Foldable container in empty container repositioning in intermodal transportation network of Belt and Road Initiative: strengths and limitations

In 2013, the concept of the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road)’ was initiated by the Chinese government, which involves Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas. Logistics plays a core role in such a large framework of economy and trade. In recent years, China, European Union, and Southeast Asia pay much attention to the design and development of the intermodal transportation network towards both economic and environmental efficiency. In this paper, we propose an empty container repositioning model in the intermodal transportation network of Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative by considering both standard and foldable containers. In this model, empty containers are repositioned from the inland of the original area, such as China, to other areas of B&R Initiative related countries and regions, such as European Union and Southeast Asia. We develop a mixed integer linear programming model to determine the optimal repositioning of empty containers via the intermodal transportation network. An Artificial Bee Colony algorithm is developed to solve large size problems in practice and numerical experiments are conducted to show the efficiency of our proposed algorithm. We provide managerial insights regarding the impact on the network performance of foldable containers transportation.     

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.     

The role of dry port in hub-and-spoke network under Belt and Road Initiative

Dry port plays increasingly an important role in the integration of inland regions with seaports, and cross-border inland ports especially in the context of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) originally proposed by China. This paper studies a logistics network connecting the inland regions by dry ports based on a two-stage logistical gravity model. First, a basic logistical gravity model is developed to analyze the radiated inland regions from dry ports, where the logistical quality of dry ports is calculated by principal component analysis. Second, considering mutual impacts among dry ports, seaports and cross-border inland ports, the influence of logistical gravity on the network is examined by using a coefficient based on the Ordered Weighted Averaging Operator in multi-attribute decision theory. An improved logistical gravity model is further developed to investigate the logistical connections among various ports (e.g. dry ports, seaports and cross-border inland ports; hub and feeder ports). Then, a hub-and-spoke network can be established. Dry ports are potential to connect to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. So a Chinese case is used to verify the proposed method. The strategies of embedding inland regions in the BRI are discussed based on the experimental studies.     

Global logistics city concept: a cluster-led strategy under the belt and road initiative

This paper develops a cluster-led strategic policy framework to assess the strategic positioning of key global logistics cities in Asia, most of which are affected by the ‘Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative.’ One of the key challenges that the B&R Initiative is facing is underdeveloped logistics infrastructure in Asia, not to mention road congestion, dilapidated infrastructure, incessant supply chain disruptions, and capacity constraint, which imposes significant economic costs.

Global logistics cities are evaluated on logistics infrastructure capacity and service responsiveness. This involves selecting the key global logistics cities, identifying key indicators, standardising and indexing, mapping dimensions of global logistics cities, and developing the cluster-led strategic policy framework.

The results indicate the prevalence of a multi-tier system wherein Shanghai and Hong Kong have attained the maturity of a global logistics city, whilst Manila, Jakarta, and Bangalore are making slow but steady progress in that direction. In contrast, Dhaka, Phnom Penh, and Ho Chi Minh City are showing potential but require further enhancement through significant investment in infrastructure and service delivery improvement.

The cluster-led strategic policy framework formulates actions and strategies through which emergent logistics networks can be strategically aligned and functionally integrated with B&R-oriented global trading hubs and transport corridors..     

Development of an IoT-based container tracking system for China’s Belt and Road (B&R) initiative

To ensure the successful implementation of China’s Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, it is essential to enable the real-time monitoring of containers’ locations, prevent theft during cargo delivery, ensure more efficient logistics management and reduce carbon emissions. For this, it is vital to have an economic and effective system to track and control containers across multiple countries. However, this requirement cannot be met by today’s container tracking systems because they are either limited within the borders of each country or expensive to employ internationally. This study thus presents a framework for an IoT-based container tracking system that enables users not only to grasp the international flow of container movement with one check but also to achieve smooth cross-border procedures. To verify the system’s performance, an empirical test was made for an actual container shipped from Korea to Poland. The test results showed that the system could successfully track the location of the container in real time across international borders. Last, this study discusses the policy development and international cooperation that should take place to enable the introduction of this container tracking system.     

Effects of the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative on the wine import logistics of China

China’s Belt and Road (BR) initiative is expected to facilitate international trade between the countries involved. In this study, we review the special requirements of wine logistics and the market growth potential of wine consumption in China. A model minimizing generalized logistical costs is developed and applied to wine imports in China, so that the best candidate cities in which to locate transport gateways and distribution centers can be identified. Our analysis suggests that the most preferred gateways are Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, which all have similar delivery costs. In comparison, Beijing and Chongqing have much higher delivery costs, mainly because they do not have good access to marine transport and/or efficient domestic distribution networks. For long-distance intercontinental transport of large volumes of wine, marine shipping remains the only viable delivery mode. However, wine distribution within China extensively uses air, road, and water transport. Therefore, cities with excellent multi-modal transport services are better positioned to become wine logistics gateways. Our study also highlights the importance of value-added services and good government support, which are important factors that influence distribution costs and quality.     

