Risk management methods for the liner shipping industry: the case of the Bunker Adjustment Factor

Through the implementation of the Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF), a shipowner is able to transfer the risk of fuel price fluctuation to the shipper. This and other surcharges are generally undesired by shippers who must pay this fee. The research presented provides an alternative method of risk management that is more effective than the current method, while responding to customer service demands for simplified tariffs. By strategic use of commodity futures, the shipowner is able to better reduce his/her risk exposure, transferring it to willing parties at the futures exchanges, thereby eliminating the need for the bunker surcharge.     

船东风险评估及实证研究

船东风险是造船企业面临的主要风险之一.船东风险持续时间长、发生的后果对造船企业造成的损失大,并且由于受航运市场波动的影响,具有很大的不确定性,因此船东风险评估成为造船企业风险决策的重要依据.在建立船东主要风险体系的基础上,应用模糊层次分析法建立船东风险评估模型,通过调研我国某家厂的国外船东A,应用建立的船东风险评估模型对其进行风险评估,并对该船东的风险进行了分析.基于模糊层次分析的船东风险评估模型,将对船东风险的模糊判断转化成风险数值,以直观的形式将船东风险及影响船东风险内外部特征的评估值呈现出来,为船厂对船东风险分析与接单决策提供技术支持,具有普遍意义.     

The concept of “shipowner” under new maritime labor law (MLC, 2006): does the shipowner own the ship? (comparative analysis of national law of Denmark,Finland, Germany,Norway, and the United Kingdom)

The identification of the responsible shipowner is essential for seafarers in order to claim payments and compensation in respect of their employment on board a ship. Often this may be difficult because of corporate arrangements and the many intermediaries traditionally involved in ship operation. The Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC, 2006), adopted by the International Labour Conference (ILC) 94th (Maritime) Session in 2006, entered into force on August 2013; it significantly affects the shipowner’s responsibility in respect to seafarers’ employment. Taking into account the mentioned issue, the article examines the concept of “shipowner” under the MLC, 2006 and presents comparative analysis of the relevant national law implementing the MLC, 2006 in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom.     

融资租赁船舶安全监管的探讨

通过对融资租赁船舶安全工作现状的分析,就提高船舶所有人安全意识,提升事故风险的防范水平,丰富对此类船舶的安全与防污染管理提出了建议。     

三峡船闸智能自动化运行方式的可行性研究

目前三峡船闸南北两线运行方式为集控半自动运行方式,人为因素在船闸运行安全中占比较高。为了规避人为因素在船闸运行中带来的风险,提高船闸的可靠性和安全性,研究连续多级船闸的智能自动化运行方法。船闸智能化自动运行系统主要由3个部分组成,包括船方确认、船闸闸室自动监测和集控监测。对船闸智能化运行方式实施方法和3个部分的选择进行探讨。     

The implications of piracy on marine insurance: some considerations for the shipowner

A prominent feature of modern day piracy is the ransom that is demanded for the safe release of the ship, cargo and crew. The recent upsurge of this type of piracy, in areas of the world that are of strategic importance to the shipping industry, has created many challenges for shipowners, underwriters and the law relating to marine insurance. The aim of this paper is to examine how the marine insurance market is being affected by the threat of modern day piracy, and seeks to identify the options that are available for the recovery of a ransom payment by the shipowner. Moreover, this study aims to identify the legal issues that might prevent a shipowner from recovering a ransom payment under an insurance policy or from the other interests in a common adventure. The study establishes that a reasonably made ransom payment by the shipowner will amount to an extraordinary expense that is taken to minimise or avert a loss. Such an act can generally be recovered under the insurance policy as a sue and labour expense or from other interests in the common adventure as a general average expense. However, illegality, unseaworthiness and exemption clauses in a marine policy are identified as being legal issues that may prevent a shipowner from recovering the ransom payment. Some of these problems may be overcome if clauses are carefully drafted to specifically cater for modern day piracy in a marine insurance policy. Several inconsistencies may also be resolved by transferring the piracy peril to war risks cover. The shipowner’s duty is to respond to the changing circumstances, by ensuring that his vessel is sufficiently equipped and the crew is properly trained to resist a hijacking.     

