Manoeuvring and hotelling external costs: enough for alternative energy sources?

Local air pollution is the most relevant externality of maritime transport, and its effects are more acute in urban areas as a result of manoeuvring, hotelling and load/unload activities at ports. This article is intended to assess ships’ local air pollution impact in generally densely populated harbour areas to decide whether alternative power supply measures are feasible. First, an optimized infrastructure investment model is developed to ease implementation and maximize the efficiency of alternative power supply projects. Once target harbours and traffic (ship types) within a national port network have been chosen, a vessel traffic analysis (ship type, tonnage, manoeuvring, and hotelling times) is carried out to quantify and evaluate annual polluting emissions (PM_2,5, SO₂, NOx, and VOCs) and their externalities. Finally, the assessment model is applied and results of the Spanish port network case study are discussed. The results obtained are significant and bring the possibility of further controlling the ship’s environmental performance at berth.     

“Blue” social capital and work performance: anthropological fieldwork among crew members at four Danish international ships

One outcome of globalization is an increasing number of seafarers, who seldom are members of the same crew two voyages in a row and must cooperate with seafarers from many countries (Progoulaki and Roe WMU J Marit Affairs 10:7–23, 2011). This situation challenges the level of social capital on board, i.e., the resources inherent in network cooperation associated with norms of reciprocity and trust (Putnam 2000: 19). Fragmentized “blue” social capital should, however, be restored, as work performance depends on the quality of cooperation among crew members horizontally, as well as between crew members and the shipping company vertically. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork data from four Danish international ships, the purpose of this paper is to offer a new theoretical framework for analyzing cooperation among crews. Our inductive empirical findings suggest that a balance between three types of social capital—bonding, bridging and linking—is needed to achieve a high-performing work system (Gittell et al. Organ Sci 21(2):490–506, 2010). Hence, the main actors within the shipping sector should take “blue” social capital into account to increase work efficiency and economic performance.     

Willingness to Pay for Airline Service Quality

Abstract

This paper looks at estimated valuations of some service‐quality attributes in an airline choice context using stated preferences methods. The analysis is based on information obtained in the most important route connecting the Canary Islands with the Iberian Peninsula: Gran Canaria–Madrid, and tries to contribute to the body of knowledge in this area, given the relatively few studies of the monetary valuations of air travel regarding level‐of‐service attributes. A feature of this analysis is the examination of variations in values according to different characteristics of the service, such as price, penalties for changes in the ticket, legroom, food, etc.; the currently experienced level of the attribute, and various socio‐economic factors that affect the characteristics of the trip and passengers. In addition, the important issue of added value regarding different attributes is addressed, obtaining the willingness‐to‐pay for different improvements of service quality. A further analysis is made about how taste heterogeneity (market segments) affects these values. Results from the stated preference experiment and the market value of some comparable service are also compared. Finally, the paper brings together evidence from other studies and compares them with the findings obtained herein.     

Accompanied versus Unaccompanied Transport in Short Sea Shipping between Spain and Italy: An Analysis from Transport Road Firms Perspective

Short sea shipping (SSS) is called to play a key role in ensuring sustainable mobility in the European context. In the past years several studies tried to define the SSS requirements and also to identify the SSS lines that were economically viable. However, no studies approach the profile of their users—the road transport firms—and the organizational patterns adopted by them, in order to gain a better understanding of this transport modality. This research, on the basis of a sample of 81 international road transport firms that use SSS between Spain and Italy, analyses the profile of these firms and certain elements inherent to their relationship with the shipping firms, according to the two modalities of organizing their SSS transport operations: accompanied versus unaccompanied.     

Quality indicators and capacity calculation for RoRo terminals

Abstract

Road freight transportation has increased dramatically over recent years along with its impacts such as congestion, noise, and pollution. As a result, European and US governments have started policies to promote alternatives to road transportation, such as logistic chains containing a Short Sea Shipping (SSS) link. Road is, by definition, a more flexible means of transportation than shipping, which is usually cheaper. Therefore, to move traffic to SSS chains, it is necessary to provide fast, frequent, and reliable maritime transportation. In this sense, roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) vessels are the most convenient ships to be used, since they have smaller dwell times in port and, therefore, this is a kind of traffic likely to increase dramatically. The foreseeable increase of this kind of traffic must meet with an increase in the actual capacity by means of either improvement in performance and possible enlargements of existing terminals or the construction of new terminals. In that sense, this paper proposes a simple methodology to calculate the capacity of a RoRo terminal, whether already in operation or during its design process, and relate it to some quality standards by means of quality indicators, which should lead to the definition of Levels of Service similar to those already used in roads and airports. The paper ends by applying the methodology to a real terminal in Barcelona, Spain.     

