The longer and heavier vehicle debate: A review of empirical evidence from Germany

This paper aims to evaluate the likely effects of the adoption of Longer Heavier Vehicles (LHVs) from the perspective of logistics service providers (LSPs). The research consists of six case studies and a survey of companies which were involved LHV trials in Germany. Wider introduction of LHVs is being increasingly demanded so that road freight transport can better serve and support modern supply chains whilst achieving the desired eco-efficiency advancements. Available literature on LHVs puts a particular emphasis on five factors that need to be included in the assessment of their impact: energy efficiency, CO₂ emissions, costs, safety and infrastructure. The research provides an original and innovative empirical study refining and validating the current conceptual framework for assessing LHVs demonstrating it is a valuable tool and providing evidence that the vast majority of companies participating in our study, regardless of their size, were interested in the adoption of LHVs. However, it should be noted that a key limitation of the research is that by focusing on a single country case, the nature and scale of the findings may not reflect practice in other countries and sectors. There is also a need to examine the long-term sustainability of the improvements made.     

Relationship between logistics infrastructure and trade: Evidence from Spanish regional exports

Geographical factors and transport infrastructure are two of the key determinants that influence international competitiveness. In this sense, the quality of such infrastructure and how widespread it is, the distribution and capacity of logistics facilities in a country, as well as the number of private operators and their degree of specialisation, all play an increasingly important role in the design of business strategies aimed at increasing a country’s share of the international market. Until recently, however, availability and access to logistics services have been considered secondary factors when defining business competitiveness. This paper estimates an augmented gravity model of trade that specifically includes logistics and transport infrastructure indicators as explanatory variables. The model is estimated by using bilateral exports from 19 Spanish regions to 64 destinations (45 countries and 19 Spanish regions) with data for the period 2003–2007. The findings show that logistics is indeed important for the analysis of trade flows in goods and they highlight the importance of logistics measures at the regional level. In particular, the number, size and quality of logistics facilities positively influence export flows.     

Selection Criteria of Transportation Mode: A Case Study in Four Finnish Industry Sectors

Abstract

This paper takes a closer look at the very basics of logistics and it analyses the selection criteria of transportation services from the industrial point of view as the main research problem. It also tries to establish a better understanding of which industrial sectors are using which mode of logistics services and why. According to the analysis, the high value and especially high price/kg ratio of products, short life cycles and worldwide markets are typical reasons to use rapid modes of transport. The high price/kg ratio of products and the short life cycles, for example in the electronics industry, cause high price erosion and support selecting transport based on speed, as proportional transport costs remain small, even when using expensive transportation modes. Based on the results, some of the future logistics needs were identified, and the aim is to help logistics service providers offer the exact services needed, providing better competitiveness for Finnish shipping companies operating in global markets. Logistics service providers are, for example, expected to have more powerful supply chain management capabilities than a single‐service provider can typically offer. Additionally, logistics service providers should have compatible operating systems with different parties of various supply chains to enable deliveries to different customer groups according to their industry’s required speed.     

Effects of regulation-driven green innovations on short sea shipping's environmental and economic performance

Despite its pivotal role in European trade, today’s short sea shipping (SSS) industry faces the dual challenge of lessening its environmental footprint while improving its economic performance. To reduce the pollution caused by their operations, SSS companies are required to comply with increasingly stringent environmental regulations enacted by global and regional authorities such as the European Union and the International Maritime Organization. However, the companies tend to regard those regulations as imposing an additional burden of cost that compromises their capacity to enhance their economic performance. This paper examines the impact of external institutional driver namely regulatory pressure on the adoption of green innovations in SSS and in turn, the impact of those innovations on the environmental and economic performance of SSS companies. To investigate the hypothesised relationships of those constructs, a structural equation model was developed and tested with data from a survey conducted amongst 101 short sea shipping companies headquartered in Europe. As detailed in the paper, the analysis revealed that regulatory pressure has generated green innovations that have enhanced the environmental and economic performance of European SSS companies and, as a result, led to a win–win situation for all parties involved. The paper discusses what those findings imply for SSS firm managers and policymakers who seek to improve the environmental or economic performance of Europe’s SSS industry.     

