Estimating demand variables of maritime container transport: An aggregate procedure for the Mediterranean area

Demand variables of maritime container transport (throughput, transhipment and origin–destination flows) may be estimated with freight demand models. As their parameters generally vary both in time and space, models may not be transferable to geographical areas and time periods differing from that for which they are calibrated.     

Mass balance of trace metals in the Adriatic Sea

A first order mass balance of six different trace metals (Mn, Fe, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni) was presented for a 1-year period for the different compartments of the Adriatic Sea: compartment 1 (northern Adriatic Sea), compartment 2 (central Adriatic Sea and surface layer of the southern Adriatic Sea) and compartment 3 (deep water of the southern Adriatic Sea). The Adriatic Sea appeared to be a source of dissolved Cu, Mn and Fe for the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Otranto whereas for dissolved Zn and Pb the Adriatic Sea appeared to be a net sink. For dissolved Ni, inputs and outputs through the Strait of Otranto balanced each other. The residence times of all metals in compartment 1 were significantly shorter than that of water indicating significant removal. In compartments 2 and 3, residence times of Mn and Fe were relatively short suggesting removal from the water column whereas for the other metals their residence times were similar to that of water. Calculations of turnover times of metals with respect to different processes showed that in compartments 1 and 2, sedimentation was the main process that affected the content of the reservoirs whereas in compartment 3, the water flux exchanges played an important role for Zn, Cu and Ni.Most of the metals clearly undergo a very dynamic cycle of sedimentation/remobilization particularly in the Northern Adriatic Sea. In the northern Adriatic Sea, most of the Mn and Fe in deposited sediment were remobilized. This was related to diagenetic processes involving the utilisation and solubilisation of Mn and Fe oxides, which occur in the surface of the sediment in the northern Adriatic Sea. In the central Adriatic Sea, remobilization of Mn and Fe was less than in the northern Adriatic Sea, suggesting that diagenesis processes appear deeper in the sediment. Advective transport of sediment was a major source of metals for the deep basin. As much as 80% of the sediments in the South Adriatic Pit might be advected from the shelf. Remobilization fluxes in the South Adriatic Pit were significantly less than in the Northern and Central Adriatic Sea reflecting hemi-pelagic sediments.     

集装箱货运仿真模型在珠三角港港口投资方案评估(英文)

In the Pearl River Delta (PRD), there is severe competition between container ports, particularly those in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, for collecting international maritime container cargo. In addition, the second phase of the Nansha terminal in Guangzhou’s port and the first phase of the Da Chang Bay container terminal in Shenzhen opened last year. Under these circumstances, there is an increasing need to quantitatively measure the impact these infrastructure investments have on regional cargo flows. The analysis should include the effects of container terminal construction, berth deepening, and access road construction. The authors have been developing a model for international cargo simulation (MICS) which can simulate the movement of cargo. The volume of origin-destination (OD) container cargo in the East Asian region was used as an input, in order to evaluate the effects of international freight transportation policies. This paper focuses on the PRD area and, by incorporating a more detailed network, evaluates the impact of several infrastructure investment projects on freight movement.     

Some current aspects of marketing in the near-sea ferry and liner trades with particular reference to the lrish Sea

The marketing of ferry services has almost unique characteristics but little literature exists in this field. This paper is the result of a preliminary investigation, based on a series of interviews, into some current aspects of marketing on the Irish Sea. The study considers three services types: container; freight only; ro-ro and multi-purpose ro-ro.

The complementarity, or otherwise, of carrying passengers and freight together is debated, as is the organizational conflict or confusion that may arise from this type of operation. The need to adopt different marketing strategies in the freight and passenger markets is derived from consumers' different buying behaviours. The sometimes contentious relationship between product differentiation and market segmentation strategies is explored and definitions provided. Both market coverage and specialization strategies are found in the ro-ro industries and the more competitive segments are identified. Using 'purpose of travel' as the basis for segmentation, potential growth segments of the passenger market are identified. The marketing strategies employed by the freight industry are less apparent, although segmentation does seem to play a major role in the identification of target markets.

The study indicates the extent to which shipping companies on the Irish Sea have adopted the marketing concept and that scope still exists for them to make greater use of this fundamental business philosophy.     

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.     

