Analysing training and education in ports

The quality and availability of labour is important for the performance of ports. Insights from cluster theories are relevant for analysing training and education in ports, as ports can be regarded as clusters. In general, labour in clusters is relatively mobile, education services in clusters are relatively good and employees have a high willingness to invest in specific skills. However, skilled and talented labour still may be scarce, especially in regions with tight labour markets. Thus, in many clusters, including port clusters, firms and governments actively aim to improve the quality of labour. This paper presents an analysis of these efforts of firms and governments to improve the quality of the labour force in three seaport clusters. In this paper the concept of a ‘training and education regime’ is presented as an approach to analyse efforts of firms and governments to improve the quality and availability of labour. Important results of three case studies include first, the observation that the quality of training and education regime differs substantially between clusters. Second, the presence of aregime manager in Rotterdam adds to the quality of Rotterdam’s training and education regime. Such an organisation may be effective across countries and clusters. Finally, the presence ofleader firms, willing to invest in training and education also improves an education regime.     

Development of and prospects for cruising in Europe

This paper evaluates the development of prospects for cruising in Europe. It examines this within the broad framework of economic theory and maritime economics. Initially, the market structures and relationships applicable to cruising are considered with particular attention being paid to the linkages between the shipping markets and tourism and leisure. This conceptual analysis suggests that whilst cruising has a strong shipping element it does not fall exclusively within the classic framework of maritime economics but draws from both shipping and tourism and leisure. For reasons of clarity, a number of definitions are also provided covering maritime tourism and leisure, cruising, and supply and demand, as it relates to cruising. Following this, an overview of the cruise industry is included. This focuses primarily on the growth in the demand both world wide and at regional level. In particular, the analysis places the development of cruising in Europe in market perspective. Subsequently, the development of cruising in the UK is examined as a case study. Initially, UK market growth is analysed and it can be seen that the UK is now the second largest cruise market in the world after North America. Projections of the growth in UK demand to 2003 are also provided. The growth in supply is also studied and the UK targeted fleet is identified. In addition, the question of ownership is addressed. The prospects of employment for UK seafarers within the cruise industry are also considered and results obtained from the analysis suggest that it should be possible to increase the participation of UK and other European seafarers within the cruise industry at all levels and in all departments. In the final section of the paper, the position of UK ports as terminals and destinations is evaluated. It is concluded that the fundamentals of the cruise business remain strong, and continued growth by the industry should be possible for the foreseeable future.     

Entry barriers in seaports

The different types of entry barrier in seaports are analysed and the policies and practices to reduce them are discussed in this paper. In most seaports, economic, regulatory, and geographical entry barriers are substantial and increasing in complexity as ports become embedded in supply chains and multilayered networks with multiple entry-levels. Various entry barriers in seaports are identified through an overview of the relevant literature and their presence is confirmed by empirical data describing them. The case is then made for lowering these barriers. This would be desirable from an economic point of view, since lower barriers strengthen the contestability of markets and increase the level of intra-port competition. The latter might yield substantial benefits, such as fostering specialization and preventing the abuse of market power. Finally, low entry barriers would facilitate the faster implementation of new technologies and business models. In the third part of the analysis, policies and practices designed to reduce entry barriers are examined. The implications are discussed of current national and supranational (EU) policy initiatives aimed to liberalize service provision in seaports. Other (de)regulatory policies that could contribute to the reduction of entry barriers are analysed.     

The Arctic Shipping and Environmental Management Agreement: A Regime for Marine Pollution

Climate change is predicted to have particularly challenging impacts throughout the Arctic. For instance, there is a great probability of sea ice melting, leading to increased vessel traffic and oil pollution. Eight major nation-states have vested concerns in the potential opening of Arctic sea routes. They each have pledged to take protective action through the Arctic Council. However, there is still a need to develop an international institution to simultaneously address Arctic marine pollution and protect the needs of these states. This article seeks to design a legally binding regime for oil pollution control in the Arctic. In creating this new regime, we shall utilize several shared design elements of historically effective international regimes and take advantage of the legal innovations of these agreements. Our new regime, entitled the Arctic Shipping and Environmental Management Agreement (ASEMA), will take into account both the economic and environmental interests of the parties involved.     

The heritage coast program in England and Wales

Abstract

The Countryside Commission for England and Wales has adopted a coastal management system that identifies high‐value scenic areas and manages these as Heritage Coasts. The Heritage Coast program is a collaborative one between central and local government, with the central government providing technical expertise and half the funds and local authorities providing development control and staff. The approach has been successful in having most of the important scenic areas designated as Heritage Coasts, but has been less successful at getting active on‐ground management on the coasts. Less than half the defined Heritage Coasts have management plans or Heritage Coast staff. Reasons for the slow adoption of the program are discussed.     

Airline productivity redefined: An analysis of U.S. and European carriers

Productivity, in terms of net value added per man-year of labor and capital input, provides a more useful yardstick of airline efficiency than the widely used indices representing average unit costs or labor productivity. Large variations in productivity between airlines, in particular between U.S. and European airlines, can be explained almost entirely by differences in level of service, demand patterns and route characteristics. A regression model calibrated on 1975 data for fourteen U.S. and fourteen European scheduled airlines indicates that productivity could be increased by changes in network shape though a more liberal exchange of traffic rights, greater specialization (in particular the limited involvement of scheduled airlines in the very low yield charter market) and consumer choice — by offering higher frequency, multi-city services.     

An improved algorithm for matching partial registration numbers

In order to identify route choice, registration number surveys were carried out and the numbers were then matched. Because of the nature of the routes being investigated, it was found that the level of spurious matches was large relative to the number of tripmakers. This cast considerable doubt on the estimated number of tripmakers and their mean journey times. Accordingly, it was necessary to devise an algorithm which minimised the effect of such errors. This algorithm and a method of estimating the number of residual spurious matches is discussed in this paper and is compared with the original algorithm for an actual example.