Market structures in coastal shipping: what to expect in Canada following the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement with the European Union?

After several years of negotiation between Canada and the European Union, the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) was ratified in early 2017. The regime set out by the Canadian Coasting Trade Act that reserves shipments of cargo between Canadian ports to Canadian vessels remains mostly untouched under CETA. Minor, yet potentially significant, changes to the regime are introduced by the trade agreement. Provisions are made to liberalize the repositioning of empty containers within Canada. The liberalization of public markets now allows European firms to compete in the Canadian dredging market. Finally, EU vessels can undertake some transshipment activity in Canada but this is limited to international cargo on the specific Montreal-Halifax route. The paper attempts to highlight some possible CETA’s consequences for domestic Canadian shipping markets. It uses industrial economics analytical tools drawn from a Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm. From a literature review, it reconstructs different cases of deregulation that occurred internationally. The observed transformations are then characterized in terms of the SCP model. The paper identifies some common impacts which occurred in different transportation industries after a deregulation process. Using these findings, it concludes by discussing potential impacts for domestic shipping markets in Canada.     

Crew resource management training in the maritime industry: a literature review

The study is based on a literature review of recent empirical research on crew resource management (CRM) training in the maritime industry, organised around what non-technical skills to learn and how. The review indicates that existing work is dominated by individualistic theories of learning with less focus on learning as a social process. Five main categories of skills that need to be trained are identified: assertiveness, decision-making, communication, situation awareness and team coordination. We argue that it is necessary to operationalise these broad concepts further, emphasising the work context and crew-specific needs. The review also shows that a combination of classroom lectures and simulator-based exercises is commonly used in maritime education and training in these skills. The learning effect seems to be suffering from training programmes that are exported ‘as is’ from aviation and not adjusted to the maritime domain or to operation-specific needs. This paper examines maritime crew resource management training from a social learning perspective, involving the view that learning is a context bound, social process that might take place in communities of practice (CoP). A CoP is a group (e.g. a crew) wherein members share an activity and learn from each other. It is argued that CRM training programmes will benefit from including a social learning perspective. Factors that enable the assessment of teams are discussed, and it is argued that the training should be tailored to existing crews, emphasising a learning environment as close to reality as possible.     

Elasto-plastic modeling of soft soil considering degradation of stiffness

The stiffness has a large influence on the behavior of soils. Its value is affected by some of the soils properties, such as the over consolidated ratio(OCR), the effective normal stress, and the plasticity index etc. In this paper, the numerical modeling of soft soils was carried out using an improved elasto-plastic S-clay1 model accounting for degradation of stiffness. The relation between the stiffness and the shear strain was established based on a large number of experimental data. The effects of strain-dependent stiffness of normally consolidated soils and over consolidated soils on the stress-strain behavior were studied through a comparison of the simulations with the experimental results of undrained triaxial compression tests. The results show that the behaviors of soils can be well predicted with the improved constitutive model, particularly before the peak stress.     

Recursive least squares algorithm for a nonlinear additive system with time delay

This paper proposes a recursive least squares algorithm for a nonlinear additive system with time delay. By the Weierstrass approximation theorem and the key term separation principle, the model can be simplified as an identification model. Based on the identification model, a recursive least squares identification algorithm is used to estimate all the unknown parameters of the time-delayed additive system. An example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.     

Decomposing and Cluster Refinement Design Method for Application-Specific Network-on-Chips

Along with higher and higher integration of intellectual properties (IPs) on a single chip, traditional bus-based system-on-chips (SoC) meets several design difficulties (such as low scalability, high power consumption, packet latency and clock tree problem). As a promising solution, network-on-chips (NoC) has been proposed and widely studied. In this work, a novel algorithm for NoC topology synthesis, which is decomposing and cluster refinement (DCR) algorithm, has been proposed to minimize the total power consumption of application-specific NoC. This algorithm is composed of two stages: decomposing with cluster generation, and cluster refinement. For partitioning and cluster generation, an initial low-power solution for NoC topology is generated. For cluster refinement, the clustering is optimized by performing floorplan to further reduce power consumption. Meanwhile, a good tradeoff between power consumption and CPU time can be achieved. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing work.     