从“GOLDEN ROSE”案看烟大航线的监管

这片水域俨然已经取代老铁山水道和成山角水域成为北方海域最为危险的区域,进一步考虑到烟大航线有众多的客滚船航行,一旦发生客船碰撞事故,后果将不堪设想。如何看待及评估这片水域的危险性,如何对该区域实施有效监管是摆在海事部门面前迫切需要研究和解决的问题。     

Monetary values of transport service attributes: land versus maritime ro-ro transport. An application using adaptive stated preferences

The objective of this work is that of illustrating a methodology to derive, in terms of trade-offs, the relative values of transport service attributes for logistics operators. In particular, the analysis yields insights on the preferences for time-savings, frequency and reliability of the transport service in terms of price, of a sample of freight forwarders located in the South of Italy. The data is gathered using an Adaptive Stated Preference application and the estimates are obtained through a Tobit ML estimator on both company specific data and pooled data. The results show that frequency is the most highly rated characteristic of the service together with reliability. The value of time is significantly lower in both cases. The outcome is consistent across estimations and, substantially in line with the outcome of previous studies carried out on operators active at different levels of the transport-logistic chain. Until now, in fact, studies have been carried out uniquely on carriers or producers. The selection of freight forwarders allows to shed light on a segment of the market that accounts for more than half of the transport-related decisions. Furthermore, the present study focuses on a comparison between all land transport and maritime ro-ro alternatives, in line with the growing interest on the integration among transport modes. The output signals both the absence of any a priori preclusion for ro-ro maritime services and the extremely important role that frequency of service assumes for the development and the establishment of maritime services as realistic alternatives to all land transport.     

环日本海地区的航线优化研究

随着环日本海地区贸易往来的频繁,优化该地区航运网络结构,提升海运通达性,成为推动该地区经济发展的重要手段.因此,提出一个以航运企业利润最大为目标的航线网络优化模型.该模型综合考虑航线、船型与需求间的关系,以船舶的载重量为约束,优化航运企业的资源配置,设计航线及选择适宜船型.利用实际数据对该模型进行检验,结果显示,优化的航线网络以及确定船型在不同经济条件下有所差别,可为环日本海航线的开辟与运营提供借鉴.     

Maritime transport and international seaborne trade

Drawing upon over four decades of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Review of Maritime Transport, this article considers selected key trends that have shaped the maritime transportation of today. Over the review period, a fundamental shift in the geography of trade has been observed, with developing countries increasingly driving growth in the world economy and seaborne trade, and becoming important players in global value chains. The specialization of countries, including in developing regions, in the provision of the maritime goods and services for which they have established a comparative advantage constitutes another major trend, a move away from previous patterns where developing countries were typically users of maritime transport services. The article also observes that bilateral freight sharing agreements between countries which were prominent in 1970s have largely lost their practical relevance, leading to a further liberalization of markets and resulting in overall relatively lower freight costs.     

Themes and tools of maritime transport research during 2000-2014

This study examines how maritime transport has been researched through a comprehensive review of papers published in 19 transportation journals over the period 2000–2014. Systematic investigation shows that Maritime Policy & Management plays a prominent role in publishing maritime transport research. At the same time, ‘shipping’ is a dominant research area, with ‘port management, service, performance, efficiency and competitiveness’; ‘shipping market, industry, freight rate and economic impact’; and ‘terminal studies’ as the most popular topics. Nevertheless, few efforts have investigated ‘shipping finance’; ‘shipping service’; or ‘port risk and security.’ Since 2000, the use of quantitative analysis techniques has steadily increased in maritime transport to help participants make decisions scientifically. We here present the major data analysis techniques and highlight some limitations regarding their application. Thus, we provide a better understanding of how maritime transport research has been undertaken in a quantitative manner.     

基于层次分析法的东海二桥建设方案模型

洋山港二期正式投入运营,东海二桥也正在规划当中,关于东海二桥的建铁路桥、公路桥还是公路铁路两用桥的争议一直没有停止过,不同的专家给出了不同的答案。本文在分析影响东海二桥建设方案选取的通过能力、投资额、营运安全和环保等四个因素的基础上,通过建立层次分析模型并求解,得出东海二桥最佳建设方案。     

Challenges to implementing motorways of the sea concept—lessons from the past

Establishing a European wide high-quality shipping links and integrating them with the trans-European Transport networks has been the vision of the European Commission (EC) to reduce land transport congestion under the Motorways of the Sea (MoS) concept. However, in spite of strong political backing and favourable policy initiatives, MoS projects have met with limited success. Establishing MoS is complex because of its international scope and involvement of a number of public and private stakeholders with conflicting objectives and goals. The paper attempts to identify critical factors for establishing viable MoS projects. The paper reviews the development of the MoS concept to understand the expectations of the EC and the concerns of the important stakeholders. The present status of these policy actions is reviewed and their possible effect on the performance of MoS projects is estimated. Case studies of short sea shipping initiatives in different parts of Europe and the world are reviewed to learn from their successes and failures. This knowledge is applied to find critical factors for the success of MoS projects in the European context.     

