Tsz Leung Yip

Regional cooperation and management of port pollution

This paper investigates the market-based policy on pollution control in a region with multiple ports. Although the fraction of in-port pollution is modest compared to at-sea emission, port pollutions generally occur near populated areas and have a higher impact on public health. Most of the studies on maritime pollution control have focused on technical designs and operating issues over deep sea shipping. In addition, while pollution from a ports operation may spread out and has influence over a wider region, few studies have analyzed emission control across ports. This paper aims to complement this stream of research by examining the behaviors of ports and port users (i.e., shippers and shipping lines) if a certain incentive or disincentive policy is implemented. Our investigation reveals that in the absence of inter-port coordination, pollution spill-over and inter-port competition can lead to distorted pollution taxation and emission constraints. As a result, there will be excessive pollution and sub-optimal social welfare. Therefore, despite the potential competition among the ports in a region, it is important for them to coordinate their pollution control efforts. Our study recommends a regional approach in pollution control, and suggests areas where inter-port cooperation is needed among the competing ports.

Group and individual heterogeneity in a stochastic frontier model : container terminal operators

Container ports are a major component of international trade and the global supply chain. Hence, the improvement of port efficiency can have a significant impact on the wider maritime economy. This paper deconstructs a representation in the existing literature that neglects the heterogeneity of individual and group-specific terminal operators. In its place, we present a hierarchical model to make a connection between efficiency and terminal operator group characteristics. The paper develops a stochastic frontier model that controls not only individual heterogeneity but also group-specific variations. The model decomposes the total stochastic derivation from the frontier into inefficiency, individual heterogeneity, group-specific variations, and noise components, with the estimation being performed using Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations. The validity of the model is tested with a panel of container terminal operator data from 1997-2004. Our findings show that terminal operator groups are important in promoting terminal efficiency at the global level, and that the operators with stevedore backgrounds show a higher efficiency than carriers.

Spillover effects and dynamic correlations between spot and forward tanker freight markets

Monitoring and analysing information transmission across different shipping markets is an important tool for participants to predict shipping freight rates, design portfolio investments and manage freight rate risks. The purpose of this article is to investigate spillover effects and dynamic correlations between shipping spot and derivatives markets (tanker forward freight agreement, FFA) under the multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity framework. Empirical results show that spillovers in returns are unilateral from one-month FFA to spot markets, while they are bilateral between one-month and two-month FFA markets. However, insignificant mean spillovers between spot and two-month FFA markets are found. Volatility spillover effects among one-month FFA, two-month FFA and spot freight markets are bilateral. By analysing the correlation between different markets, highly persistent and significantly volatile correlations are found. Moreover, time-varying correlations between one-month and two-month FFA markets are much higher than those of between spot and each FFA market. Results from this article will be helpful to improve participants’ predictions of return, volatility and correlation, which are significant for determining hedge strategies. In addition, the management of freight rate risk and portfolio investment can also benefit from the empirical results obtained in this article.

Scale diseconomies and efficiencies of liner shipping

In the context of liner shipping, carrying capacity can be seen as one of the key resources to strive for better firm performance. The liner shipping market nowadays has entered a phase in which Liner Shipping Companies (LSCs) reap economies of scale. The concept of economies of scale has led the industry to grow by enlarging its carrying capacity and LSCs allocate more ships to offer shipping services in the global market. However, the results of enlarged capacity may be uncertain. By examining empirical data between 1997 and 2008, this paper investigates the relationship between capacity and firm performance in the liner shipping industry and attempts to use an S-curve to describe the association between capacity and firm performance in liner shipping operations. The findings suggest that the S-curve is robust. Furthermore, this study attempts to provide theoretical basis for shipping lines to determine the optimal carrying capacity.

Ports and the environment

Ports connect the world through maritime transportation networks, promote international trade, and support global economic growth. They can also be the checkpoint for anthropogenic inputs of environmental pollution through maritime transportation activities, which presents new and critical challenges to port managers regarding the provision of efficient port services and utilization of their unique position to curb global environmental problems. In the past decades, many new ports have been built and old ports have been expanded, responding to the increasing demand for better port services, enhanced inland transportation facilities, and a higher level of port competition. On the environmental side, efforts are increasingly put into the reduction of human-induced changes to the global environment, and one of the target areas is to reduce air emissions from international shipping. New policies are being developed to improve energy efficiency and reduce air emissions from ships. In addition, port communities are increasingly concerned about the local environmental problems associated with air pollution from increased port traffic. This special issue is attributable to the 5th International Forum on Shipping, Ports and Airports (IFSPA 2012)—an international conference organized by the Department of Logistics & Maritime Studies and C. Y. Tung International Centre for Maritime Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and dedicated to the study of management of port development, operation, and maritime environmental issues. The goal of this special issue is to assemble research works in this area, highlighting the different issues and understanding the latest knowledge and practices concerning port and environmental issues. This set of articles reflects the contemporary research addressing critical port problems and environmental issues in maritime transportation. Each article focuses on port problems, appropriate methodologies, and maritime insights. A total of seven papers are collected therein. A brief description of these papers is as follows. The Chinese government has taken the leading role in developing marine policy to prevent oil pollution from ships. Dong, Li, and Zhu introduced a wide range of laws and regulations which translate the Chinese policy into a program of positive actions to protect the marine environment. This paper discusses several critical issues to determine how marine policy can be developed effectively. As shipowners represent a limited pool of resources, among which to share the burden of environmental regulations, an optimal level of protection for the marine environment remains elusive. Therefore, it is imperative for the regulatory process to consider a more equitable burden-sharing among industry stakeholders. The recommendation of this paper is that China should become a member of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, to alleviate the burden of the industry stakeholders and increase the protection for the victims of oil pollution in China. In a port-city environment, a port can enhance the development of a city, while this development may restrict further port development. The mutual interference between the

