Port managment development—a strategy for the provision of a training capability in developing countries

The absence of formal career-development programmes and the apparent low priority given to the development of human resources in the ports of developing countries has led to a severe shortage of suitably qualified and experienced managers. At the centre of this problem lies the formidable barriers to the establishment of a local training capability to meet the diverse and often specialized needs of this industry. This paper examines the nature and scale of the management-training requirements of the ports of developing countries. Further, it briefly describes the background to UNCTAD's role in the field of management training and outlines the objectives of its training strategy for the 1980s. An important component of this strategy is the 'Improving port performance project which is designed to prepare structured learning materials using audio-visual techniques and is proposed as one solution to establishing a local training capability in developing countries.     

Aesthetic and ecological disharmonies of highways

This paper discusses the aesthetic and ecological effects of highways. Little is known about the subject at the present time, and thus this treatment cannot be considered in any sense definitive.Part I offers a definition of aesthetic quality and considers its relevance to highway planning. It is noted that, although the principles of rural freeway design (curvilinear alignments, variable medians, etc.) generally accord with the aesthetic character of rural areas, freeways are infinitely more difficult to integrate aesthetically into urban areas. Comparisons are made in this regard among basic types of freeways.Part II notes that the effect of man's presence on the earth's ecology has resulted in new systems and processes to which man is now subject. Highways, as works of man, affect him and his environment in ways which are known only imperfectly. Nevertheless, there are steps which can be taken to minimize the more obvious forms of damage to the environment which can result from highway building.Part III discusses procedures for incorporating aesthetic and ecological considerations into highway planning. No method yet proposed is in itself sufficient, and none leads to a decision on an objective basis. A generally acceptable method must await further research. In the meantime, every effort must be made to assure full and fair consideration of environmental effects on an ad hoc basis.     

The design of liner shipping serives: the problem of feeder services versus multi-port-calls

In this paper, the authors outline the structure of liner shipping systems with special emphasis on the question of whether feeder services are superior in economic terms to the more traditional and commonly-used multi-port-calling system. They describe the theoretical advantages of the former over the latter, and develop a model by which the optimal conditions both operate in may be determined. This model is then applied to a real situation to ascertain whether the theory works in practice. They conclude that the shuuttle/feeder system is worthwhile only in exceptional circumstances when specific route characteristics—low trade density; hinterland generated cargo; inland position of port; and heavy congestion—coexist. Despite the expense of multi-port-calling, it remains the most practical solution to the thin trade problem.     

A study of the environmental impacts of intelligent automated vehicle control at intersections via V2V and V2I communications

This article presents a novel intersection traffic management system for automated vehicles and quantifies its impact on fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of CO₂ relative to traditional traffic signal and roundabout intersection control. The developed intelligent traffic management (ITM) techniques, which are based on a spatiotemporal reservation scheme, ensure that vehicles proceed through the intersection without colliding with other vehicles while at the same time reducing the intersection delay and environmental impacts. Specifically, the spatiotemporal reservation scheme provides each vehicle a collision-free path that is decomposed into a speed profile along with navigational instructions. The integration of the developed microscopic traffic simulator with instantaneous emission model, provides improved assessments of the environmental impact of traffic control strategies at intersections. The simulator architecture integrates several ITM algorithms, vehicle sensors, V2V/V2I communications, and emission and fuel consumption models. Each vehicle is modeled by an agent and each agent provides information depending on the specific vehicle sensors. The ITM system is supported by V2V and V2I communications, allowing the exchange of information among vehicles and infrastructure. The data include the estimated vehicle position and speed. Compared with traditional traffic management techniques, the simulation results prove that the proposed ITM system reduces CO₂ emissions significantly. The research also shows that these reductions are more significant when the traffic flow increases.     

