Capturing and sharing knowledge in supply chains in the maritime transport sector: critical issues

Modern businesses in the maritime transport industry are interfacing with a dynamic, increasingly complex, information-driven world. Information and knowledge are increasingly the intangible assets on which business sustainability and growth are founded. Knowledge is a dynamic, social resource. Trading networks are significant communities of practice. To create new knowledge from these, firms utilize learning contexts. In these learning contexts, participants interact and identify, capture and share new information. The learning context needs to facilitate the prevalence of these processes. The role and significance of the context to the capture and sharing of business learning and lifelong learning is considered in this paper. It investigates critical issues in the management of this learning context to enhance competitive advantage in supply chains and networks. Given the current and potential future skills shortages in the industry, key policy implications, such as the integration of work experience into the learning cycle, encouraging lifelong learning and the provision of dual sector pathways are outlined.     

Conceptual framework for Comparing University baccalaureate programmes in shipping management

For a long time, a maritime education meant the education of a mariner where technical knowledge of seafaring was taught. However, shipping has evolved into a global and sophisticated business where two kinds of managers are required: one that deals with the operation of the vessel and the other that deals with the shore-side business. The education landscape for shipping has also evolved with time. A mariner’s education has evolved from apprenticeship on a ship to a professional certificate from maritime academies. The shore-side business is traditionally staffed by master mariners that made the career transition from sea to shore but the current staffing trend is to employ graduates schooled in business and/or management. It has been long recognised that shore-side business personnel should ideally be also knowledgeable in vessel operations. Under this scenario, several maritime degree programmes have cropped up around the world to bridge the knowledge gap of shore-side business personnel. This paper provides an overview of the evolution of maritime education and selected maritime degree programmes around the world and proposes a conceptual framework for comparing the programmes. The conceptual framework serves as a guide for evaluating maritime education and an aid to curriculum design where choices of courses need to be made to fit into a 3-year or 4-year study programme.     

Crew resource management training in the maritime industry: a literature review

The study is based on a literature review of recent empirical research on crew resource management (CRM) training in the maritime industry, organised around what non-technical skills to learn and how. The review indicates that existing work is dominated by individualistic theories of learning with less focus on learning as a social process. Five main categories of skills that need to be trained are identified: assertiveness, decision-making, communication, situation awareness and team coordination. We argue that it is necessary to operationalise these broad concepts further, emphasising the work context and crew-specific needs. The review also shows that a combination of classroom lectures and simulator-based exercises is commonly used in maritime education and training in these skills. The learning effect seems to be suffering from training programmes that are exported ‘as is’ from aviation and not adjusted to the maritime domain or to operation-specific needs. This paper examines maritime crew resource management training from a social learning perspective, involving the view that learning is a context bound, social process that might take place in communities of practice (CoP). A CoP is a group (e.g. a crew) wherein members share an activity and learn from each other. It is argued that CRM training programmes will benefit from including a social learning perspective. Factors that enable the assessment of teams are discussed, and it is argued that the training should be tailored to existing crews, emphasising a learning environment as close to reality as possible.     

Effective maritime security: conceptual model and empirical evidence

In recent years, the issue of maritime security has become a major concern on the international maritime agenda. One of the issues in this respect is how to enhance security while not jeopardizing organizational efficiency and effectiveness, or to manage security effectively, e.g. facilitating the smooth flows of materials while enhancing supply chain security at the same time. In addressing this issue, we place three cornerstones for the effective management of security in maritime transport: quality management (QM), risk management (RM) and business continuity management (BCM). A conceptual model of effective maritime security, including 13 dimensions and 24 associated critical success factors, is devised following this reasoning. The model was tested through a survey of 119 maritime transport organizations and 25 interviews conducted in Vietnam. Findings support that all proposed 24 factors are valid and should be used as critical factors for success in effectively managing security in maritime transport, in that those involving security incident handling and response are rated as the most important in magnitude, along with security risk assessment, risk-based security mitigation strategies and plans, and senior management commitment and leadership. Managers can use the model designed and tested in this research to develop a checklist of essential components for their company's security management policies, strategies and plans. The use of a universal checklist to evaluate maritime security management would also greatly facilitate benchmarking across organizations in the industry.     

