Restructuring land transport in New Zealand

Restructuring of governmental activities in New Zealand calls for public enterprises to operate in competitive environments. This has created problems for highways and urban passenger transport. Whereas the national airline has been privatized and railways corporatized, legislation for land transport has created a Crown agency that is expected to operate commercially within funding and policy constraints. The problems are assessed as Transit New Zealand attempts to allocate state funds between competing projects using commercial criteria. New roles have been legislated for regional agencies and local governments: they are expected to either privatize service delivery or create public corporations to maintain highways and operate passenger transport. Principles underlying restructuring are examined, and suggestions are made on how agencies might take advantage of opportunities.     

IAME 2011 – contemporary studies on maritime transport in Latin America

Latin America and the Caribbean have evolved as a region of increased interest for the maritime and port industry as well as for academic research. Maritime transport activity in the region has experienced sustained growth rates over the last decades, resulting in ever-increasing demand for maritime services and port infrastructure. At the 2011 Annual Conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), Latin America received significant attention. This editorial responds to growing research by giving a brief overview of the current situation and contemporary issues in maritime transport within the region. It also introduces the six selected papers for this Special Issue.     

TransNIEMO: economic impact analysis using a model of consistent inter-regional economic and network equilibria

We describe a model that integrates a multiregional input–output (I–O) model of the USA (for 50 States and the District of Columbia) with the national highway network. Inter-state commodity shipments are placed on a congestible highway network. Simulations of major choke-point disruptions redirect traffic which increases the costs of some shipments. Increased costs show up in higher prices which help to determine a new I–O equilibrium. We find economic and network equilibria that are consistent. The simulations show only moderate economic impacts. We ascribe this to the resilience of the highway network. The model provides State-level detail on who bears the costs of the disruptions.     

How optimal was the Sydney Metro contract?: Comparison with international best practice

The New South Wales (NSW) government created the Sydney Metro Authority to design, build and operate a completely separate underground Metro rail system to supplement the existing public transport network in Sydney. By the time the NSW government abruptly cancelled the entire Metro project in early 2010, the Authority had conceived and designed a contract that was proceeding to procurement. This paper compares the elements of the proposed Sydney Metro contract to findings of the literature on optimal contracting and optimal incentives and on PPP best practice. The paper concludes that the Metro seems to have at least implicitly drawn fairly heavily on best practices and principles, but that its ultimate failure to be implemented is an instructive lesson about how operating environment can impede integration of useful knowledge and experience.     

The Impact of Container Type Diversification on Regional British Port Development Strategies

Abstract

Despite a concentration of container traffic in the southeast of the UK over the last few decades, regional ports are attempting new development strategies to capture or retain specific traffic segments. These include intra-European short-sea traffic and a potentially increasing feeder market. These trends are reflected in the movement of different container types, which result in a number of planning challenges related to changing infrastructural and operational requirements. This paper uses highly disaggregated data on container type movements to address three issues that can inform these planning challenges. First, the imbalance of trade resulting in empty container repositioning; second, the requirement for gauge-cleared rail routes to cater for the increasing proportion of high-cube containers; and third, the specialisation of European short-sea traffic at secondary UK ports. The results reveal the disproportionate repositioning of empty containers at Scottish ports and the importance of 45?ft, high-cube and pallet-wide containers at regional ports, highlighting their focus on intra-European short-sea traffic and raising difficulties relating to their lower quality of landside infrastructure (particularly rail) in comparison to the large south-eastern ports. The potential repercussions on hinterland infrastructure development raise questions about both public and private sector responses to regional port development.     

突破全球性瓶颈是否需要采取行动？

环顾全球，进出港口的货运基础设施越来越无法胜任目前的货物量，而货物量还在进一步增长。Gordon Feller对加强基础设施建设，适应国际贸易发展的努力进行了一番研究。[编按]     

Short-sea shipping potentials in Central America to bridge infrastructural gaps

This paper addresses the situation of transport infrastructure in Central America, which poses issues of insufficiency, high-costs and lack of an integrated vision in a geographic region that is exposed to vulnerabilities due to its geological, geomorphologic and climatic conditions. The major efforts for regional integration with joint infrastructure in place seem to meet the criteria of high prioritization on ground transport and non-diversification of risk. This paper features the characteristics of the area and the potentiality of short-sea shipping to cover infrastructure deficits and the need for a more integrated planning of transport infrastructure services with better conditions to improve the regional economy competitiveness and the economic growth.     

Assessing economic activity in coastal areas: A shift‐share approach

Abstract

An essential aspect of economic analysis associated with planning efforts is identifying the composition of existing economic activity and understanding historical trends in economic change. The shift‐share model is a useful and inexpensive tool for this purpose. Shift‐share analysis evaluates changes in local economic activities relative to changes in a reference area (usually the state or nation). Economic change is separated into a reference area component, an industry mix component, and a local share component. These measure, respectively, the effect on the local economy due to changes in the reference area, factors specific to the local mix of industries, and the changing competitive position of the local area relative to the reference area.

A shift‐share analysis of Florida's coastal counties reveals that all grew much faster over the 1965–1975 period than did the national economy. This rapid growth is primarily a result of a net shift of economic activity toward the study area relative to the nation. However, a few coastal counties did exhibit a mix of slow‐growing industries. Specific industry results for Florida counties at the eighty‐industry level reveal that many industries showed significant shifts toward Florida's coastal counties. The performance of individual industries in the coastal counties generally exceeded that of the same industries in noncoastal counties.     

New tramways in France: The case of Montpellier

For the light-rail line that opened in Montpellier in late 2000, this study describes the urban setting, the previous bus services, the reasons for choosing light rail, the procedures for evaluation and approval, the chosen route, and the arrangements for funding, construction and operation. The Montpellier case shows how a bus-way can be a step on the path to light-rail. Among other conclusions, the study highlights the scope for light-rail to yield reduced journey times for public transport users, and to effect environmental improvement; the case for building a tramway is strengthened if complementary urban developments are in hand.