Development of port service network in OBOR via capacity sharing: an idea from Zhejiang province in China

The ‘Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road’ (One Belt One Road, OBOR) strategy initiated by the Chinese government has a significant impact on the business and logistics modes which involves Asia, Europe, Africa, and their adjacent seas. Many countries and ports are developing new strategies that are suitable for this economic environment. Compared with many ports in the world, the ports in Zhejiang province of China have a novel property. In addition to Ningbo-Zhoushan port, there are several other sea ports and river ports in that province. In this paper, we propose a concept of port service network that consists of a huge hub and multiple ports. Ports of small and medium sizes can share their capacities of different types of port service with the hub when the service capacities are integrated into the network. We develop a mixed integer nonlinear programming model to determine the optimal decisions in such a network with constraints on the budget to conduct integration. An optimization algorithm incorporated with a genetic algorithm is developed to solve large size problems. We provide managerial insights on the policies of government, including expanding port capacity, reducing fixed integration cost, and providing better financial condition.     

中国企业投资进入希腊港口的启示

中国中远集团获取了比港2#、3#集装箱码头35年特许经营权,并使比港重焕生机,以实例验证了"一带一路"21世纪海上丝绸之路互联互通合作模式,为中国在希腊、欧洲乃至世界带来积极影响。本文结合此案例,分析中国企业投资进入欧盟经济较发达国家的前景,为今后类似投资项目提供一定的参考。     

Structural relationships among shipper’s perception,value, and choice intention of Korea–China train ferry service

ABSTRACT

The logistics environment between China and Korea has been changing rapidly in line with the ‘Go West’ policy of international trade and logistics area. The policy includes the BRI, Western Development Strategy, and Korea–China FTA. Against this background, the Korea–China train ferry (KCTF) is being newly illuminated as an alternative mode to cope with the logistics environment between Korea and China. One of the key success factors of the KCTF depends on, among others, shippers’ perception, which will affect the choice and the successful operation of the KCTF. From this perspective, this paper develops seven hypotheses based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). We test these hypotheses using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to explore the structural relationship between shippers’ behavioral beliefs influencing the perceived usefulness, the attitude toward and intention to choose the KCTF. The test results confirm that among the behavioral beliefs, transport accessibility in association with an efficient network of inland roads and railway networks is an important prerequisite. In addition, we verified a high statistical significance in the structural relationships among perceived usefulness, the attitude toward and the intention to choose the KCTF.     

Logistics connectivity considering import and export for Chinese inland regions in the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road by dry ports

This investigation studies the logistics connectivity of inland Chinese provinces along the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) from the perspective of the oriented cooperation relationship between seaports and dry ports in inland regions. The logistics connectivity is measured based on the import and export data. First, complex network theory is used to develop a system for evaluating logistics connectivity of inland regions, involving metrics of susceptible-infected-recovered, and improved closeness centrality proposed to drawing on the characteristics of the studied network based on closeness centrality. Second, based on collected data, 136 dry ports in China and 127 seaports along the MSR have been used to construct an empirical network that covers 15 inland provinces of China. Then, the accessibility and importance of inland provinces are analyzed, and key points that serve the improvement of the logistics connectivity of inland provinces are mined and summarized. An example of an improved scheme for the connectivity of inland provinces is presented to demonstrate the application of these key points. The conclusions drawn support decision-making for local governments to improve the logistics connectivity of inland regions in the international logistics network, and then strengthen the participation of inland provinces in the MSR.     

海铁联运物联网技术对港口转型升级改造的作用

分析我国海铁联运存在的问题。以青岛港为例,总结海铁联运物联网应用示范工程的总体框架、建设内容以及取得的成效,提出通过利用物联网、RFID等技术实现铁路、水路信息的互联互通和货物、车辆、船舶等信息的共享,提升铁路中心场站及港口码头的运行效率,实现港口、铁路运输链条一体化,支撑我国一带一路战略的实施,促进港口转型升级。     

Online channel strategies under different offline channel power structures for the Belt and Road of China

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the online channel strategies adopted by Chinese manufacturers with regard to the Belt and Road. It also investigates the effect of offline channel power structures and maritime transportation costs on online channel mode selection and pricing strategies. The offline channel power structures are classified into three types, namely, Chinese manufacturer Stackelberg (MS) structure, vertical Nash (VN) structure, and foreign retailer Stackelberg (RS) structure. Furthermore, a game model is developed among the Chinese manufacturer, foreign retailer, and cross-border e-tailer to investigate the interactions among offline channel power structures, maritime transportation costs, and Chinese manufacturers’ online channel mode selection. The results show that Chinese manufacturers’ preferences for the online agency selling mode increases correspondingly with the decrease in their market position and bargaining power. Moreover, foreign retailers can obtain higher profits in the online agency selling mode under the VN structure. However, the level of profit for foreign retailers depends on the intensity of their competition with cross-border e-tailers under the MS and RS structures. Finally, consumers in countries along the Belt and Road can obtain a higher surplus in the online agency selling mode under all of the structures.     

Impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Indian subcontinent under future port development scenarios

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is twofold: the first is to assess the extent to which current port development initiatives contribute to securing the status of the Port of Colombo as a regional transshipment (T/S) hub to serve the Indian subcontinent; and the second is to generate plausible future development scenarios for the maritime industry in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A scenario analysis method is applied to examine the past trends and to build future development scenarios. The results showed that major Indian ports have experienced a significant growth in cargo volumes and vessel traffic. South and East Indian coastal ports continue to use the Port of Colombo as a T/S port in tandem with the corridors connected to the Indian Ocean. Scenario analysis highlights the growing importance of BRI-centric land-based economic corridors, which would generate a large amount of cargos from hinterlands up to China. This would be further fueled through the Great Mekong region-driven industrialization, which would add to the west-bound maritime cargo volume. The paper concludes that the increased capital influx from China would more likely to result in a substantial development of the present port and road/rail infrastructure in Sri Lanka.     

Impacts of trade liberalization on Chinese economy with Belt and Road initiative

China has been continuously implementing the open-door policy for past 15 years ever since it joined the World Trade Organization, which escalated international trade and demand for shipping. Compared with the other major importing countries in the world, China’s importing tariff is relatively low. Under the Belt and Road initiatives, more Free Trade Agreements to be concluded and more Free Trade Zones to be established, it is expected that the effective import tariff rate may continue to decrease in the future. This study analyses the impact of further reduction in Chinese import tariff rate on major economic indicators using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and based on the Chinese macro-economic data of 2012. The model results show that, with a balanced international payment, such a reduction can increase GDP, resident consumption, both imports and exports, and reduce GDP price, trade surplus, and government revenue. The results ease the concern that further import tariff reduction may harm the domestic production. Rather, it points out that there are still rooms to improve national economy and increase the consumer utility by trade liberation.     

Part I: Externalities and economic policies in road transport

Road transport imposes negative externalities on society. These externalities include environmental and road damage, accidents, congestion, and oil dependence. The cost of these externalities to society is in general not reflected in the current market prices in the road transport sector.An efficient mobility model for the future must take into account the true costs of transport and its regulatory framework will need to create incentives for people to make sustainable transport choices. This paper discusses the use of economic instruments to correct road transport externalities, but gives relatively more weight to the problem of carbon emissions from road transport, as this is particularly challenging, given its global and long-term nature.Economics offers two types of instruments for addressing the problem of transport externalities: command-and-control and incentive-based policies.Command-and-control policies are government regulations which force consumers and producers to change their behaviour. They are the most widely used policy instruments. Examples include vehicle emission and fuel standards in the US as well as driving or parking restrictions in Singapore. The implementation cost of these instruments to the government is small. Although from an economic perspective these policies often fail to achieve an efficient market outcome, the presence of political constraints often make them the preferred option, in terms of feasibility and effectiveness.Economic theory shows how policies, which affect consumption and production incentives, can be used to achieve the optimal outcome in the presence of externalities. Incentive-based policies function within a new or an altered market. We first examine incentive-based policies, which cap the aggregate amount of the externality, such as carbon emissions, by allocating permits or rights to the emitters. The emitters are then free to trade their permits amongst them. The permit allocation mechanism is important-although market efficiency would be satisfied by an auction, political influences usually favour a proportional allocation based on historic emissions. We discuss EU ETS as an example of a cap-and-trade system, however, no such policy for CO₂ emissions in road transport has been implemented anywhere in the world to date.Fiscal instruments are, like command-and-control, widely used in road transport, because they are relatively cheap and simple to implement. They include the use of taxes and charges in order to bridge the gap between private and the social costs and, in principle, can lead to an efficient market solution. Registration, ownership, fuel, emissions, usage taxes, and parking and congestion charges have been implemented in many countries around the world. On the other side of the spectrum, subsidies can be given to those scrapping old cars and buying fuel-efficient vehicles. Some cities, such as London, have implemented congestion charges and many states in the United States have introduced high occupancy lanes. Other interesting possibilities include pay-as-you-drive insurance and other usage charges. However, the size and scope of taxes and subsidies are determined by governments, and because of their imperfect knowledge of the market the outcome is still likely to be inefficient.Governments have many effective economic instruments to create a sustainable road transport model. These instruments can be used separately or together, but their implementation will be necessary in the nearest future.     

