Impacts of Kra Canal and its toll structures on tanker traffic

This article discusses the proposed Kra Canal and its impacts on the tanker market from an economic perspective. We forecast tanker size distributions and further analyze the impacts of toll structures on tanker traffic. The forecast for tanker size distributions is based on distance savings for tankers as potential users of the Kra Canal. The database covers 105 busiest oil transport routes through the Strait of Malacca for the three-year period 2013–2015. Forecasts for individual routes are achieved using an autoregressive model. Two toll polices, namely the willingness-to-pay policy and the differential-pricing policy, are analyzed in order to maximize the annual toll income of the Kra Canal. The findings for the proposed Kra Canal will attract large vessels from the Strait of Malacca. An interesting finding is that the Kra Canal becomes more profitable during an unfavorable tanker market situation when the time-charter rate is low and fuel price is high. The article concludes with a policy that satisfies the goals of canal operator and government.     

A model system for the ex-ante assessment of city logistics measures

This paper proposes a model system developed in order to support ex-ante assessment of city logistics measures. The model system allows us to simulate the choices of each decision-maker involved in the urban freight transport and logistics and to investigate how the policies and the following measures can influence her/his choices.The model system is an open architecture and consists of two levels: commodity and vehicle. The commodity level allows us to analyse the attraction and acquisition movements taking into account the effects due to city logistics policy implementation affecting the end-consumer and retailer/wholesaler/producer (restocker) choices. The freight sold in each urban shop (or in general urban business) is estimated starting from consumption demand and, then, the restocker’s choices for restocking are analysed in depth. The vehicle level focuses on the restocking process and the links between retailer and wholesaler/producer operating in the study area. This level allows us to investigate the impacts of implementing city logistics measures on journey time, timing and path used for restocking the urban retail businesses.     

From theory to practice in road safety policy: Understanding risk versus mobility

This paper reviews theoretical issues surrounding transport safety modeling and the implications for road safety policy. The behavioral mechanisms that affect transport safety are typically not considered in safety modeling. These issues are discussed in the context of trade-offs between risk-taking, as perceived by travelers, and other mobility objectives and the attributes associated with them. This is an extension of other theoretical frameworks, such as risk compensation, and attempts to integrate some of the previous frameworks developed over the years. Various examples of behavioral adaptation to specific policies are discussed and linked to the framework. These issues are then discussed in the context of improvements to empirical work in this area and the linkage of theoretical frameworks to crash modeling, in particular the estimation and use of Crash Modification Factors. Conclusions suggest that there are many deficiencies in practice, from estimation of models to choice of effective policies. Progress is being made on the former, while the publication of practical guidance seems to have substantial lags in knowledge.     

The development of road and rail transport safety valuation in the United Kingdom

An extensive body of theoretical and empirical work has been undertaken in the UK since the middle of the last century on the estimation of values of safety for use in the appraisal of proposed transport projects, particularly road and rail. This research has focused largely on ‘willingness-to-pay’ based values in order to measure the strength of the travelling public's preference for marginal improvements in transport safety, relative to consumption of other goods and services. In terms of practical policy making, the research has resulted in a set of values for the prevention of statistical fatalities and non-fatal injuries that are applied not only in transport safety decision making, but also in other public sector contexts. This paper summarises the main findings of this research.     

Analyzing road safety in the United States

This paper reviews road safety performance in the United States. The paper develops a framework for assessing dimensions of road safety, and analyzes the importance of economic factors, travel patterns, demographics, road/traffic/vehicle technology, driver behavior, and public policy. Issues and challenges for future road safety research are discussed.     

Economic appraisal of universal design in transport: Experiences from Norway

Economic assessment of universally designed transport projects has not been studied in depth in the transport planning literature. Universal Design (UD) refers to the design of transport systems in a way that they are accessible to all users, irrespective of the users’ abilities. This definition of UD has not yet gained roots in the transport economic literature. The conventional thinking is that UD is for the few, i.e., the impaired, and given that they are few in numbers, UD projects will generally be unprofitable from a socioeconomic point of view because benefits will be low while investment costs will be too high. The objective of this paper is to prove the opposite: UD projects benefit all users of the facility, whether impaired or not, and the additional costs of implementing them are generally low; hence, their net present values are high and positive. We build on collaborative work between the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) and the Institute of Transport Economics (TOI) aimed at creating guidelines for assessing the economic merits of UD projects. Therefore, in this paper, we: (1) define how UD is to be understood in the context of road and public transport; (2) describe the types of benefits and costs that accrue to users if UD projects are implemented; (3) address how the benefits and cost can be valued in monetary terms; and (4) using three different types of projects, demonstrate that UD projects are surprisingly profitable from a socioeconomic point of view. Finally, we address the implications of our findings and explain why governments need to be concerned with UD of transport systems.     

A disaggregated tool for evaluation of road safety policies

This paper presents a methodological disaggregated approach to analyze the impact of interventions on road safety. The model aims to describe the accident rates of an individual using mileage as a measure of risk exposure. The model is formulated as a system of equations that takes into account interactions between the mileage of a given individual and the other drivers. Once estimated, the model acts as a simulator allowing us to measure the performance of policy interventions to increase road safety.     

