Port privatization,efficiency and competitiveness: Some empirical evidence from container ports (terminals)

Few studies have investigated the quantitative relationship between port ownership structure and port efficiency with mixed results. This study applies a stochastic frontier model proposed by Battese and Coelli [Battese, G.E., Coelli, T.J., 1995. A model for technique inefficiency effects in a stochastic frontier production function for panel data. Empirical Economics 20, 325–332], which incorporates the inefficiency effect, to show whether port privatization is a necessary strategy for ports to gain a competitive advantage. While this stochastic frontier model has been used to a wide number of industries where the technical inefficiency effect is required, this method has rarely been employed to port industry. This study also investigates the determinants of port competitiveness. Both the principal component analysis (PCA) and the linear regression model are used to examine the effects of identified key factors on port competitiveness. Based on a sample of selected container terminals around the world, the results of this study have shown that private sector participation in the port industry to some extent can improve port operation efficiency, which will in turn increase port competitiveness. Another important determinant of port competitiveness is the adaptability to the customers’ demand. All these results provide some policy implications and guidance for port authorities and port operators in formulating effective strategies to improve their competitiveness vis-à-vis rivals.     

Retrospect and prospect of public transit privatization in China

As the most populous country in the world with a heavy reliance on public transit, China's public transit privatization has a global significance. China's post‐Mao economic reform and establishment of market‐oriented economy have stimulated its public transit privatization at a very fast pace. The largest Chinese cities have been spearheading the implementation of different privatization measures, such as granting franchises, company merger, company reorganization, public/private partnership, responsibility systems, and many others. All these privatization efforts have yielded preliminary successful results, even though some obstacles are encountered. In the future, new privatization‐related laws are expected to be enacted, government functions and business functions would be further separated, privatizing other public transit services besides operation would take place, and some negative impacts associated with privatization would be mitigated.     

厦门港建设绿色港口途径探讨

发展绿色港口作为港口行业转变发展方式的重要措施,已成为现代港口发展的重要标志。本文根据绿色港口的内涵及厦门港的实际情况,从码头企业和厦门港口管理局两个层面分别提出了厦门港建设绿色港口的相关措施,以有效指导厦门港开展绿色港口的建设工作。     

Impacts of fuel quality on indoor environment onboard a ship: From policy to practice

Environmental considerations, concerning the negative impacts of ship exhaust gases and particles on ambient air quality, are behind the requirements of cleaner marine fuels currently applied in designated emission control areas (ECAs). We investigated the impact of a ship operating on two types of fuel on the indoor air quality onboard. Gaseous and particulate air pollutants were measured in the engine room and the accommodation sections on-board an icebreaker operating first on Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO, 1%-S), and later Marine Diesel Oil (MDO, 0.1%-S). Statistically significant decrease of SO₂, NOx, PM_2.5 and particle number concentration were observed when the ship was operating on MDO. Due to the higher content of alkylated PAHs in MDO compared to HFO, the concentration of PAHs increased during operation on MDO. The particulate PAHs classified as carcinogens, were similar to or lower in the MDO campaign. Chemical analysis of PM_2.5 revealed that the particles consisted mainly of organic carbon and sulfate, although the fraction of metals was quite large in particles from the engine room. Principal Component Analysis of all measured parameters showed a clear difference between HFO and MDO fuel on the indoor environmental quality on-board the ship. This empirical study poses a first example on how environmental policy-making impacts not only the primary target at a global level, but also brings unexpected localized benefits at workplace level. The study emphasizes the need of further investigations on the impact of new marine fuels and technologies on the indoor air environments on board.     

Port facilities and the international coal market

This study examines the relationship between the increased demand for U.S. coal in the early 1980s, and the coal pier congestion that accompanied and hampered it. We find an export price elasticity for U.S. coal of -16.7, and a port service price elasticity of -0.8, suggesting deadweight losses of approximately $4 million per month. We then separate the short-term from the long-term changes in the demand for U.S. coal exports. The long-term demand estimates predict increases of 77% in U.S. coal exports, compared to the actual 83% increase in shipping capacity provided by coal shippers.     

