Introduction to the special issue on maritime security

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 heightened awareness about the vulnerability of all modes of transportation to terrorist attack. The issue of maritime security has therefore become a major concern in the international maritime sector over the past several years. Globalization has led to a strong growth in seaborne trade; however, it simultaneously increases vulnerability to not only terrorism but also international criminal activities that threaten the world's supply chain. For example, in 2008, the rise in piracy activities in the Gulf of Aden brought the issue of maritime security to the forefront of international debate. In addition to the direct impact on ships, crews and cargoes, and on the maritime industry and governments, piracy also threatens global seaborne trade, and has an impact on energy security and the environment [UNCTAD, 2009, Review of Maritime Transport 2009 (New York: United Nations)]. Maritime piracy can pose substantial risks to seaborne trades, with considerable commodities, ranging between raw materials and energy to high-value manufactured products, being shipped between global economic powerhouses [FU, X. W., NG, A. K. Y., LAU, Y. Y., forthcoming, The impacts of maritime piracy on global economic development: The case of Somalia. Maritime Policy and Management]. Maritime security management, including the definition of security, maritime risk assessment, security measures, the regulation and policy of maritime security in shipping and port-related business operations has been receiving growing attention, both in practice and research.     

Are AIS-based trade volume estimates reliable? The case of crude oil exports

Most global trade statistics in the public domain refer to official customs data, which are not generally available on a micro (individual cargo) level. With the increasing availability and completeness of ship positioning data from the global Automated Identification System (AIS), it is possible to derive more timely and detailed trade statistics for homogeneous commodity groups. The objective of this article is twofold: (1) to compare the accuracy of AIS-derived trade statistics to official customs data in the crude oil market and (2) to add a breakdown of trade by vessel size over time. We find that while AIS-derived data for seaborne crude exports show good alignment with official export numbers in aggregate, there are substantial temporal and geographical differences across countries and time due to the use of pipelines and transshipment in parts of the supply chain. We highlight the challenges in properly structuring and aggregating micro-level cargo data. Our findings are important for the proper derivation of shipping demand from trade data.     

The impacts of maritime piracy on global economic development: the case of Somalia

This paper investigates the impacts of maritime piracy on global economic development. Calibrated with data between 2003 and 2008, we model shipping demands and competition in the Far East-Europe container liner shipping service and investigate the economic welfare loss effects due to reduced volumes of trade and shipping, as well as efficiency loss due to geographical re-routing of shipping networks which would be otherwise uneconomical. The substantial economic loss simulated from our model indicates that, even from purely the perspective of economic interests, more efforts from the international community should be dedicated to tackle maritime piracy.     

The growth and patterns of international trade

Over the last 40 years, there has been an unprecedented growth in trade amongst countries, and the growth in trade shows no sign of slowing down. The increases in trade have put tremendous pressure on the maritime and port industries, and these industries have responded with innovations, investment, and greater productivity. International trade and maritime trade are synonyms, and an understanding of the determinants of international trade is central to understanding maritime trade. In this paper, we provide a review of the international trade literature with a focus on the determinants of trade and the evolution of trade modeling. We then present a broad overview of the extent and growth of trade in the context of primary determinants. The basic results are: (1) Trade is growing at a phenomenal rate; (2) Trade is dominated by relatively few countries who tend to remain dominant; (3) While trade of all products is growing, there are large differences in the growth rates, but yet, there is stability in the relative sizes of product markets; and (4) Over the last 40 years, trade has changed from major flows between the US and Europe to major flows between Asia and the US.     

非洲港口发展格局及趋势分析

梳理和分析非洲港口发展格局和趋势能够为我国企业参与非洲港口投资、建设、运营提供参考。对非洲港口发展现状、特点和存在问题进行梳理和总结,展望未来发展趋势。与全球其他地区相比,非洲港口在全球海运贸易总规模中的份额较低,港口发展以装卸仓储等基础、传统服务为主,港城矛盾、堆场不足、集疏运通道不畅、现代化和信息化水平低等问题普遍存在。随着全球经济和经贸形势总体长驱稳定,非洲经济产业长期将维持稳定增长,未来非洲港口投资建设需求依旧旺盛,区域港口发展格局将不断演变,港产城一体化、陆上物流通道等建设将加快。     

Russia's waterborne trade and transport: issues in market transformation

During the Soviet era most of the Union's international non-oil trade was transported over water. Following the former Soviet Union's break-up, the share of water transport in accomodating Russia's trade has become modest, as the railways carry most goods that are traded domestically or with the new republics of the Commonwealth of Independence States, which are now treated as foreign countries. Adjusting the Russian Federation's water transport industry and related infrastructure to the changed geo-political and regional economic conditions proves difficult. While the country inherited a fair share of the former Soviet merchant fleet, it is deprived of port assets which were originally built to serve all-Union trades but are now located in other republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Major reforms are required to streamline the provision of port services and the ports' commercial performance. The Russian Government took several steps in 1992 which effectively put the national water transport carriers on a commercial footing. The effect has been that many carriers chose to leave the national transport scence and engage in trades which do not include Russia. The Government is now confronted with the need to reduce dependence on foreign-owned vessels and to modernize the national merchant fleet. Difficult policy decisions have to reverse these trends so that national maritime industry asstes become more available to meet the country's needs.     