Efficiency measurement of bus routes and exogenous operating environment effects on efficiency

This study develops an independent efficiency measurement model framework of bus routes, so as to treat preferably the heterogeneous outputs in a data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based efficiency measurement. It then introduces four new exogenous operating environment factors at the microscopic level of bus routes, and applies the three-stage DEA approach to incorporate operating environment effects and statistical noise into the efficiency measurement framework. The main purpose is to measure impartially the managerial efficiency of bus routes, purged of operating environment effects and statistical noise, and additionally to investigate the operating environment effects on efficiency. An empirical analysis, based on 39 routes operated in Jiangyin City, China, is presented. The principal finding is that the adoption of the independent efficiency measurement model framework is reasonable and has many virtues. Moreover, the proposed approach could substantially provide decision support both for regulators and for producers of bus services. In addition, the operating environment does indeed significantly affect operating efficiency and quality efficiency, especially the latter.     

Asian economic integration and maritime CO2 emissions

The Asian region is considered as the most thriving region in terms of economic integration at present. Given the fact that most of the Asian countries’ commodity trade relies on maritime transport, its economic integration is expected to affect the shipping activities and consequently maritime CO₂ emissions. This study develops a novel and systematic analysis on the key driving factors through which trade liberalization can influence maritime CO₂ emissions. Our simulation results suggest that, depending on the level of Asian integration, global CO₂ emissions may slightly fall (ASEAN+3 FTA) or even rise (ASEAN+6 FTA). The reason for the latter is that the “trade scale effect” (higher emissions due to a significant increase in trade among participating countries) outweighs the “trade structure effect” and “shipment type effect” (lower emissions as a result of an increase in intra-Asia trade and a change in commodity composition). Finally, all countries involved in the Asian integration, except Japan, will experience an increase in maritime CO₂ emissions. In particular, a relatively significant increase in the maritime CO₂ emissions occurs in the developing Asian countries owing to substantial trade scale effect after removing their relatively high trade barriers.     

The effect of institutional factors on public–private partnership success in ports

Port public–private partnerships (PPPs) are considered to be an important emerging mechanism for port development and improvement in port performance especially for developing countries. This paper empirically investigates the effect of institutional factors in the success of port’s PPPs; the latter defined as the attractiveness of the PPP project for private bidders and the market competitiveness of the facility. The empirical investigation of a large sample of ports finds that ‘regulatory quality’, ‘market openness’, ‘ease to start a business’ and ‘enforcing contracts’ are important institutional determinants of port PPP success and may ultimately contribute to port development and economic growth. The results are consistent with and add to the theoretical literature whereas practical implications for port authorities, managers and investors are discussed.     

食品冷链物流交接服务标准化研究

食品安全是全球的公共卫生问题,是关乎国计民生、影响经济和社会发展的重大事件,冷链则为其提供了行之有效的帮助。虽然国家政策的扶持力度不断加大,我国冷链物流迎来了快速发展的机遇,但由于起步较晚、环境复杂,行业内部仍面临多重短板亟待补齐,其中之一就是交接环节的"断链"问题。《食品冷链物流交接规范》国家标准的制定,旨在提升我国冷链物流服务水平,通过规范企业操作、界定交接责任,达到规范冷链市场、保证食品安全以及促进行业健康发展的目的。     

The changing allocation of activities in space and time by the use of ICT—“Fragmentation” as a new concept and empirical results

Theoretical and empirical research about the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on transport relies on the hypothesis that ICT use leads to a reorganization of activities in time and space thus having as a consequence impacts on travel behavior. The breaking up of activities into discrete pieces by the use of ICT is the starting point of the fragmentation concept that underlies the present article. The concept argues that transport demand increases by the fragmentation of activities and explores the relevant mechanisms for this process. In all, however, the concept is still rather vague. Therefore, the authors discuss some elements of the concept on a theoretical level, in particular the question why individuals “fragment” their activities. In the empirical section they use a data set about activities, ICT use and travel behavior in Germany to find out how far an activity like work, which is particularly apt for fragmentation, shows signs of temporal and spatial disintegration. With the help of a cluster analysis they identify groups with different “fragmentation behavior” and investigate if a statistically significant relation exists between fragmentation behavior and ICT use. Accordingly, the focus of the article lies on the impact of ICT use on the performance of activities by different behavioral groups. The link to travel behavior is made by examining mode choices for different purposes and travel related attitudes.     