广西电子口岸建设与应用

广西凭祥市友谊关口岸是广西连接越南最主要的陆路口岸。文章介绍了广西电子口岸联检核放系统的主要特点、总体结构和运行准备工作,分析了系统管理流程及优缺点,并对广西电子口岸建设当前所取得的经验进行了总结。     

Modelling emission control taxes in port areas and port privatization levels in port competition and co-operation sub-games

Using a game theory approach, this paper analyses a situation in which the government imposes a certain emission tax on vessels and port operations for emission control in port areas. Two ports are considered: a purely private port and a landlord (partial public) port. These two ports are in Cournot or Bertrand competition or cooperation with differentiated service. Our model outcomes lead to the following conclusions. First, the optimal private level of port 2 under Cournot and Bertrand competitions varies between fully private and highly public concerned port, while government will prefer a highly public concerned or close to highly public concerned port in the cooperation scenario. Second, government will have to make more and stricter efforts to enhance environmental protection in the situation of port cooperation (monopoly) than in the case of inter-port competition, and all the optimal emission tax should be always lower than the marginal emission damage. Third, port privatization has a non-monotonous effect on ports’ environmental damage in the inter-port competition scenarios and a monotonous decreasing effect in the cooperation scenario. Fourth, the total emission tax revenue is always higher than the overall environmental damage in the cooperative scenario, and it may or may not be able to cover the whole environment damage in Cournot and Bertrand competitions. Finally, the government may face a trade-off among environmental protection, maximizing social welfare, satisfying individual motivation, when considering port cooperation (monopoly).     

A fuzzy multicriteria model to evaluate the privatization of the public bus operations

A double model based on fuzzy synthetic decision and a fuzzy multicriteria decision is presented for this study. In a basic level decision, we use a fuzzy synthetic decision to reduce the sub-criteria calculation work. In a higher level decision, the approximation reasoning allows the decision maker to make his best choice. These methods are more in accordance with the thinking processes of the human mind when complex issues are involved. Therefore, this paper will use a fuzzy linguistic approach, instead of the traditional approach to avoid the interference of the numerical estimates for weight and performance of alternatives. In the end, a heuristic algorithm for the evaluating process is developed and demonstrated in a case study.     

Port Administrative Structure Change Worldwide: Its Implication for Restructuring Port Authorities in Taiwan

Abstract

This paper aims to review the evolution of the port authority’s role and recent changes in port administrative structure worldwide, and to discuss its implication for restructuring Taiwanese port authorities. It is found that the port authority is expected to play a proactive role in strategically managing overall port operations, and aggressively market its ports to port customers with a view to increasing cargo throughput and economic growth in its region. The change in the port authority’s role has driven a change in port administrative management structure worldwide. The proposed restructuring of port authorities in Taiwan is accompanied by some potential pitfalls. These include that the legislative framework of the programme is driven by political rather than professional concerns, and the port authority’s dual role as a regulator and as an operator at ports is against the principles of ‘separation of port administration (regulatory functions) and business management’ recently adopted worldwide. These pitfalls can impede the achievement of the objectives, including directing port authorities towards becoming independent commercially oriented entities. Therefore, this paper recommends that port corporatization approach will be a good alternative for restructuring Taiwanese port authorities.     

百色港总体规划探讨

百色港属于典型的河谷型内河港口,文章介绍了该港口的地理位置、区位优势及存在的问题,阐述了其规划原则与思路,提出了岸线规划、港区规划的具体方案,并总结了规划成果特点,为同类型港口的规划工作提供借鉴。     

网格化管理模式在港口设施管理中的应用

正随着港口规模不断快速增长,港口基础设施日趋完善,公共设施运营管理的重要性、复杂性更加凸显。由于港区管理线长面广、设施复杂、管理体制机制的影响,传统公共设施管理方面普遍存在信息滞后、管理被动、粗放等问题。有鉴于此,天津港设施管理服务公司在充分整合已有信息化资源的基础上,建设了港区网格化设施管理平台。项目建设以北疆港区为试点开展网格化设施管理建设工作,以地理信息共享平台为基础,实现无线数据     

港口排水工程设计中存在的问题及对策

文章针对当前港口排水工程设计中存在的主要问题,提出了相应的对策,为今后港口排水工程的设计提供参考。     

The effect of railway privatization on train planning: A case study of the UK

The restructuring of the UK railway industry in preparation for privatization led to major changes being made to train planning processes. Subsequent train planning problems, some of which became very public, suggest that something went seriously wrong during the development or implementation of these revised processes. This paper investigates what went wrong and why, finding that several factors were involved, including the objectives the new processes were expected to meet and the software that was being developed to support the new processes. There are clear lessons to be learnt from the UK experience to inform debate on future railway restructuring initiatives.     