An analysis of the Brazilian ship financing system

The Brazilian ship financing system has some unique features. The funds made available to finance the construction and acquisition of ships are sourced from a tax on import and cabotage freight, payable by the shippers. For Brazilian flagged ships, a portion of the tax generated can be used for the payment of loan instalments. This paper analyses the impact of the tax on the economy as a whole, and discusses the distribution of the tax burden between the shipowner and the shipper, taking into account the maritime transport demand elasticities in Brazil. The paper also analyses the effectiveness of the financing system in reducing the capital cost to shipowner, and the distortion effects produced by the utilization of the tax in loan repayments. The conclusion is that there are important distortions that may threaten the recovery of the maritime industry in Brazil.     

船东在印尼港口装煤的风险与防范之道

近年来随着印尼煤炭出口量的大幅增长,越来越多的船东加入了印尼航线的煤炭运输队伍,但也愈加频繁地听闻船东在印尼港口装货时不愉快的遭遇,为此,笔者结合自身实践之心得,从合同谈判到执行的一系列过程来分析在印尼港口装煤可能存在的风险并提出相应的防范之道。     

FPSO管路气体压力试验爆炸分析及安全规避措施应用

浮式生产储卸油装置(Floating Production Storage and Offloading,FPSO)管路系统具有特殊性,即个别管路系统必须采用气体压力试验.由于该试验危险性较高,危及人身及财产安全,因此展开具体分析.通过实地考察、管路分析、爆炸分析、精确安全隔离距离计算、工艺编制等举措,达到船舶所有人、...     

A portfolio approach to strategic chartering decisions

Modern management techniques are slowly but surely being introduced aslo in shipping management. Large sections of the industry practises strategic management at various levels in the firm. This paper outlines a method for deciding chartering strategies in the international bulk shipping industry. A well known risk/return model is tailored to transportation contracts in the shipping industry. The model delineates a set of optimally defined transportation contracts that may serve as a basis for the shipowner's strategic decisions. The strategies and elements of strategies suggested by the model have historically been practised by a number of successful shipowners. An important conclusion of the paper is that no second best problems exists and hence movement towarts the optimal solution is advocated even if such a solution cannot or will not be reached. Additionally, the paper provides an organized way of crafting, analysing and applying chartering strategies where the outcomes can be clearly defined and analysed based on well known statistical concepts and theories.     

深化细化优化船体分段施工图设计探讨

介绍了船体分段施工图设计内容 ,详细叙述了深化细化优化船体分段施工图设计的具体方法和相关措施 ,以及如何与船东及施工单位配合 ,以达到理想的预期效果     

Minnows And Sharks - Survival Of The Fittest

The Brazilian ship financing system has some unique features. The funds made available to finance the construction and acquisition of ships are sourced from a tax on import and cabotage freight, payable by the shippers. For Brazilian flagged ships, a portion of the tax generated can be used for the payment of loan instalments. This paper analyses the impact of the tax on the economy as a whole, and discusses the distribution of the tax burden between the shipowner and the shipper, taking into account the maritime transport demand elasticities in Brazil. The paper also analyses the effectiveness of the financing system in reducing the capital cost to shipowner, and the distortion effects produced by the utilization of the tax in loan repayments. The conclusion is that there are important distortions that may threaten the recovery of the maritime industry in Brazil.     

Multi-criteria analysis of decision-making by international commercial banks for providing shipping loans

This research investigates the underwriting attitude of international commercial banks in lending shipping loans. By adopting the analytic hierarchical process methodology, the underwriting attitude is captured to understand how bankers would deal with shipping loans in response to the current lengthy recession. We find that bankers focus on the criteria of corporate recourse (CR) in their decision-makings. Of the CR factors, the financial strength of shipowner is the most important factor, followed by the shipowner’s business history and the bank–firm relationship. With the current underwriting attitude, the shipping sector may have limited access to shipping loans of international commercial banks due to low corporate ratings caused by the long recession and the nature of industry itself: volatility, fragmentation, capital intensity, high leverage, etc.     