Effect of transportation infrastructure on economic growth in India: The VECM approach

This paper examines the effect of transportation (road and rail) infrastructure on economic growth in India over the period 1970–2010. Using Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), the paper finds bidirectional causality between road transportation and economic growth. It also finds bidirectional causality between road transportation and capital formation, bidirectional causality between gross domestic capital formation and economic growth, unidirectional causality from rail transportation to economic growth and unidirectional causality from rail transportation to gross capital formation. The paper suggests that expansion of transport infrastructure (both road and rail) along with gross capital formation will lead to substantial growth of the Indian economy. Therefore, within its stated scope, this study suggests that a suitable transport policy should be retained to boost transportation infrastructure and hence sustainable economic growth in India.     

A nested logit model of mode choice for inland movement of export shipments: A case study of containerised export cargo from India

Predominance of containerised mode of transport for export of general cargo has influenced the mode choices on the inland segment. Prior to containerisation the general cargo for export moved to ports invariably on road in break bulk form. Growth of containerisation led to development of inland terminals enabling an exporter to obtain export clearance at the inland points. This process facilitated an exporter to move cargo either in break bulk or in containerised form, and as inland terminals facilitated aggregation an exporter could move cargo either by road or rail. Thus containerisation increased the inland transport options for an exporter from one to three. The paper develops discrete choice models in the Indian context for inland movement of containerised export cargo. Primary data was collected from 124 export firms through a structured questionnaire. This data is supplemented with data from transport firms and terminal operators. Using the above data, a nested logit model with rail container and road truck in one branch was found to predict the mode choice behaviour best. Amongst the transport attributes, total cost and total transit time were found to be influencing the mode choices significantly. The study however did not find the effect of reliability and loss and damage significant. In addition, the model also predicts that non transport attributes - like the percentage of letters of credit that materialise with inland way bills and the value of export benefits that materialise after export - are important in the mode choice decision.     

Valuing casualty risk reductions from estimated baseline risk

Stated choice studies have been applied regularly to the valuation of time savings and other attributes of travelling as perceived by individuals. In such experiments, respondents often provide reference levels for the attributes and the hypothetical choices presented to them are pivoted around actual behaviour. However, most individuals are not able to provide reference levels for the number of casualties on the road they travel. Thus, if valuation of this important element is attempted, it is the researcher who must provide casualty risk reference levels to the respondents. Some studies have applied route choice experiments including a safety attribute but the majority has been limited to only one particular road section with a common baseline risk for all respondents.     

Spatially Prioritizing Seafloor Mapping for Coastal and Marine Planning

Coastal and marine areas provide vital services to support the economic, cultural, recreational, and ecological needs of human communities, but sustaining these benefits necessitates a balance between growing and often competing uses and activities. Minimizing coastal zone conflict and reducing human-induced impacts to ecological resources requires access to consistent spatial information on the distribution and condition of marine resources. Seafloor mapping provides a detailed and reliable spatial template on the structure of the seafloor that has become a core data need for many resource management strategies. The absence of detailed maps of the seafloor hinders the effectiveness of priority setting in marine policy, regulatory processes, and marine stewardship. For large management areas, the relatively high cost of seafloor mapping and limited management budgets requires careful spatial prioritization. In order to address this problem, a consensus based approach, aided by decision-support tools, and participatory geographic information systems (GIS), was implemented in Long Island Sound to spatially prioritize locations, define additional data collection efforts needed, and identify products needed to inform decision-making. The methodology developed has utility for other states and regions in need of spatially prioritizing activities for coastal planning, and organizations charged with providing geospatial services to communities with broad informational needs.     

Making the Australian flag fleet efficient: dysfunctional policy processes and the 'play of power'

In 1997 the Australian government introduced reform measures aimed at improving the efficiency and cost effectiveneess of the Auistralian maritime sector. These measures are part of an ongoing reform programme initiated in the early 1980s; but despite concerted efforts by a succession of governments and the payout of high labour redundancy costs the problems of inefficiency, high costs and low profitability persist. This paper focuses on the structure and mechanism of the policy making processes that have attempted to deal with the problem of making the Australian national flag fleet efficient and competitive. It does so because it is a fundamental tenet of the paper that it is the process of policy making that so frequently—if not invariably—determines policy content and outcomes.     

Marine log transportation and handling systems in british columbia: Impacts on coastal management

Abstract

Over 90 percent of British Columbia's annual log harvest enters into complex water‐based systems of transportation, storage, and handling. These systems have considerable impacts on a wide range of coastal resources and uses. A number of site‐specific conflicts have arisen between forestry and preexisting or emerging values including fisheries, mariculture, recreational boating, and harbor redevelopment. Specific data on the impacts leading to conflict are often fragmentary. However, concerns about highly valued and fragile areas‐particularly estuariesalong with industrial concerns regarding log losses and handling efficiency, have prompted changes in log handling. These include moves to dryland sorting, log bundling, and a redistribution of forestry activities in estuaries to accommodate other values. Conflict adjustments and responses have in the past been largely ad hoc and attempted in a jurisdictional vacuum concerning control of coastal management. A more inclusive strategy is now slowly emerging, which involves the coordinated participation of federal, provincial, and industrial interests.     