On the fresh balance of the Adriatic Sea

The long-term mean fresh water balance of the Adriatic Sea is studied by ananalysing evaporation, precipitation and river runoff. Evaporation is computed from May latent heat flux and by means of bulk formula. In the latter case two wind speed data sets are used, namely those from the NMC and May. The sea surface temperature is taken from a historical Adriatic data set, and the air temperature and relative humidity come from the NMC data set. Two precipitation data sets are considered, namely the Legates and Willmott climatology and a data set consisting of data measured at 62 rain-gauge stations located on the Adriatic coasts. Runoff contribution to the fresh water balance is estimated from the long-term average flow rates of 39 rivers and the horizontal distribution of salinity in the upper mixed layer.The spatial distribution of the fresh water balance, as well as of its components, is analysed by means of monthly objective maps, from which averages and standard deviations are computed. The results obtained from the different computations are not always univocal, particularly in the evaluation of Summer evaporation, and are affected by relatively large statistical errors. Significant spatial and seasonal variability occurs, with a noticeable fresh water gain along the coastline of the northern and middle basins, while small areas of fresh water loss are found in the middle and southern basins. Nevertheless, on an annual basis, the difference between the fresh water losses by evaporation and the gains by precipitation and runoff is clearly negative, indicating that, unlike the whole Mediterranean, the Adriatic Sea is generally a dilution basin.     

A Mean Dynamic Topography of the Mediterranean Sea computed from altimetric data, in-situ measurements and a general circulation model

In the Mediterranean Sea, where the mean circulation is largely unknown and characterized by smaller scales and less intensity than in the open ocean, the interpretation of altimetric Sea Level Anomalies (SLA) is rather difficult. In the context of operational systems such as MFS (Mediterranean Forecasting System) or MERCATOR, that assimilate the altimetric information, the estimation of a realistic Mean Dynamic Topography (MDT) consistent with altimetric SLA to be used to reconstruct absolute sea level is a crucial issue. A method is developed here to estimate the required MDT combining oceanic observations as altimetric and in-situ measurements and outputs from an ocean general circulation model (OGCM).In a first step, the average over the 1993–1999 period of dynamic topography outputs from MFS OGCM provides a first guess for the computation of the MDT. Then, in a second step, drifting buoy velocities and altimetric data are combined using a synthetic method to obtain local estimates of the mean geostrophic circulation which are then used to improve the first guess through an inverse technique and map the MDT field (hereafter the Synthetic Mean Dynamic Topography or SMDT) on a 1/8° resolution grid.Many interesting current patterns and cyclonic/anticyclonic structures are visible on the SMDT obtained. The main Mediterranean coastal currents are well marked (as the Algerian Current or the Liguro–Provenço–Catalan Current). East of the Sicily channel, the Atlantic Ionian Stream divides into several main branches crossing the Ionian Sea at various latitudes before joining at 19°E into a unique Mid-Mediterranean Jet. Also, strong signatures of the main Mediterranean eddies are obtained (as for instance the Alboran gyre, the Pelops, Ierapetra, Mersa-Matruh or Shikmona anticyclones and the Cretan, Rhodes or West Cyprius cyclones). Independent in-situ measurements from Sea Campaigns NORBAL in the North Balearic Sea and the North Tyrrhenian Sea and SYMPLEX in the Sicily channel are used to validate locally the SMDT: deduced absolute altimetric dynamic topography compares well with in-situ observations. Finally, the SMDT is used to compute absolute altimetric maps in the Alboran Sea and the Algerian Current. The use of absolute altimetric signal allows to accurately follow the formation and propagation of cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies in both areas.     

