Themes and tools of maritime transport research during 2000-2014

This study examines how maritime transport has been researched through a comprehensive review of papers published in 19 transportation journals over the period 2000–2014. Systematic investigation shows that Maritime Policy & Management plays a prominent role in publishing maritime transport research. At the same time, ‘shipping’ is a dominant research area, with ‘port management, service, performance, efficiency and competitiveness’; ‘shipping market, industry, freight rate and economic impact’; and ‘terminal studies’ as the most popular topics. Nevertheless, few efforts have investigated ‘shipping finance’; ‘shipping service’; or ‘port risk and security.’ Since 2000, the use of quantitative analysis techniques has steadily increased in maritime transport to help participants make decisions scientifically. We here present the major data analysis techniques and highlight some limitations regarding their application. Thus, we provide a better understanding of how maritime transport research has been undertaken in a quantitative manner.     

Polish shipping and shipping policy

Following a period of about 120 years, when external political pressures prevented Poland from engaging in maritime commercial activities, the end of World War I marked an important epoch in Poland's maritime history. Although the Peace Treaties gave Poland access to the sea and the right to use Gdansk, it was not until 1926, when Poland's first shipping company was established and Poland's new port of Gdynia opened, that her new status as a maritime country was fashioned. This paper traces the development of Polish shipping from 1918 to the present time; discusses the factors related to Poland's problems in the sphere of international maritime transport; and outlines Poland's present shipping policy.     

Polish shipping and shipping policy

Following a period of about 120 years, when external political pressures prevented Poland from engaging in maritime commercial activities, the end of World War I marked an important epoch in Poland's maritime history. Although the Peace Treaties gave Poland access to the sea and the right to use Gdansk, it was not until 1926, when Poland's first shipping company was established and Poland's new port of Gdynia opened, that her new status as a maritime country was fashioned. This paper traces the development of Polish shipping from 1918 to the present time; discusses the factors related to Poland's problems in the sphere of international maritime transport; and outlines Poland's present shipping policy.     

海事行业综合门户网站——中国海事服务网

<正>中国海事服务网(英文简称CNSS)成立于2006年,是集行业资讯与用户应用体验于一体的海事行业综合门户网站。经过几年的发展与完善,目前中国海事服务网已实现全方位覆盖整个海事行业,设有船员、船舶、航运、港口、游     

适应近海落水人员快速救援的双体船设计与分析

提出一种用于海上救援的双桨式双体船设计方案,该双体船将救援与驾驶相结合,具有高航速、稳性良好、操纵灵活等优势,采用电力推进方式,航行过程中对海洋造成的污染较小,具备直行、避障、曲线行驶、转向等突出的航行性能。该双体救援船具备完整的巡视、搜索、救援能力,可对落水人员实施有效救援,适用于景区、游乐场的安保巡视等近海救援领域,对紧急事故有较强的应急救援能力。     

An empirical assessment of ISM Code effectiveness on performance: the role of ISO certification

ABSTRACT

Although the introduction of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code aimed at increasing the safety standards in the maritime industry, several studies conducted so far argue for its inability to successfully fulfill its goals. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the ISM Code effectiveness by drawing analogy from similar applications of ISO 9001 effectiveness in service companies. It also aims to determine its impact on firm performance and differentiate between ISO and non-ISO-certified shipping companies. Findings indicate that ISM Code effectiveness consists of two dimensions, namely continuous improvement and customer satisfaction focus, and the significance of its contribution on improving company performance is revealed, especially in the case of ISO-certified shipping companies. Moreover, the continuous improvement dimension was found to affect performance at a greater extent.     

基于MARPOL公约的船舶防污染策略浅析

针对MARPOL公约新要求，结合船舶防污染形势，从立法、航运企业、海事机构、港口码头、设备制造商、航海院校等不同角度分析讨论，提出防污染策略和建议。     

海上交通巡逻和救助船舶配置规模研究

为适应海上交通安全管理需要,确定巡逻和救助船舶配置规模,根据船舶使用水域和功能定位,将巡逻和救助船舶划分3种类型和7个系列,基于巡逻船雷达基本探测原理和巡逻路径,计算巡逻船有效监管距离和面积,基于海上交通应急到达时间要求和救助路径,计算救助船有效救助距离和面积,根据离岸不同距离水域面积和岸线长度,确定巡逻和救助船舶配置规模,提高巡逻和救助船舶布局规划的科学性。     