Daily newspaper distribution planning with integer programming: an application in Turkey

Abstract

This paper concerns the newspaper distribution problem. It addresses the transportation of newspapers from printing plant to newsagents with distribution vehicles under various particular constraints. The objective is to minimize the distance traveled by the vehicles and/or the number of vehicles. In this study, the routes for vehicles of a leading newspaper distributor company in the Turkish press sector are examined. The problem is defined as determining optimal delivery routes for a fleet of homogeneous vehicles, starting and ending at the printing plant that is required to serve a number of geographically dispersed newsagents with known demands under capacity and time constraints, while minimizing the total distribution cost. An integar linear programming model is proposed as a solution using Cplex. Computational results demonstrate that the proposed model is fast and able to find optimal solutions for problem scenarios with up to 55 newsagents within reasonable computing times. It was found that the proposed model reduced the delivery cost by 21% on average when compared to the current manual method. The results show that this model is adequate for medium-sized distribution problems.     

The biogeochemical cycling of methane in Ria de Vigo, NW Spain: Sediment processing and sea–air exchange

Methane (CH₄) concentrations were measured in the water column, in sediment porewaters, and in atmospheric air, in the Ría de Vigo, NW Spain, during both the onset (April 2003) and at the end of (September 2004) seasonal upwelling. In addition, CH₄ concentration and stable isotopic signatures (δ¹³CH₄) were measured in porewaters, and sediment methanogenesis and aerobic oxidation of CH₄ were determined in sediment incubations. Surface water column CH₄ (2 m depth) was in the range 3–180 nmol l^− 1 (110–8500% saturation) and followed a generally landward increase but with localised maxima in both the inner and middle Ría. These maxima were consistent with CH₄ inputs from underlying porewaters in which CH₄ concentrations were up to 3 orders of magnitude higher (maximum 350 μmol l^− 1). Surface water CH₄ concentrations were approximately three times higher in September than in April, consistent with a significant benthic CH₄ flux driven by enhanced sediment methanogenesis following the summer productivity maximum. CH₄ and δ¹³CH₄ in sediment porewaters and in incubated sediment slurries (20 °C) revealed significant sediment CH₄ oxidation, with an apparent isotopic fractionation factor (r_c) of  1.004. Using turbulent diffusion models of air–sea exchange we estimate an annual emission of atmospheric CH₄ from the Ría de Vigo of 18–44 × 10⁶ g (1.1–2.7 × 10⁶ mol). This estimate is approximately 1–2 orders of magnitude lower than a previous estimate based on a bubble transport model.     

New procedure to estimate the brake warping in a roller tester

Vehicle systems such as the steering, brakes and suspension greatly influence vehicle safety. Therefore, these systems must be inspected to guarantee that they are functioning correctly and to certify that the vehicle is functioning at a satisfactory safety level. In disc brakes, warping is one of the principal reasons for vibrations and noise, and it contributes to diminished brake efficiency. Currently, the International Motor Vehicle Inspection Committee (CITA) demands disc brake warping inspections occur during periodic motor vehicle inspections (PMVIs); however, the procedure to carry out this inspection is not well defined. In this investigation, the warping phenomenon has been analyzed, and a new inspection procedure is proposed.     

测试光网络的突发信号源研究

随着IP业务的增长,光接入网和交换网中的数据业务呈现明显的突发特征,需要一种反映实际突发性的光信号源.本文通过对突发数据包物理特征的分析,提出了一种生成数据包的方法,给出了由均匀分布产生某一概率分布数据包的证明.分析了光调制器件的增益特性,提出改善突发信号质量的二级调制方法,并进行了相关实验,取得了预想的结果.