Regulation,trust and contractual incentives around transport contracts – Is there anything bus operators can learn from public air service contracts?

This paper compares recent experiences in contract negotiation and subsequent commitment in public air services with the bus industry. The heart of the paper is a survey of European and Australian regional airlines, which we mirror with revealed experiences of bus operators. We aim to identify a number of elements in the contracting regimes that have exposed ambiguity and significant gaps in what the principal (e.g., transport department) expected, and what the agent (airline or bus operator) believed they were obliged to deliver. Ultimately airline and bus services are similar in that public authorities procure transport services that are desirable for the society but would be unprofitable without government involvement. In both sectors (theoretically fairly similar) public transport contracts are used, and those usually include obligations and performance measurements. In terms of similarities, one of the surveyed contract details that had a perceived high clarity in both industries was “payment procedures” and amongst those with rather poor clarity was also in both industries “incentives to improve performance and grow patronage”. We also show differences between regional air services and bus operations with regard to performance measurement and pre-specified obligations. Because of the strong safety culture around air services we find that regulation and trusting partnerships are even more important to aviation than to the bus sector. Because of the high level of trust but also because of simpler and more complete contracts in aviation, there is much less (re-)negotiation going on compared to the bus operations.     

Technical,allocative and cost efficiencies of Chinese ports

This paper reports on empirical studies of the technical, allocative, and cost efficiencies (CEs) of Chinese ports based on the panel data of 16 listed port corporations from 1998 to 2011 by means of Bayesian Inference and Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. An error terms approach is used to resolve the Greene Problem in the estimation of allocative efficiency. The results show that the technical efficiencies have tended to decline in most ports. Inputs to R&D and improving management level are insufficient to offset this decline. Seaports have higher CEs than river ports. Ports with higher container cargo proportion have higher CEs. Ports with more than 50% of shares owned by the State have higher CEs.     

A dynamic model for marginal cost pricing of port infrastructures

ABSTRACT

A dynamic model for marginal cost pricing of port infrastructures links costs to system performance by combining a power-law function with time-dependent queueing analysis. Additionally, the model incorporates the marginal cost of capacity, including the effects of economies of scale. This allows the calculation of the marginal cost price under a dynamic framework. The model accounts for nonlinear behaviour of port demand, which is sensitive to price and service levels. The effects over time of cost and service levels on the port’s operational performance are quantified. The proposed model allows determining the optimal timing for capacity investment. The model is a starting point for the application of marginal cost pricing to ports. However, for practical application of such pricing method it is necessary to apply a system’s approach, as productivity and costs must be assessed at the terminal’s component level. This should allow the derivation of a marginal cost function at the terminal’s component level.     

Marine Protected Area Costs as “Beneficial” Fisheries Subsidies: A Global Evaluation

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are now generally accepted as important tools in the protection of coastal biodiversity. It is also likely that they play a positive role in enhancing fisheries. Yet currently, less than 1% of the global oceans are protected, although international agreements have targets ranging from 10–30% coverage. Despite its minuscule size, we consider the current MPA “network” to be beneficial to fisheries, and its running or maintenance cost, therefore, to be a positive contribution to the sustainability of fisheries, or a “beneficial” subsidy (“harmful” subsidies enhance fishing capacity and effort). A method was derived from data in Balmford et al. (PNAS, 101: 9694–9697) to estimate the annual cost of maintaining MPAs as a function of their size, and of the degree of development of the country in question. We provide national costs of the 53 countries that jointly contribute 95% of global fisheries catch and, assuming that this type of subsidy, in a given country, cannot exceed 15% of the ex-vessel value of its fisheries catches, estimated a global MPA subsidy to fisheries of 870 million US$. Given that total subsidies to fisheries currently range from 30–34 billion US$ annually (without MPA costs), this amounts to only 2.5–2.8% of total subsidies to fisheries being devoted explicitly to the maintenance of the biodiversity that sustains them.     

浅谈盈亏平衡分析在新建海洋工程企业中的应用

文章阐述新建海洋工程企业如何有效利用数学工具对企业的整体运营进行科学的预测和分析,找出其中优势和存在的问题,从而为企业的科学决策提供依据,以促进企业健康和谐的发展.     

使用可用度在舰船装备论证中的约束作用

在舰船装备论证过程中,使用可用度不仅是装备保障能力的量化,还对装备的一些因素有着约束作用。分析使用可用度在论证过程中对装备数量、维修计划、随船备件满足率和全寿命周期费用的影响,建立这些参数之间的定性关系表达式,发现提高舰船使用可用度,有助于减少舰船装备数量和降低装备寿命周期费用,但也会缩短装备寿命期内的维修时间,并要求装备有较高的备件满足率。

     

低碳型集装箱港区港内道路规划方案优选

合理的港内道路路网结构及交通组织是集装箱港口作业效率提升以及节能减排的重要保证。提出利用集装箱港区生产作业智能体微观交通仿真模型模拟集装箱生产作业流程,并以集装箱港口服务水平和集卡日均碳排放成本作为指标,优选低碳型集装箱港区港内道路规划方案。应用实例表明,集装箱港区生产作业智能体微观交通仿真模型可有效模拟港内作业过程,通过对比分析不同道路规划方案下的评价指标,得到最优的港内道路规划方案,为港区道路规划与设计提供参考。     

基于AHP法的码头工程造价风险点识别与评估研究

由于码头工程投资成本高,施工条件复杂、周期长,在项目实施的整个过程中伴随着难以预计的造价风险。笔者希望能够通过定性和定量结合的方法,以码头工程的建设流程为主线,建立造价成本风险评估指标体系,并将该指标体系应用于具体的码头工程案例中,进行造价风险的实证评估,为造价风险管理提供决策依据,从而设计有针对性的风险控制措施。     

物流统计及评价指标体系的构建

在竞争日益激烈的今天,无论是企业还是国家或地区,越来越依赖于高效、统一、反应快速的现代物流系统。本文试图从统计核算角度提出一些宏观统计指标,以衡量现代物流产业的成本效益,并构建了物流评价指标体系。最后,详述了物流服务的评价指标。     

基于支持向量机的可靠性增长费用建模与分析

支持向量机是一种采用结构风险最小化原则代替传统经验风险最小化原则的新型统计学习方法，具有完备的理论基础。首先应用支持向量机原理建立了基于支持向量机的多参数武器装备可靠性增长费用预测模型，然后对我军某型现役装备使用阶段可靠性增长费用数据进行了预测与分析。结果表明，与一般的回归分析相比，基于支持向量机的回归模型具有很好的预测精度。