Knowledge management for maritime logistics value: discussing conceptual issues

This paper introduces the concept of maritime logistics value as one of the most significant strategic goals that maritime operators want to achieve. The value is reflected in operational efficiency (e.g. reducing lead time and business costs) and service effectiveness (e.g. flexibility, responsiveness and reliability in the service). Drawing from key theories and practices in strategic management such as knowledge-based perspective and social network embeddedness perspective, this paper adopts a knowledge management strategy as a way to create and sustain the maritime logistics value. A conceptual framework is established for the exploration of the way to acquire knowledge and the effectiveness of the acquired knowledge in maximising the maritime logistics value. Following the parameters of this framework, the positive relationship between social networks, knowledge acquisition and maritime logistics value is identified, and its relevant theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

海上中高频无线数字语音通信技术的探讨

文中探讨了如何在海上中高频无线信道实现数字语音通信，并阐述了应用的关键技术。     

The perception and image of shipping

The image of the shipping industry plays a vital role in developing maritime transport as a major future, sustainable transport alternative. In particular, it is crucial to understand the image the shipping industry has among young people and the anatomy of the concept in order to be able to effectively promote careers in shipping, to cultivate shipping as an attractive labour market and to develop attractive educational programmes. The focus of this paper is the image of the shipping industry. This study reports on the findings of a large-scale survey of the image of shipping- and image-related concepts among upper secondary school pupils in Sweden, Norway and Greece. We define and analyse empirically by means of multivariate statistical analysis the anatomy of the image concept. We identify various image dimensions, estimate how young people rate the shipping industry along these dimensions and estimate their relative importance to young people who are planning their future careers. The results from this study can be used as a base for describing and explaining the images that young people have of the shipping industry. Such knowledge is fundamental for deriving and developing constructive strategies to promote careers in shipping, to adapt shipping to the expectations of young people and to develop creative and relevant educational programmes. Finally, understanding the image of shipping among young people is important not only for the shipping industry, but for other stakeholders as well, such as ship-owners associations, trade associations, labour unions, transport authorities and administrations and policy makers at the national and supra-national level.     

海上超视距空基骨干网构建

针对海上编队活动半径的不断扩大对高可靠性超视距通信保障手段需求,提出基于空中平台构建海上超视距空基骨干网技术体制设想,分析关键技术及实现途径,为编队超视距大容量通信手段建设提供思路。     

Pursuing maritime education: an empirical study of students’ profiles,motivations and expectations

This study reveals the profiles, motivations, and expectations of students pursuing undergraduate maritime programmes. Although a number of tertiary institutions offer maritime programmes, the characteristics and structures of the demands for such programmes remain under-researched. This paper illustrates and discusses the results of a survey completed by students pursuing undergraduate programmes in maritime business and management at three universities in Asia and Europe, and compares them with the findings of a database examining similar issues towards postgraduate students within the same institutions. Research highlights include the tendency of undergraduate students to combine studies and work, considering real-world experiences as a vital contributor to career prospects. Shipping (notably tankers, dry bulks and containers) stands out as the ideal professional paths within the maritime industries. Another key finding is that the current marketing strategies of the institutions are rather irrelevant. This paper provides a solid foundation for understanding the profile students pursuing maritime programmes and contributes to the effective planning and management of maritime programmes, thus to the overall professional quality of the maritime industries.     

Maritime policy and management--30 years issue for Prof. James McConville Editorial: IMO--The economics of intimidation

Organizational Effectiveness (OE) is a rather new concept in the port business literature and not widely studied before. From the systems perspective, this concept focuses on the goals of the organization, the resources needed to achieve these goals, and the relationship between the organization and its environment. The reason behind choosing a systems approach is the significant role of seaports as open systems affected by changes and developments in world trade, supply chain and logistics trends, maritime transport, and technological developments. While seaports are multi-faceted organizations that constitute different interdependent and integrated units in their structure, they can also be regarded as the subsystems of the supply chain system. As being the social and technical systems, port organizations have unique characteristics that should be examined in detail to assess their effectiveness. To assess the effectiveness of port organizations, principally a set of effectiveness measures applicable to seaports should be determined. The main aim of this study is to assess the relative importance of the main effectiveness criteria in seaports and to determine the significance of main inputs and port subsystems which can be referred as the means to achieve effectiveness. By using the systems approach, the inputs, the processes, and the outputs of the port organizations are clearly defined with a conceptual model. Thirty-three statements have been developed under the main categories in the systems model and a two-round delphi survey is conducted, and qualitative analysis of the experts’ opinions is carried out. The results of the delphi survey show that the main port inputs are port infrastructure, equipments, technology, and port labor; the major port processes are ship and cargo operations together with the logistics services, safety and security, information technologies, and marketing; and the most important effectiveness measures for the seaports are productivity, efficiency, service quality, adaptability, information and communication management, profitability, human resource quality, and customer satisfaction.     

