Maritime liner shipping and the stevedoring industry: market structure and competition strategies

Globalization, liberalization, competition and spatial interaction are significant factors affecting the transformation of manufacturing industries worldwide. In the transportation and logistics industry, however, cooperation is becoming even more critical than competition in determining firms' efficiency. Cooperation has always characterized the liner sector in which strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions have generated twin effects: notable increases in ship size and falls in freight rates. Meanwhile, the stevedoring industry is undergoing privatization-driven consolidation and the emergence of global pure terminal operators. This article focuses on vertical integration between global carriers and terminal operators. We address the following key current issues:

• dedicated terminals as a strategy for cutting costs and controlling integrated transport chains;
• the struggle for supply chain control, involving global carriers versus global terminal operators, driven by financial power and technical and managerial capability.

We close analysing one of the core problems of the market, namely the evolving role of the dedicated terminals. For the pure stevedores they represent an opportunity to secure a cargo, while in the hands of the liners they enable cost stability and the possibility to put pressure on pure terminal operators.     

A study of passenger discomfort measures at the Hong Kong mass transit railway system

This note investigates the important attributes relating to the crowding effects at the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) stations in Hong Kong. Data was collected at two sets of three MTR stations to study the responses of the passengers due to the discomfort at crowded vehicles and platforms. Stated preference surveys were used to study the effects of passenger discomfort measures.     

论人才队伍建设与企业跨越式发展

本文结合中国铁路工程总公司人力资源管理工作实践 ,论述了建设高素质人才队伍和学习型机制在企业发展中的重要作用 ,指出了高素质的企业家、高水平的专家、高技能的技师和高效率的政工干部等四支人才队伍培养的核心和重点 ,并分析了人力资源管理创新中的几个关键问题     

The association of the population recruitment of gulf menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, with Mississippi River discharge

Gulf menhaden, Brevoortia patronus, which constitutes a major industrial reduction fishery in the USA, spawn across the northern Gulf of Mexico with a focus of spawning about the Mississippi Delta. This species is estuarine dependent; adults spawn over the continental shelf and their larvae are transported, by mechanisms that are presently not well understood, to estuarine nursery areas. Larval gulf menhaden, along with some other surface oriented larval fishes, appear to aggregate along the Mississippi River plume front, while evidence of the ecological consequences of this aggregation in terms of the feeding, growth, and survival of larvae is ambiguous. On an annual scale, Mississippi River discharge is negatively associated with numbers of half year old recruits. Discharge of the Mississippi River and the population recruitment of gulf menhaden may be plausibly linked through the action of the river's plume and its front on the shoreward transport of larvae. Greater river discharge results in an expansive plume that might project larvae farther offshore and prolong the shoreward transport of larvae. An indirect, decadal scale, positive response of recruitment and river discharge is possible, but not certain. Recruitment became elevated after 1975 when river discharge increased and became highly variable. This response might owe to enhanced primary and secondary production driven by nutrient influx from the Mississippi River.     

Development of Green-Naghdi models with a wave-absorbing beach for nonlinear, irregular wave propagation

Two-dimensional and three-dimensional Green-Naghdi (GN) models equipped with a numerical wave-absorbing beach have been developed to simulate nonlinear, regular, and irregular wave propagation. The numerical beach is introduced near the downstream boundary to absorb outgoing waves. An appropriate amount of numerical damping and an appropriate length of numerical beach are investigated using numerical experiments. The results show that the GN models with a numerical beach work very well in simulating wave propagation in water in a small computational domain.     

Manpower and employment issues

Overmanning and restrictive labour practices are major causes of low productivity in Indian ports. Proposals are put forward for a programme of reforms to support investment in modern cargo handling systems.     

Basic Analytical Study of Pantograph-catenary System Dynamics

For a high speed electrical rail system, good dynamic performance of the pantograph-catenary system is vital for smooth and continuous current collection. It has been known for many years that to achieve this the head of the pantograph should be made as light as possible and the average stiffness of the catenary should be high. These conclusions, however, have been reached by numerical modelling and operational experience. In this paper the pantograph-catenary system is modelled as a time-varying, single degree-of-freedom system to facilitate an analytical investigation of the system dynamics. Although the model is very simple, it allows physical insight into the dynamic behaviour of the system, and because the excitation is parametric it also allows the stability of the system to be investigated. The finite element method is used to determine the catenary characteristics and Floquet theory is used to analyse the behaviour of the coupled system.     

集装箱龙门起重机微机控制系统

本文介绍了将微型计算机应用于集装箱起重机自动控制系统的设计思想和方法。在该系统中，以集装箱起重机为控制对象，用单板机作为控制器，通过传感器，驱动放大电路及接口芯片等构成一个完整的自动控制系统。此系统基本实现了集装箱起重机的自动控制，并给集装专用吊具与集装箱迅速准确的自动对位带来好处。     

BITBUS结构及其在电气化复线渡线开关监控系统中的应用

本文提出在电气化铁路远动系统中采用高性能，低价格，灵活易用的通讯网络ＢＩＴＢＵＳ构成分层的分布式网络系统，用网络结构代替常规的双机加切换器的结构。既简化了系统结构了又成功地解决了系统资源的共与分配，并为系统以后可能的扩展与联网打下了基础。运用软件工程学的有关技术和方法开发系统软件，使系统结构清晰，易于维护和扩充，本文针对电气化复线渡线开关监控系统的特点，给出了该系统采用的软，硬件方案及其实现过程。     

模拟异种钢接头蠕变力学特性的数值分析

利用有限元数值模拟了高强匹配异种的接头在弹性－蠕变条件下的应力／应变场，结果表明，接头的应力／应变分布不均匀，在焊缝界面上，应力和应变分别呈不连续和不协调分布特性，并随着拦头各区蠕变强度差别的增大，其分布梯度增大，峰值应力／应变提高，因此，蠕变强度梯度大的高强焊缝和低强母材的界面是接头的薄弱部位。