Sustainability and interactivity between cities and ports: a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach

Ports and cities are intrinsically linked. Port city, which serves as a link between the local and global economy, is an integration of both urban and port systems. Constrained by different regional structures, port cities have developed various formulations over time. Using a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach, this paper proposes a new method for measuring the sustainable development of different port city systems. While the previous empirical studies often separate the port system and the urban system, this paper assesses the two systems in an integrated way. Moreover, this paper develops a systematic methodology for measurement of sustainability. Twenty world-leading container port cities are selected for this study using contemporary data. The DEA results display their relative differences in levels of sustainable development, which reveal the effectiveness of the prevailing policies in them. Eventually, recommendations are drawn for other port cities by referring to the best practices.     

How do economies of density in container handling operations affect ships’ time and emissions in port? Evidence from Norwegian container terminals

Efficient port services are prerequisites for competitive and sustainable maritime transports. This paper makes advances in studying the determinants of the time that ships spend in port and the associated emissions to air. We estimate a production model for cargo handling based on a unique dataset containing each port of call at the largest container terminals in Norway in 2014. In turn, we use auxiliary engine emission factors to estimate particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions from ships at berth, to determine how the corresponding damage costs of air pollution vary with container throughput, location, and terminal investments. We find that Norwegian container terminals operate under increasing returns to density. Small ships that unload few containers are far from reaping economies of density, leading to high marginal time requirements for container handling and consequently high marginal external costs. From a Pigouvian taxation perspective, port charges should therefore be regressive in the number of containers handled. Moreover, we find that the external costs of maritime transports are severely understated when port operations are ignored. Our model allows determining the marginal productivities of port facilities. Thereby, it is instrumental in designing port charges that are diversified according to the quantity of containers handled and the service quality (i.e., the speed of handling operations). Regarding contextual factors, we find that establishing high-frequent liner services improves the ship working rate, while simultaneous calls at a terminal impede productivity. The type of container (loading/unloading; empty/laden) also appears to influence the duration of ship working.     

燃气轮机的大型集装箱船LNG燃料舱布置

为了满足环保新法规要求,很多船东首选LNG作为船用燃料。本文基于燃气轮机推进的大型集装箱船的布置特点及IGF规则的要求,对LNG燃料舱布置的位置和LNG燃料舱适用的形式进行了论证,获得了满足大型集装箱船性能需求和IGF规则要求的LNG燃料舱设计方案。     

37500m3乙烷运输船液货舱的载荷传递

本文针对为应对美国页岩气革命而研发的37,500m3全球最大型乙烷运输船,就超长的C型独立液货舱的静态载荷如何传递到船体结构,进行了深入地分析研究,设计了不同的载荷分布方式和相应的装载工况,并通过有限元方法进行了分析验证,得出了一些实用的结论,对今后采用C型独立液货舱的液化气船的设计提供了重要参考。     

集装箱运输组织信息集成模式研究

基于对集装箱运输组织流程的剖析,提出了集装箱运输组织信息的集成模式。这个模式涉及信息集成需求分析、体系结构的确定和基于多Agent的信息集成实现等内容。研究表明：集装箱运输组织必须得到来自不同信息源、具有不同特征的不同类型信息的支持、具有多数据源支持、集成分析功能多样和存储虚拟等特点．它可以通过建立虚拟视图的方式来实现基于多Agent的集装箱运输组织信息集成．     

Examining the influence of firm performance on business risk-taking and the mediation effect of scale of operations in the container terminal industry

Container shipping and its related service sectors help accelerate globalization of the world economy. This industry has been experiencing rapid growth, prompting container terminal operators to increase their handling capacity in response. Providing container terminal services requires substantial capital investment in physical assets such as cargo handling facilities and information systems. On the other hand, operating container terminals is a long-term investment that typically spans several business cycles. Hence prudent asset management using appropriate tools is critical for container terminal operators to sustain their businesses. Generally, due to risk-adverseness, investors are unwilling to take more risk in their investment unless they can reap a higher return. Contrary to this argument, this study finds no direct influence of better firm performance as a proxy of higher return on business risk-taking by container terminal operators. Instead, scale of operations is positively associated with business risk-taking, suggesting that container terminal operators with a larger scale of operations are willing to take more business risk.     

Evaluation of expected maximum values of forces acting on containers and lashing rods on a container ship

The appearance of a number of large container ships in the 8000 TEU range raises the importance of a plan for container lashing arrangements on deck in relation to the design of the ship. Therefore, it is expected that a new method for evaluating the lashing arrangements on deck will be introduced which is applicable regardless of the ship's size and the lashing pattern, instead of using the standards of several different societies, as happens at present. To evaluate the lashing arrangements on deck, the expected maximum values of the forces acting on the containers and lashing rods should be evaluated. This paper presents a new method of evaluating the container lashing arrangements on a container ship using an "acceleration ellipsoid." The applicability of the acceleration ellipsoid to an evaluation of the expected maximum values of the forces was examined by comparing the expected maximum values of the forces calculated by the long-term distribution calculation known as the "Fukuda method," to those calculated using the acceleration ellipsoid. By comparing these results, it was confirmed that the expected maximum values of the forces calculated using the acceleration ellipsoid were not less than those calculated through by the long-term distribution calculation. It is concluded that the acceleration ellipsoid can be used to evaluate the expected maximum values of the forces acting on containers and lashing rods. Received: December 14, 2000 / Accepted: March 22, 2001     

A critical review of container security operations

Containers, which permit fast and safe handling between modal systems, are the main equipment used in intermodal transport. Unfortunately, enhancement of the efficiency and velocity of container operations has created a breach in traditional security, also known as container security. This paper presents a critical literature review of container security operations. We aim to identify current trends and future research directions in container security. We propose a classification framework based on the following elements: presenting the container security perspective, identifying threats, evaluating container security, balancing costs/benefits and the degree of security, balancing time savings/reduction and the degree of security, and securing containerized transportation processes. We discuss the current studies of these problems, the methodologies adopted and important insights into container security.     

Liner ship route schedule design with port time windows

This paper examines a practical tactical liner ship route schedule design problem, which is the determination of the arrival and departure time at each port of call on the ship route. When designing the schedule, the availability of each port in a week, i.e., port time window, is incorporated. As a result, the designed schedule can be applied in practice without or with only minimum revisions. This problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear nonconvex optimization model. In view of the problem structure, an efficient holistic solution approach is proposed to obtain global optimal solution. The proposed solution method is applied to a trans-Atlantic ship route. The results demonstrate that the port time windows, port handling efficiency, bunker price and unit inventory cost all affect the total cost of a ship route, the optimal number of ships to deploy, and the optimal schedule.     

散化船洗舱水接收设施配备和管理的现状及建议

文中介绍了洗舱水接收设施的配备要求和客观需求,找出洗舱水接收设施配备和管理中存在的主要问题,并深入剖析,提出了针对性的建议。