现代卫星技术在航运业的应用

现代卫星技术已广泛应用在船舶卫星定位、海上遇险通信、船岸和船舶间通信、船舶监控和业务管理、船员休闲通信等方面,而且卫星技术发展对航海教育产生了较大的影响,如何适应卫星技术的发展是航运界应该研究的问题。     

基于二重选择性分集的海事短波数字通信性能分析

从目前船舶海事短波通信的现状出发,对采用ARQ技术的数字窄带直接印字电报(NBDP)传输信息恒比码码组的回传概率和剩余错组率进行了分析,指出了现行短波通信存在的缺点和不足。提出将二重选择性接收分集技术用于海上短波通信的想法,并对改进后的系统性能参数进行了理论和数值分析。在信噪比同样的条件下,得出了使用天线选择性二重分集技术的海上短波通信系统能有效地提高通信质量和降低ARQ的重传概率和剩余错组率。结论为更好地利用短波通信系统进行海事数字通信提供理论依据。     

Nautical training systems and the occupational behaviour of seamen: the Israeli experience

One of the most serious and persisting problems confronting the shipping companies of all the developed maritime nations is the retention of seafarers who will yield long periods of service at sea. Turnover and wastage involves considerable expenses in recruiting and training of new seafarers. One of the means for the recruitment and retention of seafarers is the vocational nautical school system. In contrast to general education, where the objectives are diffuse, vocational institutions have very specific functions. Their achievements are therefore generally measured by means of the relative number of graduates who enter and remain in the industry for which they were trained. The present study examines the problem of the commitment to the maritime occupation of graduates of nautical schools in Israel in recent years, and it attempts to evaluate nautical education by examining the proportion of graduates who actually entered the maritime occupation and the extent of their stability at sea. No attempt is made to evaluate the economic efficiency of the nautical training system.     

Environmental awareness and practice concerning maritime air emissions: the case of the Greek shipping industry

One of the most urgent environmental problems facing the shipping industry today is the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from its operations and the possible cost-effective ways in which this reduction could be accomplished. Various technical and operational measures have been proposed as well as market-based instruments for the achievement of the compliance of marine industry with these measures. This paper investigates the levels of environmental awareness of the Greek shipping companies and their views and practices on the proposed policies for the reduction of GHG emissions from their ships. A survey was carried out using a questionnaire distributed to Greek shipping companies of different sizes, involved in different segments of the marine industry, so that the survey's results not only represent a large part of the Greek shipping industry but also reveal the different environmental attitudes and practices on maritime GHG emissions among the shipping companies. Given the size and the importance of the Greek shipping industry in the international maritime field, this paper's results present a special significance as they could be further analyzed and taken into account for the achievement of the compliance of marine industry with any future policy instrument for the reduction of maritime GHG emissions.     

A method for extracting key performance indicators from maritime safety management norms

The maritime transportation industry currently employs several mandatory and non-mandatory norms of organizational safety management. These safety norms are commonly included in integrated maritime safety management systems, which aim at developing, monitoring, controlling and improving the safety of all related shipping operations. These systems are typically evaluated by following key performance indicators, which enable defined measures for various safety management components. However, the identification of indicators addressing safety management requirements constitutes a complex and generally unsystematic process for safety managers in the maritime industry. This article proposes a new method to assess the guidelines available in maritime safety management norms. The proposed method is applied to assess the content of two maritime safety management norms. The aim of this assessment is to identify a set of maritime safety management indicators that can systematically measure the most relevant components of maritime safety management. The application of this method resulted in the identification of 53 key performance indicators for monitoring and reviewing 23 identified safety management components that are commonly integrated into the functioning of maritime safety management systems. The method proposed provides guidance to accurately capture the actual aim and function of the key performance indicators. Furthermore, the indicators and safety components obtained with this method can be adopted as the basis for a safety management system and/or for the analysis of a safety management system already established in the industry.     