) and annual payments (a) is a follows:

Modern management techniques are slowly but surely being introduced aslo in shipping management. Large sections of the industry practises strategic management at various levels in the firm. This paper outlines a method for deciding chartering strategies in the international bulk shipping industry. A well known risk/return model is tailored to transportation contracts in the shipping industry. The model delineates a set of optimally defined transportation contracts that may serve as a basis for the shipowner's strategic decisions. The strategies and elements of strategies suggested by the model have historically been practised by a number of successful shipowners. An important conclusion of the paper is that no second best problems exists and hence movement towarts the optimal solution is advocated even if such a solution cannot or will not be reached. Additionally, the paper provides an organized way of crafting, analysing and applying chartering strategies where the outcomes can be clearly defined and analysed based on well known statistical concepts and theories.     

Offering refuge is better than refusing

Historically, there is a long tradition of granting vessels in distress a place of refuge, particularly for humanitarian reasons, but more recently there has been a growing apprehension of coastal states to grant refuge. This apprehension has mostly centred upon the risk of pollution damage. The liability of the shipowner for damage to third parties, the existing liability regimes and the sufficiency of the existing compensation mechanisms, particularly bearing in mind the shipowner’s right to limit liability are reviewed. Against this background the paper analyses different options of decision making regarding whether refuge is granted or not. The conclusion is that the interests of the coastal state and the vessel need to be balanced against each other and that that balance in the majority of situations should result in gran ting a place of refuge.     

Combination hedging strategies for crude oil and dry bulk freight rates on the impacts of dynamic cross-market interaction

The fluctuation of freight rates revenue and the fierce volatility of oil cost are two of the most key risk exposures in the shipping industry. However, neglecting the dynamic interrelationship between the cost and the revenue markets leads to the overestimation or underestimation of hedging ratios, which makes the present single hedge strategy less efficient. This paper proposes an optimal combination hedging model for a shipowner trading the derivatives of crude oil and dry bulk freight rates simultaneously with the cross-market economic linkages. We investigate the impacts of spillover transmission, structural breaks, and dynamic conditional correlations (DCCs) on the optimal combination hedging trading. It is found that the significant volatility transmission between oil future and dry bulk forward freight agreements suggests a high dependence of the Capesize sector on the oil fluctuations, which means that the dynamic cross-market interactions have significant impacts on the aggregate risk exposures. Furthermore, the DCCs incorporating structural breaks significantly improve the performance of the combination hedge, which is superior to the two separate hedging strategies. Our study offers new insights into how the freight rates and oil markets relate to a combination hedging, which can be used to promote the risk management in the market.     

关于船员劳务合同中优先权问题的探讨

针对船员劳务合同中优先权问题进行了探讨,指出在船员与船舶所有人没有劳动合同的情况下,船员仍对劳动报酬享有船舶优先权;船员劳动服务机构就船员工资及船员人身伤亡不享有船舶优先权。     

Shipboard safety: exploring organizational and regulatory factors

ABSTRACT

How vessel crews perceive safety on board (shipboard safety) is a useful indication for the general safety level. In this study a theoretical model was explored, involving factors that could possibly influence shipboard safety. Based on a survey questionnaire (n = 244), safety climate, shipowner efficiency demands and regulatory activities were investigated as influencing factors. Structural equation modelling gave support to the theoretical model and the findings illustrate that simultaneous involvement of various levels of the maritime system (crews, shipowners, regulators) can be effective for safety improvements. The study indicates that shipboard safety is affected by actions and prioritization by external actors through safety climate. It suggests that the maritime industry will profit from monitoring safety climate as part of the ongoing risk considerations, as a supplement to reactive parameters such as accident statistics.     

2 750 TEU集装箱船中央空调系统设计

以舟山扬帆集团2 750 TEU集装箱船的详细设计为背景,在介绍中央空调系统的基础上,阐述了为满足船东要求在应急情况下对空调系统内部封闭循环运行的设计,并估算了内部封闭循环的容许时间.     

De-manning the fleet: federal government reforms and Australia's shipping debate

Australia's merchant fleet underwent a delayed response to the trends responsible for the attrition of the OECD fleets over the past decades. A combination of political factors and the heritage of protectionism led to centrally-directed and government-sponsored programmes of modernization. Essentially, compliance with the federal government's shipping policy was achieved through the linkage of reform to tax incentives and to the management of change by tripartite shipowner, government and trade union committees. This paper explores the basic pattern of the reforms, their costings, assessment and policy alternatives.