in tune with the increasing number of non-Taiwanese ship officers (mainly those from mainland China).     

Analyzing aviation safety: Problems,challenges, opportunities

This paper reviews the economic literature relating to aviation safety; analyzes the safety record of commercial passenger aviation in the United States and abroad; examines aviation security as a growing dimension of aviation safety; and identifies emerging issues in airline safety and challenges for aviation safety research. Commercial airline safety has improved dramatically since the industry's birth over a century ago. Fatal accident rates for large scheduled jet airlines have fallen to the level where (along many dimensions) aviation is now the safest mode of commercial transportation. However, safety performance has not been evenly distributed across all segments of commercial aviation, nor among all countries and regions of the world. The finding that developing countries have much poorer safety records has been a persistent conclusion in aviation safety research and continues to be the case. Unfortunately, operations data are not available for many of the airlines that experience fatal accidents, so it is not possible to calculate reliable fatality rates for many segments of the worldwide aviation industry. Without more complete information, it will likely be difficult to make substantial improvements in the safety of these operations. Challenges to improving aviation security include: how much to focus on identifying the terrorists as opposed to identifying the tools they might use; determining how to respond to terrorist threats; and determining the public versus private roles in providing aviation security. The next generation of safety challenges now require development and understanding of new forms of data to improve safety in other segments of commercial aviation, and moving from a reactive, incident-based approach toward a more proactive, predictive and systems-based approach.     

红旗漫卷万重浪——记中国海员工会

<正>1921年4月6日,由孙中山先生亲笔题写会名的中国海员工会前身"中华海员工业联合总会",经过海员工人运动先驱苏兆征、林伟民等人的不懈努力,冲破重重阴霾,率先在英国殖民统治下的香港宣告正式成立,不仅很快就成为强烈动摇帝国主义在中国殖民统治的重     

Effects of the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative on the wine import logistics of China

China’s Belt and Road (BR) initiative is expected to facilitate international trade between the countries involved. In this study, we review the special requirements of wine logistics and the market growth potential of wine consumption in China. A model minimizing generalized logistical costs is developed and applied to wine imports in China, so that the best candidate cities in which to locate transport gateways and distribution centers can be identified. Our analysis suggests that the most preferred gateways are Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, which all have similar delivery costs. In comparison, Beijing and Chongqing have much higher delivery costs, mainly because they do not have good access to marine transport and/or efficient domestic distribution networks. For long-distance intercontinental transport of large volumes of wine, marine shipping remains the only viable delivery mode. However, wine distribution within China extensively uses air, road, and water transport. Therefore, cities with excellent multi-modal transport services are better positioned to become wine logistics gateways. Our study also highlights the importance of value-added services and good government support, which are important factors that influence distribution costs and quality.     

船用泡沫铝夹层板在低温下的冲击动态响应研究

泡沫铝夹层板具有良好的动态能量吸收性能,在极地船舶抗冲击防护方面具有巨大的潜在应用前景。文章利用ABAQUS有限元软件,结合准静态拉伸压缩材料试验,建立了船用泡沫铝夹层板的低温动态冲击数值仿真模型,研究了其动态冲击响应与抗冲击性能,并采用Instran 9350落锤冲击试验机对数值仿真模型进行了试验验证。在此基础上,研究了低温和冲击能量对船用泡沫铝夹层板动态冲击响应的影响。结果表明,随着冲击能量的增加,常温和低温条件下船用夹层板的冲击力峰值、最大挠度和最终挠度遵从乘幂增长规律。与常温相比,低温下船用泡沫铝夹层板的面板变形较小,且随着冲击能量的增加,低温的影响更为显著,即船用泡沫铝夹层板在低温下具有更好的抗冲击性能。     

Multicommodity network flow model for Asia's container ports

This paper seeks to develop a multi-commodity network model to analyse the flow of containers within the Asia Pacific context. The model is used to evaluate the impact of container throughput in Asia's port by varying terminal handling charges and turnaround time. The three main regions analysed are north-east Asia, east Asia (Chinese port region) and south east Asia. Using the model, it could be shown that Busan port, which is an important transhipment hub in north-east Asia, could boost the container activities in the north-eastern part of China by improving its service quality. It is also found that the efficiency of the land link between Hong Kong and mainland China plays a crucial role for the future of Hong Kong port. While Singapore port maintains its position as a transhipment hub in south-east Asia, there would be expected competition from neighbouring low costs ports.     

