The economics of port pricing

This short paper is concerned with the problem of improving the methods currently used to price port facilities. It presents a simple economic model of how an optimal pricing policy may be arrived at, employing an adaptation of an interactive supply-demand framework initially developed in the context of allocating car-parking places in urban areas. The model demonstrates the basic economic tenet that charges should be set equal to the full marginal social opportunity cost (M.S.O.C.) of facilities used, with premiums added where capacity restrictions would otherwise lead to excessive queueing. The use of a probability demand curve shows that one of the main fears of the anti-pricing school, namely excessive resource misallocation due to miscalcuations of the marginal cost, tends to be exaggerated. Further, it is argued that many of the other arguments set out against marginal cost pricing of ports are either ill-founded or unlikely to be of practical importance—ports are little different to other goods and services consumed in the economy and standard economic policies apply to them.     

The economics of port pricing

This short paper is concerned with the problem of improving the methods currently used to price port facilities. It presents a simple economic model of how an optimal pricing policy may be arrived at, employing an adaptation of an interactive supply-demand framework initially developed in the context of allocating car-parking places in urban areas. The model demonstrates the basic economic tenet that charges should be set equal to the full marginal social opportunity cost (M.S.O.C.) of facilities used, with premiums added where capacity restrictions would otherwise lead to excessive queueing. The use of a probability demand curve shows that one of the main fears of the anti-pricing school, namely excessive resource misallocation due to miscalcuations of the marginal cost, tends to be exaggerated. Further, it is argued that many of the other arguments set out against marginal cost pricing of ports are either ill-founded or unlikely to be of practical importance—ports are little different to other goods and services consumed in the economy and standard economic policies apply to them.     

A dynamic model for marginal cost pricing of port infrastructures

ABSTRACT

A dynamic model for marginal cost pricing of port infrastructures links costs to system performance by combining a power-law function with time-dependent queueing analysis. Additionally, the model incorporates the marginal cost of capacity, including the effects of economies of scale. This allows the calculation of the marginal cost price under a dynamic framework. The model accounts for nonlinear behaviour of port demand, which is sensitive to price and service levels. The effects over time of cost and service levels on the port’s operational performance are quantified. The proposed model allows determining the optimal timing for capacity investment. The model is a starting point for the application of marginal cost pricing to ports. However, for practical application of such pricing method it is necessary to apply a system’s approach, as productivity and costs must be assessed at the terminal’s component level. This should allow the derivation of a marginal cost function at the terminal’s component level.     

A well-functioning port is a stimulus for economy

Until just a few years ago, ports in Europe had a rather wishy-washy image. In the eyes of both the public and politicians, ports were a necessary fact of life.     

Corporatization: a legislative framework for port inefficiencies

It is now some five years since the restructure of Australian ports and their transformation into corporatized entities. This strategy was adopted in an endeavour to improve efficiency by distancing government from day to day operations--the element that was perceived by many to be the cause of sub-optimal performance. While there is widespread agreement that port performance has improved significantly, dissatisfaction persists with the continued political intervention which is considered to be the reason for ongoing sub-optimal performance and ports' commercial potential from being realized. This paper investigates some of these issues but argues that political intervention per se should not be the focus of research and what is widely perceived to be the cause of the problem. Rather, that political intervention is an effect of something more endemic, of a legislative framework which may not be appropriate for the operations of a commercially focused port. It is argued that the focus should therefore be on the cause, a legislative framework, rather than the outworkings, or the effects of that framework.     

Corporatization: a legislative framework for port inefficiencies

It is now some five years since the restructure of Australian ports and their transformation into corporatized entities. This strategy was adopted in an endeavour to improve efficiency by distancing government from day to day operations—the element that was perceived by many to be the cause of sub-optimal performance. While there is widespread agreement that port performance has improved significantly, dissatisfaction persists with the continued political intervention which is considered to be the reason for ongoing sub-optimal performance and ports' commercial potential from being realized. This paper investigates some of these issues but argues that political intervention per se should not be the focus of research and what is widely perceived to be the cause of the problem. Rather, that political intervention is an effect of something more endemic, of a legislative framework which may not be appropriate for the operations of a commercially focused port. It is argued that the focus should therefore be on the cause, a legislative framework, rather than the outworkings, or the effects of that framework.     

打造绿色之港

通过对散货码头环保设计要素的理解,结合浙江沿海电厂煤炭码头的设计案例,实施煤炭码头污水"零"排放设计,对煤炭防尘设计提出新的思路,强化打造"绿色之港"的理念,指出港口规划、设计和营运应与环境保护紧密联系,实现可持续发展.     