Shipping Lines and Logistics

Abstract

It has been acknowledged that logistics is a driving force that shapes the integration of the transport chain. This paper argues that while the liner shipping industry exhibits increased horizontal integration, its vertical integration remains limited. A clear distinction is drawn between freight logistics, container logistics and vessel logistics. Freight logistics is defined as part of the supply chain process, the focus of which is the goods being transported. The purpose of container logistics is to optimize the movements of the containers themselves, an operation that is directly related to vessel logistics which is concerned with maximizing vessel utilization. The paper demonstrates that shipping lines have to find the correct balance between these three types of logistics. Their interest in vertical integration is primarily because the management of container logistics provides direct support to vessel logistics. Their involvement in freight logistics remains unclear and uncertain.     

Impacts of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on time use and travel behavior: a structural equations analysis

The objective of this paper is to contribute an empirical study to the literature on transportation impacts of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). The structural equation model (SEM) is employed to analyze the impacts of ICT usage on time use and travel behavior. The sample is derived from the travel characteristic survey conducted in Hong Kong in 2002. The usage of ICT is defined as the experience of using e-mail, Internet service, video conferencing and videophone for either business or personal purposes. The results show that the use of ICT generates additional time use for out-of-home recreation activities and travel and increases trip-making propensity. Individuals at younger age or with higher household income are found to be more likely ICT users. The findings of this study provide further evidence on the complementarity effects of ICT on travel, suggesting that the wide application of ICT probably leads to more, not less, travel. The study also demonstrates the importance of considering the interactions between activity and travel for better understanding of the nature and magnitude of the impacts of ICT on time use and trip making behavior.     

新冠肺炎疫情对广州现代物流业的影响及对策探讨

广州是"千年商都",是全国对外贸易及货物流动最活跃的地区,物流行业规模持续多年位居全国前列。2020年新冠肺炎疫情爆发以来,对广州的现代物流业发展带来了较大的影响和冲击。分析2020年上半年广州航空、航运、铁路、公路及邮政快递货运量变化及物流业发展面临的困境,探讨了广州现代物流业发展存在的弱项和短板,并在物流枢纽与网络、产业集聚及相关支持政策等方面提出了应对措施及建议。     

Working from 9 to 6? An analysis of in-home and out-of-home working schedules

The widespread adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) and flexible work arrangements have enabled people to schedule their work activities in more flexible ways. New forms of working have already emerged. However, research about flexible work schedules is still scarce. The aim of this study is to determine the factors impacting the propensity to adopt a flexible work schedule, and establish how and to what extent the timing of work is influenced by ICTs, work, and sociodemographic characteristics. The analysis suggests that work-related characteristics and ICT usage seem to be more important for work-schedule flexibility than sociodemographic characteristics are.     

航空物流与区域经济高质量发展协同性——基于重庆的实证研究

自2017年十九大提出经济高质量发展以来,重庆根据中央部署,经济高质量发展取得了初步成功。在这一过程中,发现航空物流产业与区域经济高质量发展间存在正相关关系。为了研究重庆航空物流与区域经济高质量发展的协同性,采用数据包络分析(DEA)模型,对重庆市2008年至2018年GDP、航空货邮吞吐量等指标进行代入计算。结果表明,重庆航空物流与区域经济高质量发展存在较高的协同性,且呈现上升趋势,但由于航空物流和区域经济发展内部资源分配不合理,导致有效协同发展程度波动较大。结合重庆市实际情况,以资源配置优化为侧重点,提出提高二者协同性的建议。     

Networking innovation in the European car industry: Does the Open Innovation model fit?

The demands of transportation have driven the automobile industry into an innovation race. Uncertain technological trends, long development cycles, highly capital-intensive product development, saturated markets, and environmental and safety regulations have subjected the sector to major transformations. The technological and organisational innovations related to these transformations necessitate research that can enhance our understanding of the characteristics of the new systems. The study investigates the applicability of the Open Innovation concept to a mature capital-intensive asset-based industry - the European automobile industry, which is preparing for a radical technological discontinuity. Purposely selected knowledgeable respondents were interviewed across seven European countries.The findings contribute to the understanding of the OI concept by identifying key obstacles to the wider adoption of the OI model in the European car industry, and signalling the importance of intermediaries and large incumbents for driving network development and OI practices as well as the need of new competencies to be developed by all players.     

