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).     

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.     

大陆与台湾通航的客船船型初步分析

分析论证适用于大陆和台湾通航的客船船型。首先预测未来几年台湾与大陆之间往来的客流量及其流向 ,提出拟开辟台—闽间的海峡航线和基隆—上海航线。针对台闽间的海峡航线 ,在列举台湾海峡历年风浪情况的基础上 ,在作技术性能和经济效益综合评估后 ,建议采用 6种复合型高速船型。接着就 6种船型作营运经济估算及其排序 ,作变客位、车位的比较 ,变航速的比较 ,以及与常规客船船型的比较。结论是 :从技术和经济性角度考虑 ,双体气垫船和双体穿浪船较好 ;从客流量和货载量考虑 ,高速客船和常规客船按 5 0 0客位、4 5 - 10 0辆车位设计已能满足要求。从航速考虑 ,宜采用 4 0kn的客船。最后还就适用于基隆—上海航线的船型作简略探讨 ,提出宜采用集装箱—客船和客—滚装船     

Manpower supply and demand of ocean deck officers in Taiwan

This study adopted a 5-year moving average to calculate the transition probability of deck officers in Taiwan from 1993–1998 at different levels in the hierarchy. An absorbing Markov transition matrix was also constructed to forecast the terms of seniority and the annual supply of deck officers. In addition, this work applied the GM (1,1) model of Grey theory to forecast the annual demand of deck officers, and used cross analysis to investigate the manpower supply and demand of ocean deck officers in Taiwan. Results in this study can provide a valuable reference for pertinent authorities when determining the manpower policy of shipping companies in Taiwan.     

Manpower supply and demand of ocean deck officers in Taiwan

This study adopted a 5-year moving average to calculate the transition probability of deck officers in Taiwan from 1993-1998 at different levels in the hierarchy. An absorbing Markov transition matrix was also constructed to forecast the terms of seniority and the annual supply of deck officers. In addition, this work applied the GM (1,1) model of Grey theory to forecast the annual demand of deck officers, and used cross analysis to investigate the manpower supply and demand of ocean deck officers in Taiwan. Results in this study can provide a valuable reference for pertinent authorities when determining the manpower policy of shipping companies in Taiwan.     

Ship scheduling and container shipment planning for liners in short-term operations

Good short-term ship scheduling and container shipment planning are very important for liner operations; however, in Taiwan, most such carriers currently utilize a trial-and-error process. In this study, we employ network flow techniques to construct a model for such activities. A solution algorithm, based on Lagrangian relaxation, a subgradient method, and a heuristic for the upper-bound solution, is developed to solve the model. To demonstrate and to test how well the model and the solution algorithm apply in the real world, we performed a case study using operating data from a major Taiwanese marine shipping company. The test results show that the model and the solution algorithm could be useful references for ship scheduling and container shipment planning.     

The implications of the re-establishment of direct links across the Taiwan Strait on the aviation industries in Greater China

This paper investigates the economic implications of the liberalization of air transportation across the Taiwan Strait to the region's aviation industries. Our analysis suggests that (1) liberalization has brought substantial benefits to airports and airlines in Mainland China and Taiwan. Negative impacts to Hong Kong are largely compensated by traffic increase in routes linking Mainland China. (2) In general, Taiwanese airports and airlines have benefited more from liberalization compared to airports and airlines on the mainland and Hong Kong. Such asymmetric effect is due to the larger size of the Mainland Chinese aviation market, which allows Taiwanese airlines to exploit network-related benefits. (3) Our investigation suggests that foreign hub carriers and medium sized Chinese airports will benefit most from China's future liberalizations.     

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.     

某船在日本接受ISPS检查过程

介绍某船在日本为接受ISPS检查所做的准备工作、检查经过以及常见的问答和缺陷,为船公司、船长及船舶保安员提供参考。     

关于2000年沿海客运发展的研究

本文首先指出我国旅客运输系统结构的变化趋势和沿海客运系统内部的变化趋势,并把岛屿和陆岛客运作为整个沿海客运的一个子系统来考虑。通过对客运量生成和运输方式选择的分析,建立了沿海客运系统客运量发展模型,提出客运量主要决定于人均社会总产值、区域人口数和系统的综合服务水平,并预测了我国2000年沿海客运系统客运量和周转量。据此对发展沿海客运系统的资金作了估算。同时,论述了车/客渡船将是未来我国客船的发展方向,并初步研究了海峡两岸直接通航后两岸客运的发展规模和我国沿海旅游业的发展前景。     

船舶载运易流态化货物的风险和对策

近年来,国内市场对精选矿粉的需求居高不下.然而个别航运公司对船舶载运此类货物缺乏应有的指导和监控,船舶管理人员缺乏足够的经验,操作不当,防范和补救措施不力,造成船毁人亡的恶性事故频发.为有效避免此类事故重演,同时为船舶载运精选矿粉提供有力的操作指导,以近期发生的几起事故为例,对船舶载运精选矿粉易发生事故的原因及其危害、预防措施、注意事项及补救措施等作了详细介绍.     

