The external cost of speed at sea: An analysis based on selected short sea shipping routes

According to the mid-term review of the EU White Paper on Transport, Short Sea Shipping (SSS) is expected to grow at a rate of 59% (metric tonnes) between 2000 and 2020. If we consider that the overall expected increase in both freight exchanges and volume is 50%, sea transport is one of the most feasible alternatives to reduce traffic congestion on European roads. Maritime transportation may compete with road transport as far as certain traffics are concerned, but only when assuming external costs. This paper analyzes several intermodal transport chains involving a sea leg by comparing the effect of pollutant emissions from different ship types and road transport in terms of potential external cost savings. The translation of these emissions into environmental costs shows, for certain conditions, savings in the case of sea transport that would justify the use of an environmental bonus to promote the sea option.     

Key criteria influencing the choice of Arctic shipping: a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process model

As Arctic sea ice shrinks due to global warming, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and the Northwest Passage (NWP) offer a substantial reduction in shipping distance between Asia and the European and North American continents, respectively, when compared to conventional routes through the Suez and Panama Canals. However, Arctic shipping routes have many problems associated with their use. The main objective of this paper is to identify the key criteria that influence the decisions of shipping operators with respect to using Arctic shipping routes. A multi-criteria decision-making methodology, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process, is applied to rank four potential categories of criteria (‘economic’, ‘technical’, ‘political’ and ‘safety’ factors) and their sub-criteria.

The results of the analysis suggest that, on aggregate, ‘economic’ is the most important category of influential factors, followed by ‘safety’, ‘technical’ and ‘political’ factors. The paper concludes, however, that the most influential specific sub-criteria relate to risks that lie mainly within the ‘safety’ and ‘political’ domains and that, especially in combination, these overwhelm the importance which is attached to ‘economic’ factors such as reduced fuel use. Finally, the implications of these findings for the future development of Arctic shipping are addressed at a strategic level.     

Development of Motorways of the Sea in the Adriatic region

Freight volumes are increasing worldwide, following almost the same growth rate as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This has resulted in congested sections of the road system and increase of traffic accidents. Consequently, several governments in Europe are promoting alternative modes of transport. Besides the use of railways, the European Union is promoting the use of maritime transport for short distances. This initiative, ‘Motorways of the Sea (MoS)’, aims at the establishment of more efficient and competitive maritime services between different countries. The present paper analyzes the development of an MoS network in the East Adriatic area, linking the Greek Ports of Igoumenitsa and Patras in the Ionian Sea. This is done by identifying financially viable MoS corridors, servicing the freight and passenger demand of the area. Initially, the freight and passenger flows of MoS in the East Adriatic/Ionian Seas region, based on the application of the four-step methodology for transport planning, are estimated. Then, the financial viability of each MoS is elaborated, based on the estimated flows. Hence, the network of MoS services is determined for the area. Thus, the paper provides a useful tool to maritime operators, port authorities and policy makers to investigate the financial viability of an MoS network.     

Intermodal route selection for cargo transportation from Korea to Central Asia by adopting Fuzzy Delphi and Fuzzy ELECTRE I methods

Due to the increase in trade from Korea to Central Asia, an efficient intermodal route for transporting cargo is important. Intermodal routing for long-distance transportation faces operational challenges, such as customs clearance, track gauge differences, and climate limitations. The initiative of the Silk Road Economic Belt recently proposed in China could improve trade and transport links in Asia and create an efficient transportation route that focuses on the railroad service provided in China. The objective of this study is to obtain an evaluation structure for intermodal routing and then find the route for transporting cargo from Korea to Central Asia under China’s Silk Road Economic Belt with integrated Fuzzy Delphi and Fuzzy (Elimination Et Choice Translating Reality (ELECTRE) I methods. After a sensitivity analysis is performed, development strategies and alternative routes are suggested. The results show that among the five principal factors, total cost is the most important factor for logistics companies when they select a transportation route, followed by reliability, transportation capability, total time, and security. Of the sub-factor weights, transportation costs and cooperation and emphasis among state organization are important. In the intermodal route results, route 3, Incheon to Qingdao to Horgos to Almaty, is preferred.     

