‘Only work and sleep’: seafarers’ perceptions of job demands of short sea cargo shipping lines and their effects on work and life on board

Previous research on job demands in seafaring has focused on the effects of workload and circadian disturbance on seafarers’ health and fatigue. Taking a more comprehensive approach, this study identifies job demands of short sea cargo shipping lines and explores their effects on work and life on board. Data came from 54 interviews with officers and crew on five cargo ships. Findings revealed job demands related to characteristics of the schedule, ports, and sea voyages; these were not only associated with workload and circadian disturbance, but also with the difficulty of the work, the ability to plan ahead, and intrusions from third parties. Job demands affected outcomes through two interconnected processes. First, job demands had direct and indirect effects on fatigue and the working climate on board. Second, potential positive effects of job demands (i.e. interesting work and pay) were related to motivation and, together with a good working climate, could reduce turnover. Connecting the two processes, a good working climate was pivotal in counteracting negative emotions and supporting motivation and collaboration. In this way, it functioned as a key resource. External constraints could either buffer or reinforce these effects.     

金沙江梯级开发航运发展条件研究

介绍金沙江中下游航道与港口现状及发展规划和水电开发利用规划,对金沙江航运经济腹地进行综合交通运输体系分析并对典型路径运输成本进行测算。在调研分析的基础上,对金沙江客货运量和主要港口吞吐量进行预测。结合水电梯级开发对航道条件的影响,分析金沙江航道开发潜能,提出长江干线航道上延至金沙江的合理区段。针对金沙江中下游4个水电枢纽的现场条件,分析适应翻坝运输的货种对象,提出过坝线路选择与运输组织的原则,开展"水-陆-水"翻坝运输方案与"陆-水"公路短途驳运方案的技术经济分析。以期为金沙江攀枝花—水富段航运资源开发论证提供参考。     

Evaluating economic and environmental value of liner vessel sharing along the maritime silk road

The Belt and Road initiative is a novel exploration of China towards strategic collaboration with Eurasia countries to an extent of a larger scale with higher and deeper level of cooperation. To meet the growing global demand of transportation, increasing numbers of liner shipping companies collaborate and form alliances to share vessel capacity and reduce capital costs. Effective liner shipping vessel sharing is essential for the Belt and Road initiative in terms of building efficient maritime transport networks. In promoting environmental development, shipping companies are required to attain higher environmental standards. However, limited literature relates vessel sharing to environmental performance. This paper studies the impacts of liner vessel sharing from the economic and environmental perspectives. Two container allocation models are developed for the two scenarios: with and without vessel sharing. The carbon emissions in transportation are calculated under both scenarios. Numerical studies are carried out using services along the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic (CIPE) Corridor. Liner shipping companies could benefit from vessel sharing in terms of significant profit improvement. Vessel sharing could also benefit the environment by reducing the CO₂ emissions dramatically.     

The environmental costs and economic implications of container shipping on the Northern Sea Route

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) has tremendous potential for ocean shipping between Europe and Asia due to the savings from shorter transit time and distance. However, the Arctic area is environmentally vulnerable and thus there is a trade-off between NSR’s impacts on environment vs. its economic benefits, especially when compared with the traditional route, such as through the Suez Canal Route (SCR). This study estimates the market shares of different transport modes and alternative shipping routes for the container transport market between Europe and Asia, and the resulting environmental costs. Our result suggests that NSR can be a viable option under the status quo. However, its environmental costs tend to be higher than SCR due to small ship size and low load factor in the present, thus the development of NSR would lead to worse environment outcomes. If these issues can be resolved, NSR can benefit from lower operational and environmental costs, which will lead to higher market share and social welfare. Otherwise, increased use of NSR may lead to higher total environment costs than the status quo.     

Economic feasibility of an NSR/SCR-combined container service on the Asia-Europe lane: a new approach dynamically considering sea ice extent

The trend towards global warming and the rapid decline in the extent of summer Arctic sea ice over recent years has increased the feasibility of international Arctic shipping. In this study we propose a seasonal NSR (North Sea Route)/SCR (Suez Canal Route)-combined shipping service linking Shanghai and Rotterdam, using the Northern Sea Route during the economical navigable window but using the traditional Suez Canal Route at other times. Different from the previous literatures, this paper dynamically considers the sea ice extent in the model, which is more reasonable for the assessment of Arctic container shipping, because fuel consumption is highly related to ship speed, while ship speed is determined by the relative distances of ice-covered and ice-free route stages. A new approach is developed to predict the time points at which the ship enters and exits the ice-covered stage, given that both the ship position and the extent of sea ice are constantly changing. The results show that the NSR/SCR-combined Arctic container service can be more economical than the SCR, given lower NSR tariffs.     

The human talent and its role in ISM Code effectiveness and competitiveness in the shipping industry

The present study empirically evaluates the role of human talent in the effective implementation of quality management systems in the shipping industry context. Specifically, we analyze the relationships among top management commitment to quality, ISM (International Safety Management) Code effectiveness and competitiveness as well as we assess the influence of talent in these associations. We test our research hypotheses using a sample of 199 shipping companies located in Greece. The findings show that ISM Code effectiveness acts as a mediator between top management commitment and shipping company competitiveness, while the different talent philosophies were found to moderate this relationship.     

绿色航运发展趋势及燃料电池船舶的应用前景

船舶与港口排放带来了日益严重的环境污染问题,燃料电池作为船舶新能源技术之一,因其效率高、排放清洁、噪声和震动小等优异特性,在船舶节能减排和绿色航运发展中倍受关注。本文分析了我国绿色航运发展趋势,进而介绍了船舶新能源技术和燃料电池技术及特性。综述了燃料电池船舶在国内外的研究与应用进展,重点讨论了燃料电池船舶应用前景,展望了燃料电池船舶的未来发展方向。     

半潜驳艏倾下潜加起重船吊扶出运大型沉箱工艺

针对沉箱出运时半潜驳平潜作业稳性不满足规范要求和下潜深度存在不足的问题进行了分析,提出了利用半潜驳艏倾下潜加起重船吊扶来弥补的措施。沉箱出运结果表明,这种方法是切实可行的,对类似工程沉箱出运具有参考价值。     

基于数据仓库的船舶运输智能决策支持系统

为解决业务数据量的不断增加导致传统船舶运输决策支持系统难以满足实际要求的问题,提出了基于数据仓库的船舶运输智能决策支持系统。设计了具有基础数据层、分析管理层、决策功能层和交互层的四层体系结构,建立了船舶运输数据仓库,使用联机分析处理技术将大量的源数据转化为有用的信息,服务于决策过程,实现了定性与定量相结合的船舶运输决策支持。采用Fortran和VB两种语言混合编程技术实现了系统执行效率的优化。     

高功率因数变流器在电力推进船舶谐波抑制中的应用

变流设备的广泛使用导致电力推进船舶电网大量谐波的产生和功率因数的降低。介绍两种治理谐波的主要措施——功率因数校正和多相整流技术,探讨了一种能提高功率因数的电力变流电路——高功率因数变流器,并对由移相电抗器构造的12脉波整流技术进行原理简述,给出了高功率因数三相无源变流器的电路拓扑结构与仿真模型。仿真结果表明,使用高功率因数变流器既能有效地抑制谐波又能提高功率因数。