Towards port infrastructure adaptation: a global port climate risk analysis

In this paper, a new concept of “port climate risk exposure function along the sea–land boundary axis” is introduced as a critical component towards port adaptation. This concept derived from a global survey which was conducted over 29 countries to assess perceived climate risks to port infrastructure from relevant experts. The methodology used 48 climate scenarios developed based on existing data. Ultimately, this paper serves as a global climate risk indicator to guide further adaptive initiatives in ports.     

Debt—equity conversion and port privatization

Port privatization has been perceived as an instrument for the improvement in port management operations and marketing, yet it also provides a major opportunity for public debt reduction by converting debt incurred in port development into equity or other assets. There are many different ways in which debt, particularly foreign debt, can be converted. It can be directly converted into equity, it can be swapped for other debt, converted into various portfolio investments or exchanged for future services or exports. In recent years, 'ecological' swaps have also been considered in which some debt is written off in return for improvements in environmental management. This paper reviews the reasons for port privatization, the different methods for port ownership financing, and the role debt-equity conversion could play in it.     

民营化,港口建设的一帖良药?

南某省港口管理局的负责人,面对记者关于港口民营化的质询,作如下答复:码头经营确实是朝阳产业,赢利产业,收益稳定,不会大起大落,但要50年才会见效益,投资大、见效慢、周期长,所以吸引外资容易,吸引民间资本很难.     

A proposal for propulsion performance prediction of a single-propeller twin-rudder ship

The influence of a rudder’s axial force on the prediction of full-scale powering performance of a ship is investigated in this paper. Axial force characteristics of different rudder types were investigated by open water experiments. Viscous scale effects on the rudder’s axial force were investigated by carrying out open water experiments with different sizes of rudder. Experiments were carried out in the towing tank for a model ship fitted with different rudder systems to investigate the influence of rudder’s axial force on full-scale propulsion performance prediction. Based on the experiment results, a new prediction method is proposed for estimating full-scale power that considers scale effect on rudder’s axial force. Good performance of the proposed prediction method is demonstrated by estimating the engine power of a ship installed with a special high lift twin-rudder system from model experiments and comparing it with the values measured on the ship during full-scale experiments.     

Understanding the ocean container market—a seven country study [1]

Carrier selection criteria have been an issue in carrier marketing since the 1970s. Investigator location and interest has usually limited customer surveys to one geographic market. Market characteristics—differing purchase and service characteristics—have led to model seperation in the studies undertaken and sample size has constrained most researchers to reporting results as though customers were homogeneous in their needs. This has resulted in price versus service debates with conflicting conclusions. This paper explores the differences in the importance of various ocean container carrier selection criteria on the North Atlantic route for discrete geographic and customer segments. The paper reviewss the carrier selection literature and notes that carrier selection research to date has generally suffered from one or more of three problems: (1) because the research has focused on criteria 'importance', it has not identified determinants of purchase behaviour, that is, the 'salience' of different criteria; (2) the research has had sample size problems leading to the need to assume that the market is homogeneous or, less acceptable, that importance ratings will identify usable segments via factor analysis; and (3) carrier perfomance evaluation in conjucation with determinant criteria has largely been ignored. The paper focused on the problems surrounding the second of these by evaluating the relative importance of various service attributes for different geographic and customer dimensions. The paper concludes that the market is definitely not homogeneous in its requirements of carriers and that different elements surface as important both in identifiable geographical markets and customer groups. It also draws a number of conclusions about carrier choice in future and the implications for academic research.     

Port pricing: a cost axiomatic approach

The earlier port pricing literature argued that port prices should be based uponk marginal cost pricing. However, recent literature suggests that a conflicts would arise between marginal cost pricing and full cost recovery at ports. Further, problems arise in determining or estimating marginal costs. A price structure that addresses the problems of port marginal cost pricing is cost axiomatic pricing, given the goals, objectives and constraints of ports. Fairness and cost efficiency cost axioms for ports are considered. A methodology for determining cost axiomatic prices for a marine container terminal is presented.     

港口:中国昂起龙头

2005年底,交通部副部长徐祖远在出席宁波—舟山港一体化新闻发布会上明确表示,我国已从港口大国进入港口强国之列。当中国航运、造船只承认其大,而怯于言强之际,什么原因使中国港口率先进入强国之列?     