An analysis of the pricing system in the Greek–Italian coastal routes

Price discrimination is practiced by oligopolistic coastal shipping companies in the ‘unregulated’ Greece–Italy routes in the year 2002. Investigation has been carried out ‘per route’—in a doctoral thesis—instead of ‘per market’ which was the so-far erroneous approach of shipping economists. This is so for a host of differentiating factors play a considerable and non-negligible role (like geography, distance, demand, seasonality and others). Service—and price-discrimination—in coastal shipping is affected also by the predetermined ship design which thus is a special feature—but not exclusively—in coastal shipping. Companies in the Adriatic Sea try to extract the greater possible value of the user's willingness to pay, peak and off-peak, group and ungrouped, for social groups (clubs, families and students). Marketing and economics interfere in a complicated—far from the nice world of theory—situation, where maximization of revenue and profit, capacity utilization, intense seasonality and high fixed cost (common and joint costs as well) are a few of the factors that interplay. This paper can be considered as a case study for applied pricing. Excess capacity is also a strategic factor affecting pricing. It is our opinion that the analysis here gives for the first time a complete theoretical and practical account—based on the price lists of the companies—of the pricing policy of the ferry boats running in the Adriatic Sea belonging to coastal shipping companies connecting Italy with Greece and Greece with the European Union (EU). We believe this work to be useful for maritime Europe.     

Current publications

Despite the European Union (EU) efforts promoting policies that encourage short sea shipping (SSS) based on its advantages in terms of intermodality and environment, this mode has not yet reached a significant market share compared to land transport. In this paper, we establish a thesis that suggests that funding programs (such as Marco Polo I and II) have not properly offered the right incentives to promote SSS, and aspects such as the key role of port infrastructure and its characteristics, have not been taken into consideration. In a departure from traditional transport cost models, to prove our thesis, we use a theoretical intermodal competition model to compare alternative modes—road transport vs. SSS. We reach the conclusion that the EU needs to focus on ports and transport system efficiency as a whole in order to compete effectively in the freight transport market.     

Intermodal land transportation systems and port choice,an analysis of stated choices among shippers in the Rhine–Scheldt delta

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the research concentrates on the intermodal land transportation systems which link Antwerp and Rotterdam with a shared hinterland in the long and medium distance range. It uses a choice-based experiment which has been calibrated on the basis of real case studies to understand shipper’s choices between end-to-end chains. The stated choices reveal shippers’ preferences when needing to choose between two logistic pathways, which employ a similar multimodal composition of transport modes to bring the container from door-to-door, but which route the container differently through alternative maritime gateways. The study therefore touches upon the topic of port competition applying a value-driven supply chain approach. Despite narrow differences on the main performance criteria of the door-to-door chains, the empirical analysis proves that shippers are not loyal to one of the ports, but give preference to the lowest cost solution. Enhancing the frequency levels of the inland transportation solution is only at the benefit of the more costly chain. The findings reiterate the importance of intermodal land transport systems in the competition between load centres.     

Challenges to implementing motorways of the sea concept—lessons from the past

Establishing a European wide high-quality shipping links and integrating them with the trans-European Transport networks has been the vision of the European Commission (EC) to reduce land transport congestion under the Motorways of the Sea (MoS) concept. However, in spite of strong political backing and favourable policy initiatives, MoS projects have met with limited success. Establishing MoS is complex because of its international scope and involvement of a number of public and private stakeholders with conflicting objectives and goals. The paper attempts to identify critical factors for establishing viable MoS projects. The paper reviews the development of the MoS concept to understand the expectations of the EC and the concerns of the important stakeholders. The present status of these policy actions is reviewed and their possible effect on the performance of MoS projects is estimated. Case studies of short sea shipping initiatives in different parts of Europe and the world are reviewed to learn from their successes and failures. This knowledge is applied to find critical factors for the success of MoS projects in the European context.     

Incentives to reduce port inefficiency: a theoretical approach

Over the last decades, the European Union (EU) has devoted a large amount of effort and money to projects aimed at boosting some of its maritime corridors as a modal alternative to road or rail freight transport. However, the overall design of most of these programmes has ex post revealed as very ineffective. This paper suggests that promoting port efficiency might be a more suitable target to increase the modal split of Short Sea Shipping (SSS) than subsidizing firms to transfer cargo from road to sea. But defining ‘port efficiency’ is a complex task and, therefore, granting money directly to port authorities could also generate perverse moral hazard effects, particularly when the improvements are difficult to monitor and many investments are non-refundable. The European Court of Auditors points out that millions of EU public port finance was wasted on empty terminal and other unused infrastructure. The objective of this paper is to design a proper subsidy to promote SSS by encouraging port improvements through a proper system of incentives. As a policy recommendation, in this paper we propose the development of a subsidy per inefficiency-reduction unit.     