全球电子航海战略对海员教育培训的影响

随着现代科技在航海技术上的应用,给传统的航海设备和技术带来了深刻变化,尤其电子航海战略的全面实施势必对未来航海运输业产生进步而深远的影响。文中通过对电子航海战略实施给船舶、船员带来新变化的分析,从海事主管部门、航海院校和航运企业等不同角度提出了应对措施。     

Critical factors for successful implementation of the ISM Code in some Pacific Islands states

Although the International Safety Management (ISM) Code was fully implemented from July 1st 2002, not all countries signatories to the Code, particularly developing countries such as Pacific Islands states, are successful in the introduction and implementation of the instrument. In this paper, we aim to determine factors that facilitate the successful implementation of the ISM Code particularly for the above-named region. Through a thorough literature review, a model of 11 critical factors for the Code implementation success was proposed. These factors were empirically tested using the triangulation of a survey of a group of maritime administration personnel and shipping companies in Fiji and two indepth interviews with senior officers in the Samoa Maritime Administration during the period June–August 2007. The proposed factors were verified by both survey respondents and interview informants, i.e., that maritime safety awareness rooted in a safety culture, senior management commitment and leadership across organisations and the industry, employee involvement and empowerment, enforcement capability of flag state administrations, application of quality management principles in safety management systems, rationalisation of documentation, among others, are essential to the successful implementation of the Code. This research hopes to contribute to the literature and to provide maritime administrations and shipping companies in the Pacific Islands states with additional reference and information that will help expedite the effective implementation of the ISM Code. The need for future research directions is expressed in this paper. Additional investigations, e.g., conducting the same research in other Pacific Islands states as well as in other developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region, would enhance the validity and reliability of this study’s findings.     

The perceived importance of employment considerations in the decisions of students to enrol on undergraduate courses in Maritime Business in Britain

In recent years, external pressures on maritime businesses have increased their need to employ high calibre personnel, educated to respond effectively to these pressures. Set against this requirement, the onus of acquiring a university education has shifted to the individual, as state subsidies to individuals seeking to undertake higher education in British universities have declined, and many corporate training programmes have been aimed at meeting the needs of an organization rather than the individuals within them. If the future supply of graduates is to match ongoing industrial requirements, one needs to understand why students enrol on particular courses, and how importantly they perceive employment considerations to be when making their decisions. This paper reports on a survey of why students at several British universities chose to enrol on undergraduate courses in Maritime Business, and considers the implications of its findings for ensuring that an adequate supply of suitably educated graduates will continue to be available to meet industrial needs.     

“绿色船舶”的探讨

２１世纪将是一个发展与环保的新世纪。世界经济的发展必将促进航运业的发展，船舶的增加、航线的密集又会带来环境的严重污染。世界商船向“绿色船舶”过渡是发展生产力，保护海洋和大气环境的必由之路。本文试从公约、法规的强制性要求，技术装置的必要保证及管理培训措施落实诸方面来探讨“绿色船舶”研制和运行这一课题。并提请有关部门联合开发，跟上世界航运界这一新的潮流。     

Management and labour in shipping: A role for co-operatives

The employment and management policies of the shipping industry are in legal and administrative confusion. The shipping industry is struggling with an unworkable global governance based on flag state sovereignty and a sanctionless international regulatory regime. Seafarers suffer most from this state of affairs, but so do the shipping industry’s public image. Few co-operatives of maritime workers exist in national or international shipping. A new employment theory is long overdue. Human centred management policies can only attain their full potential through co-operative or mutual associations. This paper describes the application of enlightened and socially conscious management principles to the shipping industry. Seafarers’ co-operatives are the future organisational building blocks of the shipping industry. Co-operatives can rescue maritime workers from developing countries from exploitation and the debilitating effects of casual labour by providing “all in one” seagoing and shore based professional careers. Seafarers’ co-operatives can solve the shipping industry’s maritime training and education problems. The seven universal principles of co-operative management will guide shipping management in setting human centred objectives that command respect of those who come in contact with the shipping industry.