Targeting market opportunity for port growth: a CART-based decision support system

Complex decisions, such as those facing port managers when targeting market opportunities for growth, are multifaceted and follow complex patterns of sequential and iterative decision subsets that are not well captured nor represented by current parametric modelling approaches. Nonetheless, understanding how such decisions are made and the patterns they follow have important implications for policy formulation and execution. This paper uses a classification and regression trees (CART) framework—a non-parametric decision trees modelling approach-and develops a decision support system to assist port managers in making effective decisions about market opportunities they should pursue for growth. The CART-based decision support system reveals the predictive structure and complex patterns that the market opportunity selection process follows. It also advances our knowledge and understanding of the interaction and behaviour of the key decision variables and the decision makers in a port context.     

Transshipment hub port selection for shipping carriers in a dual hub-port system

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the factors affecting transshipment (T/S) hub port selection by a feeder port and helps shipping carriers make a decision about T/S hub port selection in a dual hub-port system. By employing established evaluation factors, a case study is conducted to weigh the priority of factors and to select an alternative T/S hub port, such as between the Shanghai and Ningbo ports from the Nanjing feeder port in the Yangtze River delta (YRD). A combined multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework utilizing the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the consistent fuzzy preference relations (CFPR) method is employed to both reduce the number of pairwise comparisons by AHP and to obtain experts’ knowledge in the decision-making process. The result indicates that the cost, availability of hub port’s space allocation, and the connectivity between feeder port and hub port are crucial factors for T/S hub port selection by shipping carriers. In the case study, Shanghai is selected as the T/S hub port from the Nanjing feeder port. Nevertheless, Ningbo port has the advantage of cost, and if the relationship with feeder port can be improved, Ningbo port would be preferred over Shanghai as a T/S hub port for shipping carriers in a dual hub-port system.     

Pricing strategies for port competition and cooperation

This paper analyzes the effects of integration between two neighbor ports with a third port sharing the same overlapping hinterland. The merger (integrated port) can select either the price discrimination or uniform pricing strategy after integration. Our study reveals that port integration is always beneficial to the merger and the third port, but results in the reduction of consumer surplus and social welfare, regardless of the type of pricing strategy implemented. Further analysis shows that when the inland transportation cost to the ports is relatively low or sufficiently high, a better option is for the merger to adopt the price discrimination strategy. When port pollution is considered and has a relatively large impact, the integration of the two ports improves green social welfare for the region. This finding provides strong support for the ongoing port integration in China. In terms of pricing strategy, the uniform pricing strategy generates higher green social welfare when both inland transportation cost and pollution are relatively low, or both are significantly high. Otherwise, the price discrimination strategy generates the best result for the region.     

附港潮汐自动计算

附港潮汐计算，一般采用计算内差法或做图内差法等。这两种方法应用起来都较繁琐，且易产生较多人为误差。随着计算机在船舶上的普及，是否该有一种更简便的方法来计算附港潮汐呢?为此，我编辑了“附港潮汐自动计算”软件，可用于计算英版《潮汐表》中列出的世界各附港潮汐。该软件是以excel编辑的电子表格，要求电脑内装有excel软件。应用者只需填入从英版《潮汐表》中查得的相应主港的潮时差、潮高差、潮时、潮高及主附港季节改正、日期等数据，即可自动算出附港潮时、潮高。     

推进口岸"大通关"天津海事局又推出便利通关服务三项新举措

在贯彻李盛霖部长在2007年全国交通工作会议上强调的努力做好“三个服务”的指示精神中,天津海事局为进一步推进口岸“大通关”建设,在2006年11月14日开通“危险货物异地电子申报系统”的基础上,于2007年4月12日又正式推出了“国际航行船舶出口岸许可证签发办法”、“国际航行船舶进口岸电子申报手续”及“船舶保安信息电子申报手续”三项新的举措。     

构建和谐港口：上海港正着力破题

2007年开局，着力构建和谐港口是上海港口管理局今年确定的一大工作主题。按照整体思路，港口主管部门将围绕群众“三最”利益问题，切实转变职能，创新和改进管理，破解难点、热点。在日前举行的新闻发布会上，上海市港口管理局宣布了近期出台的四项举措，包括落实“三岛”（崇明、长兴、横沙）农民工平安返乡，对水路客运实行运管费优惠措施；推进内河渡口、渡船改造项目实施，以及加大黄浦江上游浮吊船整治，解决市民关心的内河水运噪声问题等。