An analysis of the pricing system in the Greek-Italian coastal routes

Price discrimination is practiced by oligopolistic coastal shipping companies in the 'unregulated' Greece-Italy routes in the year 2002. Investigation has been carried out 'per route'—in a doctoral thesis—instead of 'per market' which was the so-far erroneous approach of shipping economists. This is so for a host of differentiating factors play a considerable and non-negligible role (like geography, distance, demand, seasonality and others). Service—and price-discrimination—in coastal shipping is affected also by the predetermined ship design which thus is a special feature—but not exclusively—in coastal shipping. Companies in the Adriatic Sea try to extract the greater possible value of the user's willingness to pay, peak and off-peak, group and ungrouped, for social groups (clubs, families and students). Marketing and economics interfere in a complicated—far from the nice world of theory—situation, where maximization of revenue and profit, capacity utilization, intense seasonality and high fixed cost (common and joint costs as well) are a few of the factors that interplay. This paper can be considered as a case study for applied pricing. Excess capacity is also a strategic factor affecting pricing. It is our opinion that the analysis here gives for the first time a complete theoretical and practical account—based on the price lists of the companies—of the pricing policy of the ferry boats running in the Adriatic Sea belonging to coastal shipping companies connecting Italy with Greece and Greece with the European Union (EU). We believe this work to be useful for maritime Europe.     

Modelling of wave–current interactions at the mouths of the Danube

The target of the present study is the entrance to the Danube Delta in the Black Sea. The wave conditions in this coastal sector are usually significant from an energetic point of view and the relatively strong currents induced there by the outflow from the Danube lead to interactions between waves and currents. This process modifies considerably both the magnitude and direction waves, affecting also coastal navigation and sediment transport patterns. In order to assess the effects of the wave–current interactions, the simulating waves nearshore (SWAN) model was considered for developing a multilevel wave prediction system. Validations against measured data were carried out for each computational level. Five case studies corresponding to the most relevant patterns of the environmental matrix were analyzed. Finally, in order to assess the current effect for a longer timescale, an analysis concerning the variation of the main wave parameters was performed for a 3-month period considering some reference points. The results show that the currents produce considerable changes in the wave field, especially as regards the significant wave heights, mean wave directions and wavelengths. The Benjamin–Feir index was also estimated. The analysis of the variation induced by the current over this spectral shape parameter indicates that, in certain conditions, in the target area the wave heights cannot be considered Rayleigh distributed and freak waves may also occur.     

越南沿海海港工程部分水域平面尺度优化

基于越南电力中心沿海海港工程,阐述了水深不能满足要求的项目的水域平面尺度设计方法。除根据各国标准规范及设计者的经验判断来决定外,结合船舶操纵模拟试验验证并优化设计方案,更能保证船舶在港内操纵航行的可行性、安全性和经济性。同时分析了模型试验存在的局限性,提醒设计者需要在建模和操纵等环节尽量减少模拟和实际情况的误差,保证试验准确可靠。相关设计方法与思路可为类似港口水域平面设计提供参考。     

Solving procurement problems in public transport: Examining multi-principal roles in relation to effective control mechanisms

Despite the EU’s increasing role in regulating public transport procurement, few studies have considered this aspect when analysing procurement problems of public transport. This paper examines how the institutional relationships between different actors, including international governmental bodies, in public transport effects the possibility of exerting control over a county public transport authority (PTA) in a multi-principal setting. The analysis is carried out using empirical material from an infringement process including a Swedish PTA and the EU. The conclusions have clear policy implications for the procedural order when exerting control over the PTA in cases of procurement problems. It is for example shown, that the implementation process would be much more efficient if the regulations allowed the EU to impose sanctions directly towards the local authorities without having to involve the national government when the procurement laws are violated.     

