Maritime liner shipping and the stevedoring industry: market structure and competition strategies

Globalization, liberalization, competition and spatial interaction are significant factors affecting the transformation of manufacturing industries worldwide. In the transportation and logistics industry, however, cooperation is becoming even more critical than competition in determining firms' efficiency. Cooperation has always characterized the liner sector in which strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions have generated twin effects: notable increases in ship size and falls in freight rates. Meanwhile, the stevedoring industry is undergoing privatization-driven consolidation and the emergence of global pure terminal operators. This article focuses on vertical integration between global carriers and terminal operators. We address the following key current issues:

• dedicated terminals as a strategy for cutting costs and controlling integrated transport chains;
• the struggle for supply chain control, involving global carriers versus global terminal operators, driven by financial power and technical and managerial capability.

We close analysing one of the core problems of the market, namely the evolving role of the dedicated terminals. For the pure stevedores they represent an opportunity to secure a cargo, while in the hands of the liners they enable cost stability and the possibility to put pressure on pure terminal operators.     

A study of passenger discomfort measures at the Hong Kong mass transit railway system

This note investigates the important attributes relating to the crowding effects at the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) stations in Hong Kong. Data was collected at two sets of three MTR stations to study the responses of the passengers due to the discomfort at crowded vehicles and platforms. Stated preference surveys were used to study the effects of passenger discomfort measures.     

Investment strategies in market uncertainty

The nature of the global economy is one of dynamic change. Shipping is a service industry with its demand related to changes in international trade levels and patterns. As a consequence shipping is subject to sometimes unpredictable swings in demand so that the operator is required to make strategic planning decisions while navigating through boom or bust environments. While boom economies generate rising freight rates which are welcomed and encourage investment, ship operators may also have to face falling freight demand and declining freight rates that may have significant impact on profitability, often falling to uneconomic levels for extended periods. In such a period of uncertainty and declining profitability management will make operational decisions to reduce costs. However, shipping lines operate in a market environment so any decisions made to rationalize the trade may have significant long-term competitive implications. For example, traditional micro economic theory might suggest that the prudent strategy to adopt would be to close down the operation and reopen when the market conditions improve. In a world of certainty or when costs of taking this action are zero, this would be a valid strategy. However, because of fear of competitors taking up a line's market share if the shipping company exits, even temporarily, this strategy cannot be valued simply in terms of shut-down and start-up costs. A further consideration is the fact that standard capital budgeting techniques, such as Net Present Value (NPV), cannot incorporate the flexibility to respond to new information and strategic responses explicitly into their investment analysis. This paper will demonstrate the use of Real Option Analysis (ROA) to provide guidelines for decisions about closing operations in adverse market conditions.     

Ground truthing sediment profile imagery with traditional benthic survey data along an established disturbance gradient

Macrobenthic surveys are an expensive, slow and labour intensive means to establish the health of benthic communities. Sediment profile imagery (SPI) is a means of rapid reconnaissance for monitoring large areas of the benthos. SPI has often been used to monitor gross anthropogenic disturbance. The aim of this study is to determine if SPI can be used as a tool to reliably map change in communities along natural estuarine gradients. Macrobenthic sampling was carried out at five stations along an established estuarine gradient. This faunal data was analysed using standard multivariate techniques and to ground truth a concurrent SPI survey. Faunal analysis showed that habitat quality in Inner Galway Bay was generally good, with some localised disturbance from the River Corrib and the sewage out flow exterior to the city dock. Four distinct groups were identified with a degree of overlap occurring between stations 3 and 4. While existing SPI indices mapped habitat quality in the same manner as the faunal data for end member stations, the level of distinction between the habitats of an intermediate staging was found to be poor. This lack of distinction amongst the stage 2 and 3 stations was overcome by developing a tailored index, the Galway Bay index of habitat quality (GBHQ). This index was derived from the 5 observed variables in the SPI data that were determined to best match the faunal distribution by permutative mantel testing. The 5 observed variables from the SPI data were the depth of the apparent redox potential discontinuity (aRPD), the depth of penetration by the prism, and the presence/absence of infauna, surface faecal pellet layer and biogenic mounding. The GBHQ was able to distinguish between the 5 stations to a greater extent than previously described indices, showing clearly the separate groupings defined by the faunal data. The index was tested on a follow up SPI survey and shown to be applicable in mapping a broader range of habitats in Galway Bay. Indices generated for localised mapping of estuarine gradients should be derived from observed features and be ground truthed using faunal data. Some aspects of the GBHQ should be generally applicable to fine grained boreal estuarine sediments (aRPD/penetration), while others may be of limited utility in other locations depending on the digging characteristics of the particular SPI camera, and local factors influencing the persistence of biogenic features in the profile. This derivation technique provides a simple way to optimise SPI to particular studies and localities.     

