Stephen Cahoon

Skill requirements for logistics professionals: findings and implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the current profile of skills and knowledge of Australian logistics professionals and identify important requirements for the future.Design/methodology/approach – The study targeted the population of 1,300 professional members of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in Australia, employing the triangulation of both mail survey and in‐depth interview techniques. A total of 147 usable questionnaires were returned and seven interviews conducted. Data were analysed using the SPSS 13.0 software and thematic analysis technique.Findings – It is found that all proposed business‐, logistics‐ and management‐related skills and knowledge are important for logistics professionals. Logistics‐related skill and knowledge set was found to be the area that educational and training institution in Australia should particularly aim at to further equip local logistics workforce with substantial skills and knowledge to perform their job successfully. In addition, u...

Marketing communications for seaports: a matter of survival and growth

Perhaps the most critical issue facing seaports is their survival and growth in todays highly competitive environment. Seaports are facing challenging times as the once monopolistic position of having captive markets diminishes. This situation is being replaced by growing sections of the hinterland now being considered by competing seaports as being contestable. In effect, for many business opportunities, captive and contestable hinterland regions are blurring resulting in attracting and retaining trade throughput becoming a major key to seaport survival and growth. One strategic tool that seaport management can utilize to both attract new customers and retain current customers is the use of marketing communications. An examination of the literature on marketing communication efforts by seaports tends to focus mainly on advertising and activities more suited to promoting physical products. Instead, this paper argues the need for a much broader approach to marketing communications that takes into account the challenges of seaports that are service-based businesses. That is, there tends to be a greater need for marketing communication efforts to be able to tangibilise the intangible service offered by seaports to reduce perceptions of increased risk and uncertainty on using another seaport. The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefits to seaports of managing marketing communications strategically and holistically for effective outcomes. More specifically, this paper explains the role of public relations, publicity, personnel selling, sales promotions, word-of-mouth communications, electronic communications, and the management of the seaports servicescape and the sources of physical evidence provided by seaports in developing a broader and services-based approach to marketing communications. This includes thinking wider than attracting and retaining customers as being the purpose of marketing communications but to also include informing and educating other stakeholders such as employees and the local community about the benefits provided by the seaport. Also discussed is the necessity of a consistent message being provided by all marketing communication activities to customers and stakeholders that results in the development of a desired image of the seaport and appropriate positioning of the seaport in relation to competitors. To facilitate discussion, results from a recent empirical study of the Australian seaport sector are used.

US container port resilience in a complex and dynamic world

The resilience of US container ports is increasingly challenged by disruptive and stressful events such as regulatory change, adverse weather, larger container ship sizes, changing patterns of trade and sea routes, and the still to be quantified effects of enlarging the capabilities and capacity of the Panama Canal. Port sustainability requires the port managers to be resilient in their practices, to maintain existing performance levels and to increase market share when opportunity presents. The primary question that this paper addresses is how US container ports might be affected by adverse events and how they undertake resilience processes when faced with complex problems and uncertain outcomes. The paper gathers insights from literature on complex adaptive systems to discuss how US container ports may adapt to changing circumstances through innovation and the emergent outputs of self-organised agents (components) of their port organisations. The paper suggests that by conceptualising ports as complex adaptive systems, port managers may be able to better understand the complexity of change and organisational dynamics and thus harness the phenomenon of self-organisation towards their strategic intent.

Quality management for seaports integrated in supply chains

Over the years, seaports have evolved through various generations to become an integral node in supply chains. Continual reforms have been required for seaports to change their organisational structure and management practice to provide higher quality of service whilst maintaining lower costs to ensure long-term sustainability. To achieve this, a framework of quality management practices for modern day seaports integrated in supply chains is proposed. Based on the framework, the practices and attributes for seaport quality management are conceptually developed and empirically tested through a postal survey of senior seaport managers in Vietnam. The findings show that eight internal and four external quality practices are recognised by senior managers as being important conditions for quality management in seaports, however, further investigation of the external practices is recommended as seaports and supply chains become further integrated and dependent on a global scale.

The strategic role of ports in regional development: conceptualising the experience from Australia

ABSTRACT Regional ports, as infrastructure in regions, influence transport and regional development policies and planning. The interaction and involvement of regional ports with their stakeholders in the region are pivotal. The conundrum on what constitutes a regional port and thus its region has further complicated this limited researched area. In the extant literature, port and region relationship mainly centres on major metropolitan ports, and pays little heed to regional ports. In this context, this study investigates on how the Australian regional ports can be better involved in regional development. The study adopts a qualitative methodology to explore the Australian regional port stakeholders’ perceptions on port’s role in regional development through 38 semi-structured telephone interviews. Thematic analysis of data assisted by a mixture of NVivo software and manual techniques proposes a conceptual model that may assist policy-making. The key findings suggest that symbiotic growths of ports and concerned regions accelerate regional development. To contribute to regional development, the Australian regional ports can be proactive in building collaboration with regional organisations. The findings have major implications for port managers and port policy-makers for developing a region-oriented long-term port planning and for creating environment for Australian regional ports for regional resource configuration.