Rail policy and performance in Australia

This paper presents a brief review of rail policy and the performance of the rail system in Australia, and draws some comparisons with the rail systems of Western Europe. Australian railways present a somewhat paradoxical mixture of booming traffic with severe financial problems, poor productivity and — in some cases — outdated equipment. The competitive environment they face varies from state to state both in the freedom accorded to road competition and the degree to which the railways themselves are permitted to take decisions on a commercial basis. Whilst some railways in Australia — notably Westrail — have virtually completed the transition from a government department to a commercial enterprise, others have only just begun.     

Parking restraint policy and urban vitality

The aim of the paper is to examine whether parking restraint policies may have impacts on the economic vitality of urban centres. Literature from empirical, attitudinal and modelling studies is reviewed within a structure based around a conceptual framework of parking impacts. The search for relevant material was undertaken both for the UK and overseas, but the discussion and conclusions were related to the UK context. Original modelling was undertaken and is reported here. This review found that as parking restraint policies have not been previously implemented with consistency or longevity, there is a lack of direct evidence, given that land-use impacts typically involve a long-term response. Furthermore, different methods of examining impacts have come to very different conclusions. Attitudinal evidence suggests that there is a high level of sensitivity to parking provision, whereas aggregate statistical studies tend to find only a weak relationship. The reasons underlying these differences are discussed. Land-use/transport models show impacts if there is sufficient change in generalized cost, although the spatial distribution of impacts, and impacts by household or employment disaggregation, vary considerably. Given the inconclusive nature of the evidence to date, only tentative policy implications can be drawn. Recommendations for further research are outlined, both for empirical study and for model enhancements.     

Transport policy scenario-building

Long-term planning decisions must be as robust as possible to withstand such changes in the policy-making environment. This calls for a new approach for identifying how policies might fare under different types of conditions and for identifying robust no-regrets strategies. This paper outlines a systematic and logical framework for the development of policy scenarios and shows how scenarios can be used in the analysis of future policy options. The article discusses how scenario analysis can be used to identify, anticipate and assess policy options for the future in an environment of uncertainty, mainly using examples of transport policy in Europe.     

特大港口城市的港城矛盾及疏港模式分析

随着中国港口的快速发展,一方面,港口吞吐量的增长导致了陆侧集疏运交通量的大幅增加,而另一方面,港口促进了城市的繁荣,但城市空间扩展与港口作业影响区、集疏运交通的矛盾也日益突出。如何采取科学有效的措施来应对港城发展的矛盾,是城市交通管理者和港口管理者面前的共同难题。本文从交通、土地资源、环境污染等方面论述了上海特大型港口城市的港城矛盾;并梳理了鹿特丹港、长滩港、汉堡港、纽约新泽西港、安特卫普港、哥德堡港等国外港口城市的港口集疏运模式;总结了不同类型城市港城矛盾的解决方案,为国内特大型港口的集疏运系统建设和调整提供借鉴。     

Port Economics,Policy and Management: Content Classification and Survey

This paper presents a taxonomy and analysis of the content of published research in port economics, policy and management (port studies). The recent increase of these publications suggests a growing interest in the study of ports. However, the research characteristics and directions of this research field are unidentified. This paper provides a systematic analysis of port studies published during the period 1997–2008. A comprehensive cross-citation and analysis of the themes, approaches and findings of all 395 relevant journal papers identifies the extent to which the research field is maturing, and the leading papers. This paper also presents an extensive analysis of the content, based on the classification of all port studies into seven research themes. For each theme, research topics, widely used research questions, concepts and research methods and the most important research findings are discussed. Finally, we identify emerging research challenges and research questions that still need to be answered.     

温哥华港集装箱卡车周转问题与对策综述

文章通过对温哥华港集装箱通港集疏运过程和相关利益方合作协调机制的全面分析,提出了其对温哥华港和港口依托城市产生的交通、环保和经济方面的负面影响,并系统分析了其形成原因。针对集装箱卡车在码头周转效率和物流链整体规划的问题,文章介绍了温哥华港和相关企业采用的对策措施和取得效果,结合我国集装箱港口实际情况进行了经验借鉴与技术引进的讨论。     

开展近零碳港口建设的思考和分析

本文在阐述近零碳港口内涵、开展建设工作的必要性及港口碳减排现状的基础上,从宏观和微观两方面分析了推进港口减碳工作面临的主要问题,提出了建设近零碳港口的总体思路和主要对策措施.