Angela Stefania Bergantino

Monetary values of transport service attributes: land versus maritime ro-ro transport. An application using adaptive stated preferences

The objective of this work is that of illustrating a methodology to derive, in terms of trade-offs, the relative values of transport service attributes for logistics operators. In particular, the analysis yields insights on the preferences for time-savings, frequency and reliability of the transport service in terms of price, of a sample of freight forwarders located in the South of Italy. The data is gathered using an Adaptive Stated Preference application and the estimates are obtained through a Tobit ML estimator on both company specific data and pooled data. The results show that frequency is the most highly rated characteristic of the service together with reliability. The value of time is significantly lower in both cases. The outcome is consistent across estimations and, substantially in line with the outcome of previous studies carried out on operators active at different levels of the transport-logistic chain. Until now, in fact, studies have been carried out uniquely on carriers or producers. The selection of freight forwarders allows to shed light on a segment of the market that accounts for more than half of the transport-related decisions. Furthermore, the present study focuses on a comparison between all land transport and maritime ro-ro alternatives, in line with the growing interest on the integration among transport modes. The output signals both the absence of any a priori preclusion for ro-ro maritime services and the extremely important role that frequency of service assumes for the development and the establishment of maritime services as realistic alternatives to all land transport.

Factors influencing the choice of flag: empirical evidence

The aim of this paper is to analyse the decision-making process of shipowners when adopting flags of registration. More specifically, it is interested in examining the relative importance of the factors related to an individual companys decision to flag out. The decision to change flag is viwed as similar to any other strategic decision by a profit maximizing firm (shipping company) and therefore those variables which influence the attractiveness, for a given firm, of taking the flagging out decision are analysed. The approach is two-fold in that it employs both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The research is innovative in the sense that it uses an econometric approach and the analysis is based on original data which has been obtained by the authors via a questionnarie and personal interviews with members of the UK shipping industry. The results deal with two particular sectors namely the tanker and general cargo markets and provide an insight into the magnitude and significance of various factors which affect the choice of flag. It is able to provide indications of the likelihood of a particular vessel being flagged out under different cirumstaces and, further, to consider how changes in these circumstances might affect the probability of the event occuring. The paper is structured in six parts comprising an introduction, back ground, methodology, qualitative analysis, econometric analysis, and conclusions.

CHANGING OWNERSHIP STRUCTURES IN THE DUTCH FLEET

The new Dutch shipping policy has given rise to high expectation and curiosity in the world of shipping. This, together with the obvious difficulties of an ex-post study of the effectiveness of such innovative policy, has prompted the authors to take an interest in attempting to investigate changes in ownership of the Dutch fleet 2 years after the new policy has been introduced. To do this, a rather new concept of ‘flagging out’ has been adopted, which is interpreted as a process leading to different degrees of ‘foreignness’ in a shipping operation. In this paper, a method to structure is presented, and ownership information, and changes in it are presented, that are essentially based on the theory of stochastic processes. The data used is the Dutch fleet data, which includes information on the nationality of the flag, parent ownership and management over the period 1994–1998. The results yield interesting insights in the shifts in the ownership and operational structure of shipping companies induced by the new policy. In particular, they allow one to establish the origin of new vessels, in which stage of ownership/operation it is most likely that shifts occur, and to determine the relationship between the different stages of the ‘flagging out’ process. These results, thus, enable an evaluation of the areas in which the policy can be expected to yield results.

A Multi-step Approach to Model the Relative Efficiency of European Ports: The Role of Regulation and Other Non-discretionary Factors

In this paper the authors seek to provide an estimation of the impact of exogenous factors on the efficiency of ports, cleared of statistical noise. These factors include governance regime and local socio-economic conditions. Included in the analysis is the application of a three-stage data envelope analysis (DEA) procedure to a panel of European ports, observed over a ten-year period. This allows the decomposition of DEA efficiency measures into three components: exogenous effects, managerial inefficiency and stochastic events. The second stage of the analysis applies a stochastic framework model in order to identify the determinants of input-specific efficiency differentials across ports. Governance-related factors are shown to predominate over managerial skills in determining efficiency scores cleared of exogenous influences. It is asserted that this procedure allows further insights into the evolution of the port industry in the European Union which can lead to improved operational port performance. The conclusions show that by controlling for factors considered outside the direct control of port managers, port efficiency performance can change significantly.