伦敦国际航运服务集群的发展研究

伦敦依然是为国际航运界提供广泛商业服务的全球领先中心,在介绍伦敦国际航运服务集群概况基础上,从十年间航运服务的国际份额、就业人数和海外收入三个方面,通过评价矩阵、联系矩阵、比例关系矩阵和自我中心分析伦敦国际航运服务的关联和结构,发现以船舶经纪为核心,密切联系保险经纪、海事法律、船舶检验和船舶融资的集群视图,提出伦敦国际航运服务集群关键在于航运服务的发展统计、推广促进、教育研究和专业机构,为我国进一步建设和发展国际航运中心提供有益的参考和借鉴。     

海事赔偿责任限制的法律适用

由于各国关于海事赔偿责任限制的法律规定不一样,因此,在涉外海事赔偿责任限制法律关系中就需要进行法律选择,以确定所应适用的法律。国际社会关于海事赔偿责任限制的法律适用主要有适用法院地法、适用侵权行为地法、适用船旗国法、适用最密切联系原则几种立法模式,中国《海商法》关于海事赔偿责任限制的法律适用宜规定为:海事赔偿责任限制适用船旗国法,若海事赔偿责任限制与其他国家的法律有更密切联系,则适用其他国家的法律。     

The impact of port and trade security initiatives on maritime supply-chain management

The fundamental objective of the Container Security Initiative (CSI) is to engage both so-called 'mega-ports' (ports sending the highest volume of ocean going container traffic into the US) and the national governments where these ports are located in a way that will facilitate the pre-screening of outbound containers destined to the US. The emerging issue of security as a key factor in global supply chains can be perceived as inconsistent with the objective of facilitating international trade (Dulbecco and Laporte, 2003). However, this perception does not stand up to analysis. Security is an evident part of the mainstream supply-chain paradigm while security can also become a driver for trade facilitation. The purpose of this paper is therefore to discuss the impact of the US CSI on maritime supply chains. The first section will mostly be related to the issue of security and supply chains while the second section will investigate CSI and its impact while exploring some of the financing implications of the security initiative.     

基于WEB-ECDIS的航标信息发布系统

随着现代信息技术、计算机网络技术的发展,在海上交通运输领域,为解决各涉海部门之间的信息孤岛问题,应用互联网实现海上交通信息发布与共享将是一有效的技术途经。本文利用成熟的网络地理信息技术和GeoBeans5.5工具软件,建立了基于WEB-ECDIS的航标信息发布系统,它是在Internet或Intranet网络环境下的一种兼容、存储、处理、分析和显示与应用航标实时空间信息的WEBGIS系统。用户可以在互联网上借助通用的网络浏览器,浏览、查询和获取基于电子海图空间数据与动态航标属性数据。本文从技术的角度,对系统做了简要的介绍。     

Economic incentives for maritime shipping relating to climate protection

This paper aims to analyze the various policy options for addressing greenhouse gas emissions from international maritime shipping, with an emphasis on the use of economic instruments. The economic incentives provided for the industry are categorized and examined with regard to their effectiveness for climate protection purposes. An analysis of the potential use of market-based mechanisms for the shipping sector follows alongside with the review and evaluation of the various proposals for a Maritime Emissions Trading Scheme that are submitted to the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization and are currently under consideration. The importance of the adoption of a maritime global cap-and-trade scheme for climate change mitigation is particularly emphasized. Within this context, it is also considered whether the possible introduction of economic incentive measures on a broader (regional or global) level may cause problems of implementation and how these obstacles can be overcome.     

全球典型中转港发展格局、特征及趋势研究

全球海运的发展催生出以转运货物形式服务于周边区域和远洋运输的中转港,它们在全球贸易及运输体系中占据重要地位,形成了明显的特征格局。在中转港形成因素及分类研究的基础上,总结全球范围中转港发展格局和发展特征,探讨不同区域中转港的发展趋势。结果表明,当前全球航运格局重心在亚太地区,国际中转港主要分布在远东-西欧-北美主航线,而扼守关键区位则容易催生出中转大港。同时,未来各区域的中转港发展将随着经济全球化与国际贸易的深入发展而变动,并受船舶大型化、服务软环境等显著影响。     

The impact of transitional changes of maritime passenger transport on Croatian tourism development

At the beginning of the nineties, Croatia witnessed the collapse of communism, arrival of democracy, a war of national survival and the launch of the transition. Extraordinarily under these circumstances, tourism has become one of the most propulsive economic activities in Croatia. To preserve this prosperous industry, one must consider the variables that affect Croatian tourism. Research shows that maritime passenger transport has a substantial influence upon seashore tourism improvement. This mode not only represents a sizable share of international tourism transport, but often provides the only access to island tourism destinations. This paper provides an analysis of the impact of the transitional changes of maritime passenger transport on Croatian tourism development. Following a brief examination of the functions of maritime transport within tourism, the paper focuses on: composition of Croatian fleets, potential opportunities in local and international markets, and structural reforms required to increase the quality of Croatian maritime passenger services. Commercialization programmes are significantly important as Croatia prepares to enter the EU, and open up its markets to free competition.     