Regression modelling of the employment durations of UK seafaring officers in 1999

This paper presents the results of an econometric analysis of the duration of voyages undertaken by NUMAST deck and engineer officers in 1998-1999. Earlier papers examined the employment profile of the officers, and compared voyage patterns across organization type, company nationality, flag of registry, and ship type. Analysis of the various cross-tabulations of employment duration appeared to show that the key driver is ship type. Using regression analysis, it is shown that ship type does indeed have a significant influence on duration, as does ship size. Flag, organizational type and company type were all found to be statistically unimportant.     

An influence model in seafaring choice for Taiwan navigation students

The severe shrinkage of available national ship officers in Taiwan over the last several years forces the Taiwan shipping industry to confront a threat to its future development. This study develops and tests the influence models of seafaring choice using structural equation modelling in order to investigate the factors influencing seafaring choices and their corresponding influence paths for Taiwan navigation students. Results reveal that navigation students consider pay, specific natures of seafaring, advice from families and friends, and personal interests when making career choices. Moreover, the influence path model proposed by this study shows that navigation students' intentions to enter seafaring are both directly and indirectly affected by several subjective and objective factors. Further, some suggestions based on the findings of this study are submitted to facilitate their intentions to work aboard ships after graduation.     

Generalized F distribution model with random parameters for estimating property damage cost in maritime accidents

ABSTRACT

This study develops a generalized F distribution model with random parameters to estimate the ship property damage cost in maritime traffic accidents with 10 years’ shipping accident data in the Fujian waters. Model results show that sinking and capsizing can incur the largest property damage cost, followed by collisions, contact, grounding and fire/explosion. There is a smaller ship property damage cost when the ship is moored or docked. The poor visibility has the least impact on the increment of ship property damage cost. Results reveal that the bigger property damage cost is associated with maritime accidents occurring in the Straits/sea areas and under the strong wind/wave condition and nighttime periods. It is also found that the lookout failure exhibits a bigger effect than the operation error. These results are helpful for policy makers to make efficient strategies for reducing property damage cost in maritime accidents. The developed model is useful for insurance companies in determining the appropriate ship insurance rates.     

两岸直航海事纠纷解决之路

从两岸间接直航的现实及其特点出发，论证了两岸直航和海事联合仲裁的现实性和必然性，并对两岸海事联合仲裁的若干法律问题作了进一步的探讨。     

Emerging organizational values in shipping: Part 1. Crew stability

In this paper, Smith and Roggema examine the solutions emerging in answer to the growing concern in North European shipping companies to adapt to increasing competition and technological diversity and also to attract and retain suitably qualified seafarers. Part 1 describes a move from a situation of lack of stability of crew towards greater crew stability, whilst Part 2 discusses the redistribution of responsibility on board ship, encompassing a change from the caste-like division between officers and ratings and a more flexible division of functions and authority.     

ISM Code对船舶保险除外责任的影响

ISM规则的实施不仅对航运业而且对船舶保险业产生了深远的影响。文中通过总结和介绍ISM规则实施和船舶保险除外责任的变化来诠释这种影响之大,进而从法律的角度提醒广大船公司要更加有效地运行安全与防污染管理体系,避免在船舶保险中出现不应有的损失。     

Determinants of Indian sub-continent officer–seafarer retention in the shipping industry

The retention of officer–seafarers within the international shipping industry is a difficult problem facing shipping and ship management companies. One strategic option open to all companies that should improve overall retention is to seek to become an employer of choice by providing an intellectual capital environment attractive to officer–seafarers. This is investigated through a survey of officer–seafarers covering areas where ship management can exercise some control over their working conditions. These cover recognition by their employer and commensurate rewards, organizational culture and structure and building relationships with external parties. Experienced Indian sub-continent officer–seafarers were the sample population resulting in more than 200 valid completions. These were analysed using correlation and regression. Although all hypotheses were in the predicted direction, only four passed the significance test: long-term career prospects, a smooth and fair recruitment process, a better relationship with maritime authorities and an employee-friendly organizational culture. Stepwise regression indicated that only organizational culture had a significant positive effect on intention to remain a seafarer. The items in the organizational culture construct accord with recommendations from the literature on becoming an employer of choice and improving employee retention, providing guidance for attracting and retaining officers.     

Flagging options for the future: A turning point in Korean shipping policy?

The issues surrounding the future of Korea's shipping policy have been heavily debated since 1990 because the Korean shipping industry has been facing rising crew costs and difficulties in recruitment of qualified crew, an adverse taxation system, very limited access to foreign capital markets, and an inflexible government regulatory environment. Consequently, this has contributed to the deterioration of Korea's compectitive edge. This paper aims to provide both an account of the current adverse situtation in Korean shipping business and proposals to alleviate the plight of shipping enterprises. Within the context of that adversity, two solutions are suggested to improve the current situation, by either establishing a Korean second register or flagging out. The paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of each solution. Because ship management is closely interrelated to flagging strategies, the paper also discusses areas of co-operation between Korean shipping or ship management companies and advanced foreign ship management companies.     

1997年后香港与内地航运发展的相关分析

随着１９９７年的香港回归，香港与中国内地间的航线变成了一条国内航线。然而，在“一国两制”的国策下，这一特别的航运市场将发生怎样的变化？本文针对这一问题，通过对香港与内地间水上运输的影响因素的分析，并采用计量经济学模型，对１９９７—２０００年两地间的航运量变化进行了相关分析及预测，并对海峡两岸直航等因素对香港内地间的航运冲击进行了定量研究。