The dynamic relationships between paper petroleum refining and physical trade of crude oil into the United States

This article examines the relationship between refinery margins traded on paper using petroleum futures (the paper refinery) and the physical trade of crude oil into the US. Computations of a 3:2:1 crack spread were constructed using daily observations of second- and third-nearby unleaded gasoline and heating oil futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NY MEX) and spot Brent crude oil prices. The crack spread represents the margin between the cost of crude oil feed stock today and the value of the products produced by a refinery in the future. Unit root tests on each of the time series found crack spreads to be stationary while crude oil imports were found to be non-stationary. A s the two series were found to be integrated of different order, cointegration analysis of the two series was not deemed appropriate. Instead, linear relationships between crack spreads and imports were examined using causality tests. It was found that the 2-month 3:2:1 crack spread Granger-causes crude oil imports and that this causality is unidirectional. The significance of these findings lies in the fact that other industries like tanker shipping derive their demand from the demand for, and trade in, petroleum. Crack spreads, therefore, can provide a leading indicator for short term developments in tanker demand. For a chartering manager who has ships on the spot market, crack spreads can help him/her anticipate demand developments and influence vessel deployment and chartering decisions.     

Comment Some reflections on port competition in the United States and western Europe

'Port competition' is a rather puzzling expression. This paper approaches it literally, searching for precise meanings. In seaports that contain complex and changeable mixtures of public and private enterprise, who competes and why? The answers to these questions are not conclusive but suggestive indications are found in the US, UK and northwestern Europe. Finally, we discuss what seem to be the key influential factors which may impact on the competitiveness of a port.     

Driver fatigue: a vision-based approach to automatic diagnosis

In this paper, we describe a system that locates and tracks the eyes of a driver. The purpose of such a system is to perform detection of driver fatigue. By mounting a small camera inside the car, we can monitor the face of the driver and look for eye movements which indicate that the driver is no longer in condition to drive. In such a case, a warning signal should be issued. This paper describes how to find and track the eyes. We also describe a method that can determine if the eyes are open or closed. The primary criterion for this system is that it must be highly non-intrusive. The system must also operate regardless of the texture and the color of the face. It must also be able to handle changing conditions such as changes in light, shadows, reflections, etc. Initial experimental results are very promising even when the driver moves his/her head in a way such that the camera does not have a frontal view of the driver’s face.     

Estimating travel time functions for urban roads: options and issues

Travel time functions specify the relationship between the travel time on a road and the volume of traffic on the road. Until recently, the parameters of travel time functions were rarely estimated in practice; however, a compelling case can be made for the empirical examination of these functions. This paper reviews, and qualitatively evaluates, a range of options for developing a set of travel time functions. A hierarchy of travel time functions is defined based on four levels of network detail: area, corridor, route and link. This hierarchy is illustrated by considering the development of travel time functions for Adelaide. Alternative sources of data for estimating travel time functions are identified.

In general, the costs and benefits increase as the travel time functions are estimated at finer levels of network detail. The costs of developing travel time functions include data acquisition costs and analysis costs. The benefits include the potential for reducing prediction errors, the degree of application flexibility and the policy sensitivity of the travel time functions.     

Economic Valuation of Coastal and Marine Resources: Bohol Marine Triangle,Philippines

This article provides results on the net benefits generated from the natural resources in the Bohol Marine Triangle (BMT) in the Philippines. The BMT spans over 112,000 ha and its coastal ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and provide economic opportunities to the coastal communities. With a 10% discount rate, the accumulated total net benefits for the BMT resources over a 10-year period is US$11.54 million. Tourism and the municipal fisheries are the most important direct use values of the coastal and marine resources of the BMT accounting for 44% and 39% of the total net benefits. Annual revenues attributed to ecosystems were as follows: coral reefs, US$1.26 million; beach/intertidal area, US$1.12 million; marine waters, US$646,501; mangrove, US$239,561; and seagrass, US$105,990. The large market values indicate the dependence of the local community on the BMT coastal and marine resources. In the same way, non-market values show the important life-support functions of coastal and marine ecosystems. The net benefits reflect the magnitude of potential losses due to improper management of coastal and marine resources in the BMT. This valuation highlights the importance of the coastal services to the BMT economy and draws attention to the benefits the local stakeholders derive from BMT coastal resources. Policy measures can now take into account these values to justify a sufficient investment in coastal management efforts to sustain the flow of coastal services in the interest of current and future generations.