劳氏在中国

即将迎来250年历史的全球第一大船级社将目光聚集在了中国。＂中国将是我们最需关注和重视的!＂     

香港回归与上海经济和航运业的发展

随着１９９７年香港的回归和９０年代上海经济持续稳定的发展，中国未来半出现丙个国际中心城市－香港和上海。如何认识这两个国际中心城市之间的关系对中国经济的发展是至关重要的。本文从经济和航运两方面对这一问题进行了深入的分析。     

Competition between the ports of Hong Kong and Singapore: a structural vector error correction model to forecast the demand for container handling services

The objective of this paper is to provide the Hong Kong government with an alternative forecast of container throughput, by studying various interactive relationships between major ports in East and Southeast Asia. As the demand for container handling services is 'derived' from the demand for imports, the resulting market shares for the container handling services gripped by different regions inevitably become a mirror image of the relative competitiveness of their exports. When the markets of the two ports overlap, their market shares will become a function of the prices they charge and how well they meet the needs of the shippers and shipping lines. A vector error correction model (VECM) with structural identification was set up to capture this kind of trade-interdependency and oligopolistic relationship in the East and Southeast Asian market for container handling services. In the course of so-doing, the upward sloping supply curves and downward sloping demand curve for the container handling services provided by Hong Kong and Singapore are identified from the model. Interestingly, the impulse response functions display what is reminiscent of the trade-interdependency and oligopolistic relationship. The forecast of Hong Kong container throughput generated by the structural VECM is then compared with that obtained by the Hong Kong Port Development Board (PDB). The sensitivity analysis shows that, in all possible cases, the structural VECM produces higher growth paths for the Hong Kong container throughput than the PDB does and, hence, suggests an earlier construction of new terminals.     

The mispricing of transportation initial public offerings in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong

The main objective of this study is to determine the level of mispricing of transportation IPOs in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. A subsidiary objective is to test the hypothesis that there is a strong positive correlation between the initial day returns that are required for new equity issues and the level of ex ante uncertainty associated with the IPO. By applying a standard methodology in finance for assessing the existence and scale of mispricing, the study finds significant underpricing for transportation IPOs in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. There is also evidence that freight-related IPOs are subject to more severe underpricing than non-freight related IPOs, and that water-transport IPOs are underpriced more than IPOs of other types of transport business. It is concluded that there does exist support for the hypothesis that the level of ex ante uncertainty is strongly associated with the level of mispricing and that this explains cross-sectional differences in the degree of underpricing of IPOs. In this respect, the results from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong are consistent with the results of similar studies conducted elsewhere.     

China' maritime developments

Development of ports and shipping in China are continuing at a phenomenal pace. They are now entering a second phase in these developments. With basic capacity to handle China's growing foreign trade established. China's ports and shipping are now being ratinalized in terms of inland infrastructure and intermodal networks, optimum trade flows, foreign alliances, and physical forms or consolidation of cargo. These developments are driven by the lack of a large, deep water ocean fleet on one hand and limited water depths at many major ports. Similarly, the extension of economic development to the inland ports of China has become a priority as has the effective integration of Hong Kong and gradual opening of direct shipping across the Taiwan Straits.     

CEPA opportunities for logistics industry

The Chinese mainland/Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement(CEPA) became effective from zero hour Thursday,January 1,2004,with the support of the central government and joint efforts of the industry and commerce circles on both sides.