Airline Pricing Behaviour Under Limited Intermodal Competition

This paper explores airline pricing behaviour dealing with two issues. The OIˆrst is to measure the extent to which intramodal competition inaI uences fares charged to travellers. The second is to shed light on faresiI intertemporal proOIˆle to verify if airlines undertake intertemporal price discrimination (IPD) strate- gies and whether IPD is of monopolistic-type or competitive-type. Di§erently from past contributions, we study airline pricing behaviour removing the inaI u- ence of intermodal competition. To this scope, we focus on the southern Italian market since it is less accessible by other modes and thus, air transport-related competition prevails. Our results claim that when the intramodal competition reduces, airlines apply higher fares as they exploit the greater market power arising from more concentrated market structure. Further, we OIˆnd evidence that airlines do undertake IPD strategies - the intertemporal proOIˆle of fares follows a J-curve - but that they do so in more competitive markets.

High-speed rail, inter-modal substitution and willingness-to-pay. A stated preference analysis for the ‘Bari-Rome’

We study the demand and the willingness-to-pay for a new High-Speed (HSR) line on the Bari-Rome route, and its indirect effect on the connected Brindisi-Rome line, when competing with other existing transport modes. We carry out a discrete choice experiment over a significant number of respondents. We find that reductions in access and egress (A/E) time are more valued than in-vehicle travel time if HSR is available (faster services) while, when only traditional services are available, the opposite is true. This confirms that fragmented journeys, for faster connections, yield greater disutility and this would be the greater competitive advantage of HSR services. We also explore the heterogeneity among respondents, by studying the relationship between in-vehicle, and A/E travel time considering different population segments, i.e. different income levels, travel habits (frequent or occasional), and travel purposes, in order to profile potential users. We also study the patterns of the inter-modal substitutability. We find that increasing the travel distance by 120 km (to Brindisi) still guarantees large substitution between HSR and air transport mode.

The e§ect of Bank Concentration on Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern European Transition Countries

Using data from 2000 to 2007, we investigate the e§ect of bank concentration on the entrepreneurial initiative in the Central and Eastern European transition countries for eight industrial sectors. We set up a simple structural model by which we test the relationship between banking market structure and Orm cre- ation. First, we estimate the model on the whole sample, to test the general e§ect; then, we restrict the analysis to the high-technology-intensive sectors to verify the speciOc impact of banking market structure on industries which are, usually, more in need of external Onance. Our results provide evidence of a non monotonic relationship: bank concentration promotes entrepreneurship; however, an excessive level of concentration becomes harmful. Moreover, the positive effect of concentration decreases for high-technology-intensive sectors. Entrepreneur- ship is also favoured by well-developed Onancial markets, perceived quality of the institutional environment, policies to prevent corruption and e§ective property rights protection.

THE DRAWBACKS OF DEREGULATION IN THE TAXI MARKET: EVIDENCE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO AND THE ITALIAN EXPERIENCE

After a long period of strict regulation of the taxi industry in almost all countries, some North American cities started to initiate some deregulatory processes in the beginning of the 1980s, with rather unsatisfactory results. More recently, the question of liberalizing the taxi market has acquired renewed interest and different countries have experimented with deregulation, although, again, with an outcome well below expectations. This paper offers a concise review of the liberalization policies in different countries and, in particular, focuses on the recent initiatives of the City Council of Rome, the first local authority in Italy to introduce measures of deregulation.

Pricing strategies: who leads and who follows in the air and rail passenger markets in Italy

ABSTRACT In this paper, we aim at empirically uncovering the existence of price leadership in the passenger transport market, whose oligopolistic structure facilitates the strategic interaction among companies, with price being one of the principal elements of competition. The strategic interaction is particularly favoured by the fact that prices are easily observable online by all competitors. The analysis focuses on selected Italian city-pair markets that differ from one another with respect to the degree of inter- and intra-modal competition and to the characteristics of the transport services provided. We exploit this heterogeneity to study transport operators’ strategic interactions in different competitive environments. We find evidence of the existence of price leadership, even though results differ across city-pair markets. In particular, it emerges that the incumbent operator, in either the air or the rail sector, always holds the role of leader.

EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT COMPANIES IN EMILIA ROMAGNA (ITALY): SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

The regulatory framework in which European public transit companies operate has evolved quite rapidly since the mid-eighties. In Italy, in spite of a number of measures aimed at restraining public intervention in the provision of the service, only recently, the public transit sector has initiated a structural reorganization. The stimulating element has been the enactment of Public Law 422/97 which, aiming at increasing competition, represents a strong motivation for the companies to improve their efficiency in order to be prepared when competitive bidding for the service will initiate. This paper analyzes the possible variations in the efficiency conditions of these companies in order to verify how individual firms are preparing to face the new operating conditions of the marketplace. The paper focuses on the publicly owned passenger transportation companies operating in Emilia Romagna, Italy.