Qingji Zhou

Personal Injury Incident Analysis and Risk Prevention during Tanker Shipping Voyages

It is well-recognized that shipping and ship management companies face lots of potential hazards and recurring accidents in relation to occupational health and safety for their crew during the daily operations. In this study, personal injury incidents are analyzed, and factors that are strongly associated with personal injury incidents are evaluated. The results show that the contributory factors that have strong relationship with personal injury occurrences are injured seafarer’s nationality, length of time on board vessel, location along voyage, trading region, and type of on-board operation. These contributory factors are examined in terms of direct factors, indirect factors, and root factors. The predominant direct factors associated with personal injury incidents are unsafe acts such as improper method/procedure and unsafe conditions such as workplace restrictions. Human factors such as inattention and haste are identified to be indirectly associated with a large number of personal injury incidents. Among the root factors, incompatible procedure is the most important factor associated with personal injury incidents. Herein, risk control measures are proposed to improve safety in tanker shipping.

Portfolio of port-centric supply chain disruption threats

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a risk assessment of port-centric threats that may have adverse effects on supply chain continuity from the perspectives of port operators and port users, thereby determining the significance of these threats to supply chain disruptions. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on literature review and reported cases, 19 port-centric disruptive events were identified. Subsequently, surveys were conducted to collect data from 102 port operators and 123 port users worldwide on the frequencies and consequences of the identified port-centric disruptive events. Risk matrices were then generated to compare the perspectives of port operators and port users. Findings The results show that threats related to the planning of port resources require the highest level of attention. This highlights important areas for port managers seeking to improve port resilience and supply chain continuity through a more prudent management of risks. Research limitations/implications The results help port managers understand where they should establish strategic capability to increase port resilience and enhance sustainability to benefit port users. However, the study could be further enhanced by evaluating the threats based on different regions of ports and port users and making recommendations for port operators to undertake. Originality/value The findings of this paper are significant as they provide an analysis of data gathered from international port operators and port users. Risk matrices have been widely applied in many industries, yet no studies have been conducted to develop a portfolio of port-centric risks at a scale as large as this paper.

Game-Theoretic Comparison Approach for Intercontinental Container Transportation: A Case between China and Europe with the B&R Initiative

This paper develops a game-theoretic model to analyze the competition between two container freight transportation modes (shipping and railway) using competitive game strategic interactions method, namely, deterrence, by taking account of the most cost-effective scale of the transportation capacity settings. The competition was set against the background of China’s Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative as a new situation for intercontinental Sino-Europe container freight transportation. The behavior of each mode (modeled as a carrier, resp.) is characterized by an optimization model with the objective of minimizing its cost by setting optimal basic freight rate and transportation deployment. A firm can use this method to compare the difference in the time value of the cargos and reduce the expense during the whole transportation process. Finally, the developed model is numerically evaluated by a case study of intercontinental transportation between Hefei (China) and Hamburg (Germany). The results show that deterrence effects largely depend on the deterrence objective, and the differential in the cost of two transportation modes tends to be stable with higher values in the deterrence objective. In the new intercontinental circumstance, the mode of railway transportation provides a new way to transport the cargos between China and Europe.