The impact of transitional changes of maritime passenger transport on Croatian tourism development

At the beginning of the nineties, Croatia witnessed the collapse of communism, arrival of democracy, a war of national survival and the launch of the transition. Extraordinarily under these circumstances, tourism has become one of the most propulsive economic activities in Croatia. To preserve this prosperous industry, one must consider the variables that affect Croatian tourism. Research shows that maritime passenger transport has a substantial influence upon seashore tourism improvement. This mode not only represents a sizable share of international tourism transport, but often provides the only access to island tourism destinations. This paper provides an analysis of the impact of the transitional changes of maritime passenger transport on Croatian tourism development. Following a brief examination of the functions of maritime transport within tourism, the paper focuses on: composition of Croatian fleets, potential opportunities in local and international markets, and structural reforms required to increase the quality of Croatian maritime passenger services. Commercialization programmes are significantly important as Croatia prepares to enter the EU, and open up its markets to free competition.     

EU maritime transport

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the European maritime transport policy within the context of maritime politics at large. At the outset the legal framework conditions and supportive instruments for the shipping and port industries are presented. Against the background of recent accidents at sea, such as the sinking of ERIKA and PRESTIGE, the EU legislation on maritime safety is of particular interest as it is both complex and rapid in reaction to environmental needs and political pressure. Finally, the sensible relationship between the EU as a regional organization and the IMO as “the competent international organization” is discussed with a view to reconcile possible rivalry and to suggest a complementary cooperation between the two organizations.     

The changing economic impacts of the port of New York

This paper investigates the economic effects of maritime trade through the Port of New York on the New York metropolitan region. It decomposes the impacts associated with the trans-shipment of waterborne exports and imports in 1977 and 1987 into those arising from the changing tonnage of trade and those attributable to the changing commodity mix. Input-output analysis is used to calculate the numbers of jobs, personal and business incomes, and output which arise from each effect. Finally, it examines the impacts on specfic industries and occupations in the region.     

未来国际海事公约的发展趋势与影响

国际海事公约呈现出新的发展趋势,这些新的发展趋势必将对世界海事活动产生直接的影响。文中首先介绍了目前国际海事公约的发展情况,分析了未来国际海事公约的发展趋势及其对世界各国的影响,最后提出了我国应对未来国际海事公约的几点建议。     

Testing port choice models using physical and monetary data: a comparative case study for the Spanish container trades

ABSTRACT

Transport costs are useful explanatory variables in port choice research. Nevertheless, the availability of such information usually poses a problem. Thus, the formulation of an alternative approach, to be used as a proxy of these variables, would be desirable. The objective of this study is to improve the analysis of container port choice using logit models by adopting physical non-monetary indicators based on maritime distance and ship size. The statistical tests of logit models on port choice using these new variables are compared with the result of using cost variables for the same data set of choice positions. The statistical outcome is good and allows us to present this new approach as a contribution to the literature on port choice modeling.     

Global maritime domain awareness: a sustainable development perspective

The International Maritime Organization defines maritime domain awareness as the effective understanding of any activity that could impact upon the security, safety, economy or environment. The traditional approach to manage it is based on state sovereignty over national territorial waters where authorities exercise their responsibilities within the defined specific area. Lately, new issues of transboundary dimension (i.e. piracy, overfishing, pollution) are changing the high seas from an open space governed by the rule of freedom into a common domain requiring new governance approach to manage its complex international problems. This paper investigates the use of sustainable development methodology to explore governance solutions within the socio-technical domain of maritime awareness. The outcome suggests that the use of sustainable development tools can and should be used to support the development and implementation of cooperative governance models which are more appropriate for creating global maritime domain awareness than the traditional state-centric and sector-based models. A modelling diagram for potential governance framework under International Maritime Organization’s leadership is included.     

Modelling with joint choice of ports and countries of origin and destination: application to Colombian ports

Literature has focused on studying port choice independently or as an element of a supply chain without considering the joint selection with the country of origin/destination of the imports/exports. However, the characteristics and location of a port may make it more attractive to mobilise more freight from/to some particular countries rather than others, making the port choice decision dependent on the country of origin/destination of the cargo. This article proposes advanced econometric models to evaluate simultaneously port choice and the country of origin/destination choice for Colombian imports and exports. Findings suggest that for imports and exports domestic freight rate is the most important variable for the joint choice process. Also, for exports, maritime transit time is more relevant than for imports, while for the frequency of shipping lines the opposite is true. The existence of a trade agreement and the gross domestic product per capita also have a significant influence on the election of a country for exports/imports.