关于加强日本海西部海事气象保障服务的建议

随着罗津港使用权的获取,自罗津港出入的中国船舶将不断增多,因此对日本海西部的气象保障服务需求势必不断增加。为加强日本海西部海事气象保障服务水平,使其能够为罗津港附近海域在海运、港口管理和海上作业等方面更好地起到规避风险、提高效益的作用,文中根据对目前日本海西部海事气象保障服务现状的调研结果,指出了当前日本海西部海事气象保障服务存在着区域划分不合理、精细化程度不足以及服务形式过于单一等问题。据此,结合目前国内外海事气象保障服务的思路,提出了针对于日本海西部的海事气象保障服务的建议,可为提升日本海西部海事气象保障服务的升级换代提供一些参考思路。     

Mode selection of tractor-and-semitrailer swap transport for ro-ro shipping under land-sea combined transportation

ABSTRACT

Combining ro-ro shipping and tractor-and-semitrailer swap transport under land-sea combined transportation can reduce operating costs and improve the safety of maritime transport. In addition, selection of the tractor-and-semitrailer swap mode (i.e., the ship-swap mode and port-swap mode) is a critical factor that affects the efficiency and cost of ro-ro ship loading/unloading. Considering inland pickup/delivery and ship loading/unloading, this paper develops a model that determines the mode of tractor-and-semitrailer swap transport with the objective of minimizing the total cost. This study also considers constraints such as empty semitrailer exchange and multiple time windows associated with customer receiving/delivery locations and the ro-ro ship. A hybrid simulated annealing (SA) is applied to solve the problem. By analysing numerical examples, the results show that the port-swap mode is more suitable than the ship-swap mode when the number of tasks is large because the port-swap mode can perform more tasks with fewer tractors than the ship-swap mode and because the port-swap mode can service receiving/delivery locations and finish ship loading/unloading more punctually than the ship-swap mode. Thus, this research provides a useful reference for road transport carriers and port firms to select the mode of tractor-and-semitrailer swap transport for ro-ro shipping.     

Optimizing shipping company operations using business process modelling

In order to identify the elements constituting quality in services, a business process modelling methodology has been applied in the case of a Greek liner shipping company. The company operations have been identified and analysed in order to assess the complete performance of service elements and thereafter identify how to match the service performance against the user requirements. A liner container service within Europe has to compete with the road transport which, in many cases, is an alternative to the sea transportation and not complementary to it. Thus, not only the ship has to be envisaged when aiming to improve quality in services but also the whole chain, namely port authorities, land transportation enterprises, subcontractors, agents, charterers and others. A set of potential improvements within this framework are thus suggested and time and cost (examined in a specific voyage scenario) are measured before and after the implementation of these measures. Very large time and cost savings are observed after the application of the technology improvements, allowing, in fact, the shipping company to even increase the number of round trips per year in the examined route. This indicates that very large benefits can be drawn by analysing and critically adjusting business processes in modern shipping companies.     

Empty container reposition planning for intra-Asia liner shipping

This paper addresses empty container reposition planning by plainly considering safety stock management and geographical regions. This plan could avoid drawback in practice which collects mass empty containers at a port then repositions most empty containers at a time. Empty containers occupy slots on vessel and the liner shipping company loses chance to yield freight revenue. The problem is drawn up as a two-stage problem. The upper problem is identified to estimate the empty container stock at each port and the lower problem models the empty container reposition planning with shipping service network as the Transportation Problem by Liner Problem. We looked at case studies of the Taiwan Liner Shipping Company to show the application of the proposed model. The results show the model provides optimization techniques to minimize cost of empty container reposition and to provide an evidence to adjust strategy of restructuring the shipping service network.     

Optimizing shipping company operations using business process modelling

In order to identify the elements constituting quality in services, a business process modelling methodology has been applied in the case of a Greek liner shipping company. The company operations have been identified and analysed in order to assess the complete performance of service elements and thereafter identify how to match the service performance against the user requirements. A liner container service within Europe has to compete with the road transport which, in many cases, is an alternative to the sea transportation and not complementary to it. Thus, not only the ship has to be envisaged when aiming to improve quality in services but also the whole chain, namely port authorities, land transportation enterprises, subcontractors, agents, charterers and others. A set of potential improvements within this framework are thus suggested and time and cost (examined in a specific voyage scenario) are measured before and after the implementation of these measures. Very large time and cost savings are observed after the application of the technology improvements, allowing, in fact, the shipping company to even increase the number of round trips per year in the examined route. This indicates that very large benefits can be drawn by analysing and critically adjusting business processes in modern shipping companies.     