Analysis of long-distance vacation travel demand in the United States: a multiple discrete–continuous choice framework

This study analyzes the annual vacation destination choices and related time allocation patterns of American households. More specifically, an annual vacation destination choice and time allocation model is formulated to simultaneously predict the different vacation destinations that a household visits in a year, and the time (no. of days) it allocates to each of the visited destinations. The model takes the form of a multiple discrete–continuous extreme value (MDCEV) structure. Further, a variant of the MDCEV model is proposed to reduce the prediction of unrealistically small amounts of vacation time allocation to the chosen destinations. To do so, the continuously non-linear utility functional form in the MDCEV framework is replaced with a combination of a linear and non-linear form. The empirical analysis was performed using the 1995 American Travel Survey data, with the United States divided into 210 alternative destinations. The model estimation results provide several insights into the determinants of households’ vacation destination choice and time allocation patterns. Results suggest that travel times and travel costs to the destinations, and lodging costs, leisure activity opportunities (measured by employment in the leisure industry), length of coastline, and weather conditions at the destinations influence households’ destination choices for vacations. The annual vacation destination choice model developed in this study can be incorporated into a larger national travel modeling framework for predicting the national-level, origin–destination flows for vacation travel.     

Market power and its determinants in the Chinese airline industry

This paper first measures the degree of Chinese airlines’ market power by using Lerner index, and then investigates its determinants. Our empirical results show that a certain degree of market power exists in the Chinese airline industry. Of the three dominant carriers, Air China exhibits the strongest market power whereas China Eastern Airlines the weakest, with China Southern Airlines being in the middle. Furthermore, the extent of market power varies significantly among regional markets, with China’s northeast region as the strongest, followed by the eastern and western regions, and the central area as the weakest. We also find a hub-premium effect similar to the result found in the US airline market. Our analysis shows that the existence of high-speed rail and low-cost carriers, income level, population size, seasonality, and number of competing airlines are the main determinants of competition in the Chinese airline market.     

Adoption of alternative fuel vehicles: Influence from neighbors,family and coworkers

During the last years, many governments have set targets for increasing the share of biofuels in the transportation sector. Understanding consumer behavior is essential in designing policies that efficiently increase the uptake of cleaner technologies. In this paper we analyze adopters and non-adopters of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). We use diffusion of innovation theory and the established notion that the social system and interpersonal influence play important roles in adoption. Based on a nationwide database of car owners we analyze interpersonal influence on adoption from three social domains: neighbors, family and coworkers. The results point primarily at a neighbor effect in that AFV adoption is more likely if neighbors also have adopted. The results also point at significant effects of interpersonal influence from coworkers and family members but these effects weaken or disappear when income, education level, marriage, age, gender and green party votes are controlled for. The results extend the diffusion of innovation and AFV literature with empirical support for interpersonal influence based on objective data where response bias is not a factor. Implications for further research, environmental and transport policy, and practitioners are discussed.     

Collaborative Logistics from the Perspective of Road Transportation Companies

ABSTRACT

To survive under the ever increasing competitive and global pressures to operate more efficiently, transportation companies are obliged to adopt a collaborative focus. Various types of cooperative supply chain relationships have been discussed in both professional and academic literature over the last decades. However, research on horizontal cooperation in logistics remains scarce and scattered across various research domains. Companies operating at the same level of the supply chain and performing comparable logistics functions may cooperate horizontally to increase their productivity, improve their service level and enhance their market position. In this paper, the focus is on the operational planning of horizontal cooperations between road transportation carriers. Following a scientific literature review, a distinction may be made between two operational approaches to horizontal logistics collaboration: order sharing and capacity sharing. For both research streams, a detailed overview of solution techniques proposed in literature is presented. Moreover, some interesting opportunities for future research are identified.     

Competition and public service obligations in European aviation markets

This paper analyzes the effect of universal service policies on the airline markets of five European Union countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) in the period 2002–2010. Results show that airfare discount schemes for island residents raise demand and positively affect competition and the number of flights at the route level. These effects are evident in France and Italy, but are particularly marked in Spain. By contrast, public service obligations (PSOs) reduce competition on the protected routes, while their effect on the number of flights differs depending on national regulations. In Spain, routes protected with PSOs have greater flight frequencies than those on unprotected routes of similar characteristics, but in France, Italy and the UK the opposite result is found. The empirical model also finds that on routes with low-cost airlines market concentration is smaller and there is a larger number of flights. This result is relevant for the design of universal service policy, since in recent years low-cost airlines have entered a number of thin routes and have increased access to air transportation.