Topological analysis of powertrains for refuse-collecting vehicles based on real routes–Part I: Hybrid hydraulic powertrain

In this two-part paper, a topological analysis of powertrains for refuse-collecting vehicles (RCVs) based on the simulation of different architectures (internal combustion engine, hybrid electric, and hybrid hydraulic) on real routes is proposed. In this first part, a characterization of a standard route is performed, analyzing the average power consumption and the most frequent working points of an internal combustion engine (ICE) in real routes. This information is used to define alternative powertrain architectures. A hybrid hydraulic powertrain architecture is proposed and modelled. The proposed powertrain model is executed using two different control algorithms, with and without predictive strategies, with data obtained from real routes. A calculation engine (an algorithm which runs the vehicle models on real routes), is presented and used for simulations. This calculation engine has been specifically designed to analyze if the different alternative powertrain delivers the same performance of the original ICE. Finally, the overall performance of the different architectures and control strategies are summarized into a fuel and energy consumption table, which will be used in the second part of this paper to compare with the different architectures based on hybrid electric powertrain. The overall performance of the different architectures indicates that the use of a hybrid hydraulic powertrain with simple control laws can reduce the fuel consumption up to a 14 %.     

Impact of ICT access on personal activity space and greenhouse gas production: evidence from Quebec City, Canada

This paper presents an approach to investigating the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on travel behaviour and its environmental effects. The paper focuses on the spatial dispersion of out-of-home activities and travel (activity space) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) at the level of the individual. An original method, combining spatial analysis in a geographic information system with advanced regression techniques, is proposed to explore these potentially complex relationships in the case of access to mobile phones and the internet, while taking into account the influence of socio-economics and built environment factors. The proposed methodology is tested using a 7-day activity-based survey in Quebec City in 2003?C2004, a juncture of particular interest because these ICTs had recently crossed the threshold of 40?% (mobile phone) and 60?% (home-based internet) penetration at the time. The study period also largely pre-dates the era of mobile internet access. Among other results, socio-demographic factors were found to significantly affect both ICT access and travel out-comes. The built environment, represented by neighbourhood typologies, also played an important role. However, it was found that after controlling for the self-selection effect, built environment and socio-demographics, those who had a mobile phone available produced 30?% more GHGs during the observed week than those who did not. This higher level of GHG pro-duction was accompanied by a 12?% higher measure of activity dispersion. On the other hand, having internet access at home was associated with lower GHGs (?19?%) and lesser activity dispersion (?25?%). Possibly, mobile phones enable individuals to cover more space and produce more emissions, while the internet provides opportunities to stay at home or avoid motorized travel thus reducing emissions. The estimated effects of having a mobile phone were not only negative but also larger in magnitude from the environmental point of view than those of fixed internet access. However, the results of this study also suggest that access to mobile phones and internet may have substantial and compensatory effects at the individual level that are undetected when using model structures that do not take into account that unobserved factors may influence both ICT choices and travel outcomes.     

How household transportation expenditures have evolved in Canada: a long term perspective

In recent years, increasing recognition of the challenges associated with global climate change and inequity in developed countries have revived researcher’s interest towards analyzing transportation related expenditure of households. The current research contributes to travel behaviour literature by developing an econometric model of household budgetary allocations with a particular focus on transportation expenditure. Towards this end, we employ the public-use micro-data extracted from the Survey of Household Spending (SHS) for the years 1997–2009. The proposed econometric modeling approach is built on the multiple discrete continuous extreme value model (MDCEV) framework. Specifically, in our analysis, the scaled version of the MDCEV model outperformed its other counterparts. Broadly, the model results indicated that a host of household socio-economic and demographic attributes along with the residential location characteristics affect the apportioning of income to various expenditure categories and savings. We also observed a relatively stable transportation spending behaviour over time. Additionally, a policy analysis exercise is conducted where we observed that with increase in health expenses and reduction in savings results in adjustments in all expenditure categories.     

Numerical Simulation of Advanced Geological Forecasting Based on Multi- Source Seismic Interferometry北大核心CSCD

For existing advanced geological forecasting, the forecast distance is short and the test frequency is high, increasing test and construction risks. Since various methods have different requirements for the test environ-ment, preparation work can be tedious and result in a long construction time thereby affecting normal construction.A new advanced geological forecast technique based on multi-source seismic interferometry for tunnels is proposed.This technique uses the blast at one end of tunnel as a centrum and receives the signal at the other end of the tun-nel, therefore allowing advanced geological forecasting of the unexcavated tunnel part by relative processing and im-aging. A numerical simulation of this kind of geological forecasting using the finite difference method to simulate two kinds of unfavorable geological bodies (karst and a fault) predicted them accurately and verified the effective-ness and accuracy of this geological forecasting method. © 2018, Editorial Office of "Modern Tunnelling Technology". All right reserved.     

在建盾构隧道突发管片破损病害成因分析及治理措施研究北大核心CSCD

盾构法广泛应用于我国城市轨道交通隧道的建设中,盾构管片的病害问题也越发受到重视。文章针对某地铁在建盾构隧道突发管片破损病害,绘制了管片破损病害展布图,分析了相关资料和检测数据,明确了病害的成因机理,制定并实施了相应治理措施。研究结果表明:管片背后大范围空洞导致围岩对隧道的约束不足,引起已成型隧道在盾构机反推力和扭矩、同步注浆浆液浮力、刀盘水土压力和扭矩等作用下发生类压杆弯扭失稳是导致该病害的主要原因;隧道变形监测数据表明"背后注浆填充+破损部位修复"两阶段治理措施取得了良好的治理效果;盾构隧道施工过程中,应严格管控同步注浆质量,防止隧道轴线偏移引起盾构管片发生开裂破损等病害。