Su-Han Woo

Seaport Research: A Decadal Analysis of Trends and Themes Since the 1980s

This paper uses a structured literature review approach to investigate how seaports have been studied during the last three decades (1980s–2000s), and to provide a detailed analysis of seaport-related research during this period. To this end, 840 academic papers of relevance were identified. This paper develops a structured analysis of the relevant literature with general trends and research sub-themes being analysed on a decadal basis. In addition, consideration is given as to how the identified trends and research themes have reflected the evolution of seaports. It is shown that the scale of research related to seaports increased substantially during the 2000s, and that seaport research has become a dominant theme in the area of maritime economic studies. It is also clear that there has been a diversification of research with several new themes emerging, reflecting the evolution of the port industry such as the changing role of seaports in supply chains and logistics.

The impact of operational and strategic management on liner shipping efficiency: a two-stage DEA approach

This paper aims to measure the relative efficiency of liner shipping companies in terms of operational and financial performance and further investigates the impact of strategic and operational management on efficiency performance. A two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is employed combining DEA and Tobit regression, which has been extensively used in various research areas. 14 liner shipping companies from the top 20 container lines in terms of fleet capacity were included in this analysis. The results suggest that the firm size (in terms of TEU capacity), ship size, the ratio of chartered vessels, use of new vessels, and the formation of alliances all make a positive contribution to the financial performance of liner shipping companies. Ship age and ship type did not show a significant contribution to the financial performance and, for the operational performance, any of these determinant factors were not significant. This analysis is able to provide container shipping companies with information on the managerial and strategic implications of how managerial options influence operational and financial performance. In addition, maritime researchers will benefit from this study, measuring the efficiency of container shipping companies and the factors that influence efficiency, as this study is the first to investigate and model factors of relative efficiency of container shipping companies to the authors’ knowledge.

Seaport Research: An Analysis of Research Collaboration using Social Network Analysis

The collaboration of researchers has become the norm due to the increasingly interdisciplinary and complex characteristics of modern science. Many studies in informatics and various disciplines including logistics and supply chain management have explored how researchers conduct collaborative works and have shown a strong relationship between collaboration and research productivity. In seaport research, however, research collaboration has not been studied even though this may provide useful information about collaboration patterns, networks, behavior, and especially the effect on growth of port research. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to explore how maritime researchers and institutions have collaborated in port research and examine whether the collaboration has increased publishing productivity. This study uses co-authorship as an indicator of research collaboration and the number of papers as an indicator of research productivity. Using a database of academic papers published in English-language international journals for the last three decades (1980–2009), descriptive statistics show a growth in levels of co-authorship by decade and international geography of research collaboration. Social network analysis is then used to draw a map of collaboration and reveals the structure and decadal change of these collaborative networks. The analysis also shows who and which institutions have been at the center of port research and how co-authorship and collaboration have affected productivity of researchers and institutions over the period.

Multimodal route choice in maritime transportation: the case of Korean auto-parts exporters

ABSTRACT Global offshoring has increased the need for transport of half-finished goods and components, along with finished goods. The auto-parts industry in Korea has also entered the global market as Korean car manufacturers have started to build overseas factories. Maintaining cost competitiveness by minimising total logistics costs will thus be a critical strategy for the industry. This research compares the total annual costs of four feasible transport routes from Korea to the US using the inventory-theoretic model, which encompasses direct transport costs, in-transit carrying costs, and warehouse inventory costs. We apply this model to real transport data collected from a Korean auto-parts company. A static analysis shows that inventory costs can play a decisive role in altering the cost competitiveness of different routes. In addition, sensitivity and scenario analyses with changes in variables and the market situations reveal that the cost structure of each route plays an important role in determining their relative cost competitiveness in varying market conditions.