Review of managing the risks of offshore banking and its implications for the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone

As more and more Chinese and foreign-funded banks settle in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (CSPFTZ), it has become an imperative to enhance risk management of offshore banking. At the international level, the regulatory effort for offshore banking mainly focuses on tax evasion and money laundering. Existing regulatory frameworks have established standards to identify countries providing facilities for money laundering and developed punitive measures. In terms of strategy, it is suggested that, firstly, relevant regulatory measures should be improved in the short term, and it is necessary to define the scope of offshore banking and regulatory measures for Chinese banks and foreign-funded banks under a suitable legal framework. Secondly, it is necessary to establish risk exposure mechanism and risk evaluation system for the offshore banking in the CSPFTZ, while risk management measures are implemented based on on-site supervision. Thirdly, in the medium and long term, it is necessary to enhance management of potential risks which can be created by offshore banking due to deregulation. Fourthly, on the one hand, specific regulations should be formulated to provide a regulatory basis for taxation; on the other hand, tax informational exchange agreements (TIEAs) may be used as a reference for achieving effective tax regulation.     

The jurisdictional challenges to the prosecution of piracy cases in Kenya: mixed fortunes for a perfect model in the global war against piracy

Since 2008 Kenya has distinguished itself in the global war against piracy by undertaking prosecutions in the national courts of suspected pirates arrested in the high seas and handed over by navies of leading maritime nations under bilateral agreements (MOUs) entered into between Kenya and these leading maritime nations. As of July 2011, Kenya had over 20 convicted pirates serving jail terms ranging between 7 and 20 years and over 100 suspected pirates awaiting trial in national courts. This is the largest number of suspected pirates held and tried in any one state at any given time in modern history. To achieve this, Kenya had to effect far reaching changes in the law. In the initial stages, suspected pirates were charged under Kenya’s Penal Code (Cap 63 Laws of Kenya). However, the high court in the case of Re Mohamud Mohamed Dashi and eight others [2010] eKLR, ruled that Kenya had no jurisdiction to try suspected pirates under that law. In September 2009, Kenya passed a new law (the Merchant Shipping Act), which not only defined more comprehensively and extensively the offence of piracy, but also extended the jurisdiction of Kenyan courts to try piracy committed by non-nationals. Though the law gives Kenya a very broad jurisdiction to try suspected pirates, the process is still fraught with challenges due to lack of financial and human resources. In the case of Republic vs Hassan Jama Haleys Alias Hassan Jamal and five others [2010] eKLR, the court commented thus:

“… I must note that the ‘piracy trials’ have presented a unique challenge to the Kenyan legal system. We cannot ignore the fact that these are suspects who having been arrested by foreign naval forces on the High Seas are brought to Kenya for trial. They are strangers in the country, do not understand the legal system, may not know what their rights are and do not understand the language… the Kenyan Government and the International partners supporting these trials put in place a system to provide free legal representation for the suspects…”     

Optimal concession contracts for landlord port authorities with different pursuing goals

This paper investigates how landlord port authorities should offer concession contracts to their terminal operators under two different goals, by building a two-stage game for each goal. If maximizing the weighted sum of fee revenues and throughout benefits is port authorities’ goal, then the optimal concession contract can be any of the two-part tariff, the unit-fee, and the fixed-fee contracts. Accordingly, our special cases include previous works assuming that port authorities maximize either fee revenues or throughput benefits. By contrast, if maximizing the social welfare is the goal, then we find that subsidizing terminal operators, instead of charging them, is port authorities’ best choice. This result is not yet discovered in the literature.     

Fast Ferry Smoothing Motion via Intelligent PD Controller

A novel type of control law was adopted to reduce the vertical acceleration of a fast ferry as well as the motion sickness incidence suffered by the passengers onboard by means of a submerged T-foil. Considering the system changing characteristics under high disturbances, a model-free approach was adopted. In addition, an upgraded proportional-derivative (PD) controller with correction terms resulting from a fast-online estimation of the system dynamics was designed. The overall controller, known as intelligent PD (i-PD) controller, was tested, and the obtained results were compared with those of a classic PD controller. The controllers were also tested in a changing environment and at different operating velocities. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the i-PD controller to smooth the motions with low computational cost control schemes. Furthermore, thanks to ability of the i-PD controller to continually update the estimated dynamics of the system, it showed a better reduction in both vertical motions and the seasickness level of the passengers with the needed robustness under external disturbances and system changing parameters.