Evaluating economic and environmental value of liner vessel sharing along the maritime silk road

The Belt and Road initiative is a novel exploration of China towards strategic collaboration with Eurasia countries to an extent of a larger scale with higher and deeper level of cooperation. To meet the growing global demand of transportation, increasing numbers of liner shipping companies collaborate and form alliances to share vessel capacity and reduce capital costs. Effective liner shipping vessel sharing is essential for the Belt and Road initiative in terms of building efficient maritime transport networks. In promoting environmental development, shipping companies are required to attain higher environmental standards. However, limited literature relates vessel sharing to environmental performance. This paper studies the impacts of liner vessel sharing from the economic and environmental perspectives. Two container allocation models are developed for the two scenarios: with and without vessel sharing. The carbon emissions in transportation are calculated under both scenarios. Numerical studies are carried out using services along the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic (CIPE) Corridor. Liner shipping companies could benefit from vessel sharing in terms of significant profit improvement. Vessel sharing could also benefit the environment by reducing the CO₂ emissions dramatically.     

Studying port selection on liner routes: An approach from logistics perspective

The research aims to study the port selection in liner shipping. The central work is to set up a model to deal with port choice decisions. The model solves three matters: ports on a ship’s route; the order of selected ports and loading/unloading ports for each shipment. Its objective is to minimize total cost including ship cost, port tariff, inland transport cost and inventory cost. The model has been applied in real data, with cargo flows between the USA and Northern Europe. Afterwards, two sensitive analyses are considered. The first assesses the impact of a number of port calls on the total cost which relates closely to the viability of two service patterns: multi ports and hub & spoke. The second analyzes the efficiency of large vessels in the scope of a logistics network. The overriding result of this research is to indicate the influence of logistics factors in the decision of port choice. The research emphasizes the necessity to combine different factors when dealing with this topic, or else a result can be one-sided.     

Risk analysis of maritime accidents along the main route of the Maritime Silk Road: a Bayesian network approach

ABSTRACT

The safety of maritime transportation along the twenty-first century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) is important to ensure its development and sustainability. Maritime transportation poses risks of accidents that can cause the death or injury of crew members and damage to ships and the environment. This paper proposes a Bayesian network (BN) based risk analysis approach that is newly applied in the main route of the MSR to analyse its relevant maritime accidents. The risk data are manually collected from the reports of the accident that occurred along the MSR. Next, the risk factors are identified and the results from the modelling method can provide useful insights for accident prevention. Historical data collected from accident reports are used to estimate the prior probabilities of the identified risk factors influencing the occurrence of maritime accidents. The results show that the main influencing factors are the type and location of an accident and the type, speed, and age of the involved ship(s). In addition, scenario analysis is conducted to analyse the risks of different ships in various navigational environments. The findings can be used to analyse the probability of each possible maritime accident along MSR and to provide useful insights for shipowners’ accident prevention.     

Mathematical model of steel lazy-wave riser abandonment and recovery in deepwater

To meet the increasing applications of the deepwater steel lazy-wave riser (SLWR), the riser abandonment and recovery (A&R) is a great challenge for SLWR installation and its mechanical analysis is necessary and significant. This paper is focused on the abandonment and recovery process which is of great importance to the installation feasibility and analysis. A comprehensive mechanical model based on the nonlinear large deformation beam theory for simulating the deepwater SLWR is proposed. And a simple and suitable model for analyzing the A&R cable is developed. The presented model with detailed boundary conditions is able to deal with three different A&R methods. Numerical analysis is conducted by the finite difference method to investigate the riser configurations and somev important mechanical parameters of the pipeline and cable which exert influences on the riser's performance and the A&R cable's requirement. Parametric comparison study is conducted to analyze the advantage of different method. The proposed model can help on development of deepwater SLWR A&R design and analysis.     

长江南京以下深水航道二期工程碍航水道演变特性及航道治理思路

长江南京以下12.5 m深水航道二期工程建设是落实国家"一带一路"战略、打造长江综合立体交通走廊的重大举措。针对二期工程河段4个水道的碍航情况,在分析上游来流来沙特性、各水道分流分沙特性及演化过程的基础上,对碍航特性、河床演变特性及趋势进行分析,提出各水道的整治时机、关键部位和治理思路。成果为航道整治工程设计与建设提供技术支撑,也为感潮河段航道整治积累经验。