The impediments to the competitiveness of the rail industry in Australia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify current impediments to the competitiveness of the rail industry in the Australian non-bulk freight market. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review was adapted to identify the impediments and challenge themes from 1,081 studies available on the Australian rail industry. To select the studies relevant to the research question, a tollgate criterion was then deployed. Impediments were identified by a structured data synthesis process and a heuristic algorithm was developed to explore the possible relationships between the impediments and challenges. Findings – Four major themes are apparent, each of which presents the rail industry with challenges in the non-bulk freight market. “Infrastructural inefficiencies and the need for further integration” was ranked as the main rail industry challenge, while “environmental concerns and the associated costs of externalities” was the least. In addition, across the four themes data synthesis identif...

Mitigating maritime disruptions: evidence from the Australian-Indonesian wheat supply chain

Maritime operations have global interface functions connecting supply chain networks on a transportation and distribution platform of international, regional, and domestic trade. These maritime operations have the potential capability to generate wide-scale disruptive effects to other tiers in the supply chain. This paper explains the many categories of risks, which may arise from natural disasters, strikes, interruptions of maritime services including terrorists, economic disruptions, infrastructure and inland accessibility, all of which may create disruptions in supply chains. Through an analysis of data collected from a telephone survey of wheat exporters and importers in Australia and Indonesia, factors causing maritime disruptions in wheat supply chains in these countries are identified. In addition, the findings from the survey also shed light on various effective strategies that mitigate the maritime disruption risks. Based on the analysis results and relevant literature, the paper then discusses the implications for the implementation of management systems intended to cope with maritime disruption risks.

A Quality Management Framework for Seaports in their Supply Chains in the 21st Century

Abstract For seaports to be competitive and sustainable in the long-term in a turbulent and hyper-competitive market, a re-examination of success factors, organizational structures, and management practices is required. As seaports have continued to evolve and become further integrated and embedded in their supply chains, the issue of ensuring quality management practices becomes of greater interest. This paper argues that the seaport should implement relevant and appropriate internal and external quality management practices. The former emphasizes more internal-focused quality management practices relating directly to the seaport, while external quality management practices aim to facilitate the efficiency of supply chains in which the seaport is embedded as well as harmonizing the relationships with stakeholders. This paper takes a conceptual approach to these issues by comprehensively reviewing the extant literature and proposes a quality management framework for empirical validation containing eight internal and four external quality management practices for seaports in the twenty-first century.

The role of rail in the Australian port-based container market: challenges and opportunities

ABSTRACT The number of containers handled by Australian seaports has quadrupled over the past two decades. This has posed major difficulties for community and businesses. Knowing the projected demand, the need for disruption-free and reliable land corridors is of emerging importance. This paper first aims to establish a transparent image of the role of rail in the Australian port-based container flows and, second, to empirically identify the key impediments to the competitiveness of rail in this market. To achieve the second objective, a survey was distributed among Australian ports and key container stevedores. This paper identifies that despite the significant growth in the container volumes, rail’s share in the land-based movement of this traffic was small, principally due to lower service levels. The analysis indicated that inadequacy of intermodal infrastructure is a key impediment for the use of rail, followed by poor interoperability and shortage of below-rail infrastructure. This paper concludes with important recommendation for government and industry to make informed infrastructure planning and investment decision.

The impact of dry port operations on container seaports competitiveness

ABSTRACT The concepts of intermodal logistics and distribution networks have made integration of the inland freight distribution system essential for an efficient container seaport system. Inland components, such as dry ports, which exist within the seaport system, have become important in shaping the performance and competitive strategies of container seaports. Owing to the importance of interdependence between dry ports and container seaports, this paper aims to investigate the impact of dry port operations on container seaport competitiveness. It conducted an empirical study in Malaysia through 120 online surveys to key stakeholders of dry ports, including freight forwarders, shippers, seaports, rail operator, shipping lines, and haulers. The data collected were analysed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The results from EFA show that Malaysian dry port operations have impacts on seaport competitiveness. These include enhancing seaport performance, increasing service variations for seaports, improving seaport-hinterland proximity, increasing seaport trade volume, and enhancing seaport capacity.