高速公路运营阶段安全性评价与分析

运用公路安全性评价标准对某现有高速公路运营阶段安全性进行评价与分析,通过计算运行速度和现场实测运行速度对其进行安全性检验,同时引入交通事故调查分析安全评价法鉴别事故黑点,有针对性地进行道路安全改造措施,保证车辆的行车安全。     

Coastal Management Using Public Judgments,Importance Scales,and Predetermined Schedule

A predetermined schedule of sanctions and regulations that reflect both scientific knowledge of resources and the preference and judgments of resource users in the community may provide a useful guide for management decisions involving complex coastal resource systems. Such a schedule can be implemented by constructing scales reflecting public judgments of the relative importance of adverse impacts on resources, or of activities causing such impacts. The importance scales can then be used to assess existing regulations and current management priorities and to serve as a guide for revisions and changes to current practice, for the design of new policy, for rationalizing regulatory controls, and for determining damage awards and other deterrence sanctions. The resulting evolution of a schedule can improve the consistency of resource use with community preferences by, for example, prescribing more severe restrictions on what are widely agreed to be more serious harms and lesser controls on less important ones. The application of this approach is demonstrated using Ban Don Bay, Thailand.     

不利天气条件下高速公路安全管理系统的构建

针对不利气象条件给公路交通畅通、运行安全、管养成本带来的不利影响,提出了不利天气条件下高速公路安全管理系统的构建思路、主要功能以及子系统构成。能够满足不利气象条件下的高速公路交通安全管理需求的系统由六大子系统构成：道路气象环境监测系统、道路天气预报及影响评估系统、多信息融合的先进交通管理系统、智能信息发布系统、冬季道路养护决策支持系统及紧急救援系统。     

Rail vehicles,environment, safety and security

This paper starts with a discussion on typical vehicles. The concepts and the usual practice for rail wagon design, both freight and passengers are presented. A discussion on rail and the environment comes next followed by Truck-Trains. Accident theories, metaphors and investigation methods are widely discussed; Hazard – Barrier – Target Model, Swiss Cheese Model, Bow-Tie Model, Fault Tree Analysis and Event Tree Analysis are explained. This paper concludes with a technical discussion on safety and security of rail vehicles, standards for safety and measures against terrorist attacks.     

Impacts of increased rail infrastructure charges in Sweden

The impacts of the already decided increase in rail infrastructure charges in Sweden are described for various market segments within the rail transport system and on the aggregate level for society as a whole. The need for complementary measures in the road transport system is also discussed. Likewise, the paper also mentions the impact of increased rail infrastructure charges on certain significant industrial sectors. An increase in rail charges may reduce social welfare even though the reduction in rail transport mileage is small. This is mainly due to large non-internalised absolute externalities for road freight. For commuter trains, the infrastructure charges' share of the costs of rail transport is expected to rise to 13 percent, which in an international perspective still will be small.     

Coastal Ecosystems and Agricultural Land Use: New Challenges on California's Central Coast

This article uses the Central Coast region of California as a case study to examine the challenges of protecting coastal ecosystems near areas of intensive agricultural production. Coastal water quality and biodiversity are greatly impacted by regional land use. Agricultural land use can have significant impacts on water quality through erosion and the runoff of agricultural chemicals. While the Central Coast region of California is a center for intensive agricultural production, it is also home to the largest marine sanctuary in the United States. This combination has resulted in intensive efforts from government agencies and conservation organizations to reduce pollution associated with agriculture. Efforts have focused on education and incentives, but are recently facing increasing challenges stemming from new standards created by the produce industry in response to food safety concerns. Personal interviews with crop growers were used to explore these challenges and to better understand the range of possible environmental impacts resulting from new food safety standards. Results indicate that substantial management changes are taking place that are likely to impact regional water quality and wildlife. This case study also explores the role of policy networks in shaping management decisions and illustrates how certain approaches to addressing agricultural pollution may be vulnerable to external policy changes.     

Competitiveness between short sea shipping and road freight transport in mainland port connections; the case of two Greek ports

While road freight transport is essential to any modern economy, short sea shipping (SSS) offers a competitive alternative mode of freight transport in terms of private and social costs, when applied in the connection of mainland ports. This mainly stems from the fact that within the context of the latter costs, accidents and environmental impacts in many road links constitute undesirable externalities with which road freight transport is heavily burdened. This paper compares the aforementioned economics of road and sea transport with reference to the connection of the port of Patra (the main western freight gate of Greece) with West Attica (the biggest Greek industrial centre), aiming at providing a viable solution towards the promotion of SSS in the transport chain between mainland ports.