Achieving an ASEAN single shipping market: shipping and logistics firms’ perspective

ABSTRACT

To establish an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Single Shipping Market (ASSM) is an important part of ASEAN governments’ overall plan to achieve an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. It is expected that a single shipping market will improve the region’s logistics performance and international competitiveness. To achieve this vision, however, the ASEAN countries need to remove any remaining barriers to logistics performance. In this light, the objective of this paper is to identify these barriers and assess their effects on the logistics performance of shipping and logistics firms based in ASEAN countries. Using a questionnaire-based survey, the study revealed several barriers affecting their logistics performance with varying significance among these countries. Unless these barriers from the perspective of the industry are removed, the ability of the shipping and logistics industry to benefit from a liberalized market would be limited. These perceived barriers are examined in detail and strategies to address them are proposed. The ASEAN experience is applicable to similar countries in the process of integrating their international shipping sector as well as contributes to the understanding of the different barriers and how these barriers can affect the logistics performance of shipping and logistics companies.     

ICT Adoption among Logistics Companies in ASEAN Countries

In this era of globalization, adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) is one of the critical determinants of logistics companies' competitiveness and growth. This is especially so for the ASEAN countries as they pursue the vision of regional economic development and integration. Existing empirical studies on ICT adoption by logistics companies in developing countries are, however, scarce and have limited theoretical support and so far no comparative analysis of ICT adoption among ASEAN logistics companies and its determinants has been undertaken. This paper investigates the level of ICT adoption among ASEAN logistics companies and also develops an investment-based model to explain it. The model is evaluated with logistic regression using firm-level data collected from interviews with a sample of ASEAN logistics companies. The study finds that ICT adoption level varies significantly among the ASEAN countries and provides an empirical support for an investment-based view of ICT adoption. It also finds no further evidence for the relevance of the institutional theory to the ASEAN logistics industry. These findings have important strategic and policy implications for the ASEAN policy-makers and logistics industry.     

Modeling yard crane operators as reinforcement learning agents

Due to the importance of drayage operations, operators at marine container terminals are increasingly looking to reduce the time a truck spends at the terminal to complete a transaction. This study introduces an agent-based approach to model yard cranes for the analysis of truck turn time. The objective of the model is to solve the yard crane scheduling problem (i.e. determining the sequence of drayage trucks to serve to minimize their waiting time). It is accomplished by modeling the yard crane operators as agents that employ reinforcement learning; specifically, q-learning. The proposed agent-based, q-learning model is developed using Netlogo. Experimental results show that the q-learning model is very effective in assisting the yard crane operator to select the next best move. Thus, the proposed q-learning model could potentially be integrated into existing yard management systems to automate the truck selection process and thereby improve yard operations.     

Cost Comparision of Airplane Parking Methods at Apron of Maptuto International Airport

Introduction Different methods on aircrafts parking at apronsof airports were presented in Refs.[1 4]. The air-crafts can be parked at various angles with respect tothe terminal building, and they can move in and outof parking positions either by towing e…     

A simulation tool for bicycle sharing systems in multimodal networks

This paper presents a methodology for modelling an urban transport system, integrating public bicycles in a multi-modal network. A bike cost function that reproduces the effect of slopes on cycling speeds is proposed. Also, the effect of traffic levels on the attractiveness of cycling routes is taken into account. The model applies the modal split and network assignment phases in a multimodal network with different classes of users. It has been verified over a test network and then validated by applying it to a real case in the city of Santander in Spain. The results obtained make this model a useful decision-making tool to encourage the use of the public bicycle from a sustainable development point of view.     

莫桑比克沥青路面设计介绍

沥青混凝土因其具有初始投资低、易于维修和循环使用等优点,广泛应用于世界各地,在南非和莫桑比克的路面结构中也得到广泛采用。文章介绍了莫桑比克使用的沥青混凝土设计方法(基于SATCC方法),以期与国内设计方法进行对比研究。     

沥青混合料骨架结构抗剪强度特性的试验研究

采用悬浮密实结构AC-20I、骨架空隙结构AM-20及骨架密实结构SMA-20试样,对三种典型结构的沥青混合料抗剪强度进行了对比试验研究.试验采用粗骨料大型直剪仪,探讨了球形和椭球形集料对抗剪强度的影响.结果表明:从集料级配看,骨架结构形成的抗剪强度明显大于悬浮结构形成的抗剪强度;从集料形状看,椭球体集料构成结构的内摩擦角大于球形体集料构成结构的内摩擦角,而且,骨架密实结构对集料形状最为敏感.     

Towards an enriched framework of service evaluation for pedestrian and bicyclist infrastructure: acknowledging the power of users’ perceptions

Transportation - More and more cities worldwide are striving for sustainability and livability. Measuring the service or performance of local-scale spaces for pedestrians and bicyclists to better...     

A Step Zero Analysis of the Galapagos Marine Reserve

Contrary to common perceptions, the creation of protected areas does not start when they are officially declared but generally follows a long process. For instance, the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) was not “born” when it was formally announced on March 18^th 1998, but several decades before that. Through document analysis and key informant interviews, we applied the “step zero” approach to examine what happened prior to the implementation of the GMR. This study reveals that the GMR did not arise from a social and political vacuum; rather, events took place in the distant past, even centuries ago, influenced the reserve's creation and current status. Its establishment was driven by complex geopolitical, economic, social, and environmental factors from both within and outside Galapagos. Additionally, the process of creating the GMR was convoluted, marked by hidden interests and conflictive political agendas that triggered controversies between users. The making of the GMR was also influenced by the interest in promoting “nature-based” tourism, and the regulations that followed had disadvantaged small-scale fishers. This knowledge about the reserve's pre-implementation phase enables a broader understanding of the current challenges facing the performance of the GMR and points to possible governance interventions needed to enhance its sustainability.     

Modelling demand in restricted parking zones

Multiple linear regression (MLR) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models are used for estimating parking demand in areas with paid short stay parking systems. These models have been applied to the city of Santander (Cantabria, Spain) to check their goodness of fit and their predictive ability. The results show the main advantages and disadvantages of using GWR models. The technique proved to be useful in this case study because it offered a better fit and made better predictions in a scenario showing a certain degree of spatial heterogeneity unexplained by any of the variables introduced into the global model. However, the GWR model also presented situations of local correlation although this was considered moderate given the results provided by the variance inflation factors and the local condition indexes.