The environmental costs and economic implications of container shipping on the Northern Sea Route

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) has tremendous potential for ocean shipping between Europe and Asia due to the savings from shorter transit time and distance. However, the Arctic area is environmentally vulnerable and thus there is a trade-off between NSR’s impacts on environment vs. its economic benefits, especially when compared with the traditional route, such as through the Suez Canal Route (SCR). This study estimates the market shares of different transport modes and alternative shipping routes for the container transport market between Europe and Asia, and the resulting environmental costs. Our result suggests that NSR can be a viable option under the status quo. However, its environmental costs tend to be higher than SCR due to small ship size and low load factor in the present, thus the development of NSR would lead to worse environment outcomes. If these issues can be resolved, NSR can benefit from lower operational and environmental costs, which will lead to higher market share and social welfare. Otherwise, increased use of NSR may lead to higher total environment costs than the status quo.     

长洲枢纽三线四线船闸上游航线选择研究

为配合长洲枢纽三线四线船闸工程设计,判断中江布置方案可行性和合理性,采用定床物理模型试验和遥控自航船模试验相结合的研究手段,对长洲枢纽三线四线船闸中江布置方案的上游航线的航路进行研究。通过对工程河段水流特性、汊道分流比变化的分析,找出上游航线布置存在的主要问题,结合模型试验研究3条设计航线的通航水流条件和船模航行条件,对比分析3条航路的优劣,在此基础上,提出优选航路以及上游铁路桥和公路桥通航孔增设位置方案。     

长江流域国际集装箱多式联运信息系统研究

通过大量调查研究和数据分析，阐述了长江流域国际集装箱多式联运以及EDI系统的发展现状，指出目前存在的问题，并提出若干建议。     

The competitiveness of short sea shipping in multimodal logistics supply chains: service attributes

Much has been written and spoken about short sea shipping within the European Union (EU) as a means of shifting goods from road to sea and of achieving a sustainable economic development. However, this shift is far from being a general reality, despite the few individual, and success stories that have taken place and the EUROSTAT data suggest that the overall effort has contributed very little towards attaining this desired shift. In the light of this, research was conducted to discover how to put short sea shipping on a more competitive level within European multimodal logistics supply chains. This paper aims at identifying service attributes of short sea shipping operations within multimodal transport chains by means of a questionnaire and, for that, examines the short sea shipping environment and contemporary European logistics trends. The analysis is based on empirical research, involving logistics operators, shippers' associations and intermodal rail operators, and allows an evaluation (based on statistical techniques) of the short sea shipping industry and its competitors. It extends previous work by considering these short sea shipping attributes within a multimodal transport context.     

A review of the European Union shipping policy

It is the aim of the European Union to develop a transport policy that supports its economic and sustainable growth and where the concept of sustainable mobility is a driver in the development of such policy. To achieve this goal, the European Union (EU) is promoting the shift of goods to unused existing capacity in rail and sea modes. As such, it is the objective of this paper to carry out a review of the European shipping policy at a time when the EU Member-States are suffering from high levels of congestion, noise and pollution that not only affect the environment but also the quality of life of all citizens. This paper considers the development of EU shipping policy in three stages.     

开敞式油品码头泊位长度的多目标可变模糊优选*

开敞式油品码头泊位长度方案优选是一个复杂的多目标决策问题。从船舶系泊安全角度,提出一种定量的开敞式油品码头泊位长度方案的多目标可变模糊优选方法。该方法以系泊索张力的最大值及其张力不均匀系数、船舶运动量绝对值为优选指标,应用多目标可变模糊优选方法计算各方案的加权相对优属度,进而确定最优泊位长度方案,为港口规划及码头管理人员提供意见参考。实例表明,该方法简单直观、合理可靠,为开敞式码头泊位长度方案优选问题提供了一种有效的定量方法。     

基于SD 仿真的广西北部湾港集疏运系统协调发展研究*

为分析港口集疏运系统的行为特征和发展趋势,首先依据协同论等相关理论,对港口集疏运系统协调发展内涵进行了界定。其次以广西北部湾港口为研究对象,运用系统动力学的原理及仿真方法,在系统分析和因果反馈分析的基础上建立了港口集疏运协调发展的系统动力学模型,包括港口吞吐需求、吞吐能力、集疏运结构及货源结构4个子模块。模型结构与行为等检验方式验证了该模型的有效性。最后基本模拟和政策模拟结果分析为港口集疏运发展决策提供理论依据和指导。