Eastern/Western European shipping companies and multimodal transport operations

The purpose of this article is to discuss the current developments in multimodal cargo flows in North European freight transports from Eastern and Western European shipping companies' point of view. Four types of options were identified for shipping companies in multimodal transport operations, namely: (i) the full service operator option, (ii) the feeder operator option in container trades, (iii) the ro-ro operator option, and (iv) the ferry operator option. Option (i) requires a global transport network together with efficient information handling capabilities. This option can be reached by a limited number of mega-carriers. The scope of investment and know-how in this option is such that Eastern European operators are unlikely to achieve this level. In (ii), fleets from (or registered in) the former socialist countries have an advantage as low cost operators, provided that the quality of the operation conforms to principals' requirements. However, the supply side in the intra-European container feeder trades seems to be quite saturated, and new market shares will be very difficult to acquire in the 1990s. In ro-ro shortsea trades the major freight transport operators are well integrated into either freight forwarder driven arrangements (Sweden, Germany), or into major shippers (Finland). As providers of port-to-port transports for road-based cargoes, ferry operators continue to play an important part in international transports. However, the major incentive (and revenue) for passenger/car ferry operations is usually derived from consumers' vacational or travelling needs. Along with the ongoing transition process and a higher level of economic stability that is hopefully achieved in these countries, mergers and acquisitions by Western partners are likely to follow.     

桂林市综合运输服务体系研究

桂林市以区域交通枢纽为发展定位、建设国际旅游胜地为发展战略,未来将带来客货运量的稳步增长。针对由此对综合客货枢纽场站设施、运输服务所提出的更高需求,立足于桂林市经济社会发展和旅游城市特色,从综合客运枢纽、货物集疏运中心、运输服务信息共享、运输组织模式、运输服务工作机制、运输服务标准规范等方面进行系统研究,通过推进区域综合运输协同、城市内外交通协同、城乡客货运输协同,构建与桂林城市发展相适应的“衔接顺畅、服务优质、支撑有力、管理规范”的综合运输服务体系。     

A multi-criteria decision method for the analysis of the Motorways of the Sea: the application to the case of France and Spain on the Atlantic Coast

Despite European Union (EU) political support to identify the most feasible Motorways of the Sea, the final decision can only be made by Private Shipping Companies, which are operators of a unique stretch of the intermodal chain. This paper provides a multi-criteria decision method to identify the most suitable Motorways of the Sea taking into account the competitiveness of whole intermodal routes versus the alternative of road transport from the loader’s perspective. The analysis is carried out assuming a ‘many-to-many’ transport model. Firstly indexes of time and cost were defined and evaluated for every available route in the model in accordance with a multi-criteria decision matrix. Secondly, through a Monte Carlo simulation a sensitivity analysis was carried out in order to evaluate the influence on the results of the forecast assumed to construct the matrix. The results obtained are not only quantitative, but also qualitative. The development of intermodal routes via Motorways of the Sea is especially relevant for the peripheral EU countries. Due to the relevance of the freight flow between France and Spain and the congestion of their connections through the Pyrenees, the method proposed was applied to the analysis of this particular case     

An Overview of Spatial Management and Marine Protected Areas in the East China Sea

Marine ecosystems of the East China Sea are rich in biodiversity, with 12,933 species of which approximately 47.7% are endemic. As anthropogenic impacts are intensifying, fishery resources and biodiversity in the East China Sea are under threat from overfishing, habitat loss, pollution, and biological invasions. Marine protected areas (MPAs) and other spatial management measures are believed useful tools to protect and restore biological resources. Seventeen nature reserves, seven special marine reserves, and three fishery resource conservation zones covering a combined area of 102,156 km² have so far been established in the Chinese East China Sea in order to protect fishery resources, biodiversity, and marine landscapes. This article provides a review and inventory of MPAs in the Chinese East China Sea as implemented by the People's Republic of China.     

Evaluation of political risk in a shipping project

Shipping projects, as land-based ones, are evaluated by using different measures of merit based on discounted cash flows. The bulk carrying industry, where costs are known better than revenues, adopted the required freight rate (RFR) and its derivative the economic cost of transport (ECT) as its major measures of merit. Shipping is a business exposed to many unforeseen risks. Although many of these risks are beyond the control of the shipowners/operators, they should all be carefully weighed during the process of project selection designed for investment decisions. One such risk is the expropriation of shore-based facilities built by the shipping operator at one or more termini of the maritime distribution channel. The operator has to assess the value and probability of risk and translate them into a premium which he will levy on each unit of goods transported. Adding this premium to the required freight rate together with the inventory holding costs and marine insurance charges will produce the real economic cost of transport.