船舶油料供受作业监管中存在问题及对策

随着世界航运业的快速发展,我国海域内船舶油料供受业务的不断发展,由于船舶油料供受作业存在较大的污染风险,因此,如何加强船舶油料供受作业监管是海事管理机构必须考虑的问题。文中首先介绍了我国目前船舶油料供受作业监管的法律规定,然后分析了目前船舶油料供受作业监管中存在的主要问题,最后提出了加强船舶油料供受作业海事监管的几点策略。     

Disaster prevention and strategic investment for multiple ports in a region: cooperation or not

With the growth of maritime transportation, seaports have become critical to the world economy as linking nodes between shipping and inland transport. However, the port system is fragile under certain unconventional emergency events. This study addresses the issue of investment on disaster prevention within the port competition context. The present model discusses and compares four situations of different relationships and strategies of pre-disaster prevention between two adjacent ports. Results indicate that both ports increase the disaster prevention investment under the cooperation scenario compared with that in the case of non-cooperation wherein they are complementary ports. Meanwhile, a numerical simulation is conducted to examine the collective and individual rationality of both ports. Although cooperation strategy decreases the total risk cost of two ports, one of the two ports may profit, whereas the other may suffer losses.     

Assessment criteria for the sustainable competitive advantage of the national merchant fleet from a resource-based view

To determine the competitive advantage of the national merchant fleet, based on the resource-based view, we collect competitive advantage assessment factors from literature, and use the analytic hierarchy process methodology to compare the importance of assessment dimensions and variables. The article's conclusions include a recommendation that the government review the current allocation of resources and implement measures to reinforce the national merchant fleet. This study's findings can be summarized as follows: (1) Criteria dimensions are ranked in the order of competitive strength, organizational capability, tangible assets, and intangible assets. (2) Criteria variables can be ranked in the order of freight revenue, cargo loading ratio, accuracy of shipping schedule, dead weight tonnage, number of vessels, standard of customer service, reputation of shipping company, cargo transportation volume, gross tonnage, sailing frequency, shipping knowledge, fleet specialization, number of crewmen, and fleet technological level. (3) The government should review existing maritime regulations and measures in order to formulate specific and transparent policies, and seek to adopt optimal alternatives from other countries concerning such issues as tonnage tax, bilateral income tax reduction or exemption agreements, second-registration mechanisms and shipbuilding basis, etc.     

水上突发险情与VTS应急处置

国际政治安全形势的变化莫测、我国对和谐社会的追求、航运经济以及海事自身的发展水平迫切要求建立水上突发险情应急处理机制,以深化海事监管体制改革,增强险情预防的针对性,提高水上突发险情的应急处置能力,尽可能地减少险情发生时所造成的人民生命和财产损失。     

Dealing with multicultural human resources in a socially responsible manner: a focus on the maritime industry

Shipping companies’ crucial need for cost cutting is their main motive for recruiting seafarers of various nationalities and formulating multicultural teams on board ships. This paper seeks to examine ways of dealing with cultural issues by being a socially responsible company. The main point of the research is to examine how managing multicultural crews is related to the shipping companies’ and the industry’s social responsibility. An extensive literature review on the cultural issues of maritime manpower, with a focus on the working and living conditions and the management of shipping crews, reveals important aspects of the subject. This analysis is enriched with qualitative data from an on-board case study, and from a survey among crew managers and manning agents. Results show that managing multicultural human resources in a socially responsible manner requires socially acceptable behaviour towards seagoing labour from all the industrial actors.     

Testing the SERVQUAL scale in the passenger port industry: a confirmatory study

A key question is whether the service quality instruments developed for other services’ industries may be used to gauge service quality perceptions in shipping. Grounded on similar studies that test the most widely used American service quality instrument, SERVQUAL, in the commercial shipping sector, this study examines its applicability in the passenger shipping realm. Based on a survey of 436 passengers in Piraeus port, SERVQUAL's five main dimensions have been checked regarding their fit with the use of Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Results support that this is a valid instrument for measuring service quality in passenger shipping besides certain considerations regarding its dimensionality. A more parsimonious two-factor model seems more applicable and should therefore be also considered. Finally, it is evident from the study that passengers place more importance to the physical than the interactive elements of service to form their overall satisfaction.     

无人船在港口水域海事监管中的应用探讨

近年来,随着与船舶自主航行相关的信息技术、人工智能技术水平的提高,无人船舶行业取得了长足的发展,其在海上安保、环境监测等领域应用也越来越成熟。为推动无人船在海事管理方面的应用研究,破解港口水域海事监管手段不足的瓶颈问题,文中在分析港口水域海事监管特点和无人船系统建设条件的基础上,定量研究了无人船在港口水域海事监管应用面临的性能指标确定、船型平台选择、载荷设备搭配、运行管理体系建设等方面的具体问题,提出了一种港口水域海事监管无人船系统的应用解决方案。