Revisiting port pricing; a proposal for seven port pricing principles

A review of seven large landlord port authorities around the world reveals a notable diversity of pricing structures. While port authorities increasingly act as commercial undertakings, port pricing often seems to be not driven by commercial considerations. In this paper, we argue that ports can be regarded as “business ecosystems” with multiple users. This provides a valuable perspective on pricing and raises the question of whether ports can be regarded as two-sided markets. We argue this is not the case. The business ecosystem perspective provides a basis for deducing seven pricing principles for port authorities that are detailed in the paper and illustrated with cases these principles. These pricing principles are broadly follow a direct user pays approach; capture value from “non-core” tenants; price aggressively for activities with a high strategic value; differentiate pricing based on price elasticity and connectivity improvements; maximize revenue from long-term lease agreements, price port dues competitively; critically consider differentiation of charges based on environmental performance; and finally use incentives to align interests of terminal operators and shipping lines. We conclude that the ecosystem perspective is central to the understanding of pricing decisions of port authorities and that various pricing issues deserve more attention.     

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.     

漫漫长路

航运公司正寻求能规避巴拿马运河和苏伊士运河通行费的替代方案。     

Incorporating features of autonomous vehicles in activity-based travel demand model for Columbus,OH

Transportation - Autonomous vehicles (AVs) could change travel patterns of the population significantly and with the rapid improvements in AV technology, transportation planners should address AV...     

New appraisal values of travel time saving and reliability in Great Britain

Transportation - This paper provides an overview of the study ‘Provision of market research for value of time savings and reliability’ undertaken by the Arup/ITS Leeds/Accent consortium...     

Efficiency in Asian railways: a comparison between data envelopment analysis approaches

Performance analysis has become a vital part of the management practices in the logistics infrastructure. Although there are numerous applications using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to estimate efficiency in ports and airports, research on railway efficiency remains scarce. Most of the efficiency studies of railways assume that inputs and outputs are known with absolute precision. Here, we compare Stochastic-DEA and Fuzzy-DEA models to assess, respectively, how the underlying randomness and fuzziness impact efficiency levels in railway operations in six different Asian countries: Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Findings reveal that conclusions with respect to the ranking of these railways may vary substantially depending upon the type of model chosen, although efficiency scores are similar to some extent when compared within the ambits of Stochastic-DEA and Fuzzy-DEA models. Additionally, modeling choices on fuzziness, rather than randomness, appear to be the most critical source for variations in efficiency rankings.     

Deploying the advanced public transportation systems (APTS) technologies in Los Angeles: A summary and analysis

This paper first introduces the key players involved in the deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The paper then reports the local deployment status of major Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) projects, with a particular emphasis placed on the burgeoning Los Angeles Smart Shuttle Demonstration Project. In addition, the paper analyzes some technical, political, financial and other issues centering around the deployment of APTS technologies in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.     

Modeling techniques for periodic vehicle routing problems

This paper presents a continuous approximation model for the period vehicle routing problem with service choice (PVRP-SC). The PVRP-SC is a variant of the period vehicle routing problem in which the visit frequency to nodes is a decision of the model. This variation can result in more efficient vehicle tours and/or greater service benefit to customers. We present a continuous approximation model to facilitate strategic and tactical planning of periodic distribution systems and evaluate the value of service choice. Further, results from the continuous model can provide guidelines for constructing solutions to the discrete PVRP-SC.