The role of geomatics engineering in establishing the marine information system for maritime management

Maritime management encompasses the employment and manipulation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources and natural resources that relate to the sea, maritime navigation, shipping, port development and coastal protection. It contributes to the economic growth, price stability, transportation of cargoes and passengers, and business activities of shipping organizations. The efficient management of resources, operations and activities relies on a modern marine information system (MIS) whose information is provided by geomatics engineers and IT professionals, among others. This paper first introduces the role of the geomatics engineer as geodesist, engineering surveyor, land boundary surveyor, cartographer, hydrographer, photogrammetrist and geographic information system (GIS) engineer since all these fields are related to maritime trade, supply chains and development of ports and airports. It then describes the principal components of a web-based MIS and the important role of geomatics engineers in surveying data. This includes collecting data from electronic nautical charts (ENC) and raster nautical charts (RNC), by applying high resolution light detection and ranging (LIDAR), satellite platform sensors and GIS.

Port Economics, by Wayne K. Talley

This book is an attempt by a transportation economist to approach port economics and appears to be different from dominant maritime textbooks. Although there are many excellent textbooks on port economics, the dominant textbooks focus mostly on the classic maritime models. Port has been a prolific field for the generation of transportation and economic concepts in the literature. It is remarkable that this book has incorporated recent research in port economics, largely by the author. Obviously, this book is designed for one-semester courses in port economics and is thus divided into 14 chapters. Each section explains the basic issues of each topic, which gives the reader a basic understanding of the topic. Chapter 1 outlines the port in transportation networks. Chapter 2 discusses the modern equilibrium economics in its broader context of port and port users. This chapter may be enhanced by including a discussion on clusters of port services. The operational materials are embedded in Chapter 3 that summarises the operation of ports. So Chapters 1–3 serve as the springboard in which the terminology and notation in port economics are established. The heart of this book starts with Chapter 4, on the meaning and consequences of economic phenomena. Chapter 4 attempts to cover the port choice issues from the carriers’ perspectives. Chapter 5 incorporates the latest understanding of supply chain management. Chapter 6 discusses the port choice issues from the passengers’ perspectives. Chapter 7 is about the economic production of ports. Chapter 8 discusses the financial uses of ports, including pricing and investment issues. Chapters 4–8 complete the discussion on the transportation economics theory in ports to a large extent. These core chapters are definitely the author’s area of expertise and the research literature is well cited and referenced. This book then expands to a broader geographic scope and discussion on current affairs. Chapter 9 discusses the governance policy. Chapter 10 attempts to cover port performance and efficiency issues. Chapter 11 discusses the port dockworkers, as a key employment topic. Chapters 12 and 13 discuss the safety, health and environmental aspects of ports. Some recent developments and policies (e.g. ISPC code, cold-ironing) are also touched on in this book. Chapter 14 is devoted to some upcoming issues of ports, and discusses ports in the future. Reflecting the author’s interests, this book does not contain much information on the recent development of game theory and econometrics in port economics. Game theory has been used to understand the forms of port competition and the market structure of the industry. Econometrics has also been widely applied to analyse port issues, e.g. port performance, port safety, etc. The economic contributions of ports to local economies can also be determined by econometric methods. Game theory and econometric models should be critical additions to contemporary port economics.

Special Issue on ‘Maritime Challenges and Opportunities Embracing Belt and Road’

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is serving the maritime trade for the prosperity of mankind and is embraced with maritime-related challenges and potential opportunities. The Belt will be a land-based economic corridor slated from China, through Central Asia to Europe. The Road will be a sea-based route from China, through the Indian Ocean to Europe. The Belt and Road (B&R) is not just a passage spanning continents and connecting countries, but also plays an invaluable role in serving world trade. While ports along B&R will be further developed with simplified procedures for trade, the maritime roles in launching B&R have not been augmented. Development of ports and establishment of seaborne trade rely on maritime coordination among economies. Academic ground is needed to discuss the maritime-related challenges and potential opportunities arising from BRI. This Special Issue is attributable to the Conference on Logistics and Maritime Studies on One Belt and Road (LMS on OBOR 2016) – an international conference organized by the Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. During the conference, academia and industry practitioners exchanged insights and views on the B&R and seek to promote possible integration, cooperation and connection between maritime and other transport modes, thereby facilitating seaborne trade, shipping, and logistics. This Special Issue consists of a set of papers that share viewpoints and investigate relevant challenges and possible opportunities in the latest development of maritime policies and management. The BRI is in a state of radical flux. People are moving towards a larger and more efficient world, where the scale of maritime issues is greater. Mankind will be the beneficiaries of this new BRI. Meanwhile, BRI faces a complicated network of transport services in a larger market. The maritime systems of each region will be closely related to logistical and culture factors. Multimodal trade and transport is continuing but its pattern will be different. BRI are removing barriers of bureaucracy, letting the private sector address the demands of the global market for more efficient trade. Wang and Yeo develop a multimodal route selection model for a longdistance transport system from Korea to Central Asia. A long-distance transport system inevitably involves many transfer nodes. Route selection should consider reliability, capability, time, and security. In a different way, Woo et al. discuss the multimodal route choice based on the inventory model. They consider both transport and inventory costs in various market scenarios. BRI is also related to policy coordination, shipping connectivity, and trade facilitation. Growth in transport connectivity mirrors economic growth and the development of B&R. Guo and Yang assess the logistics accessibility of China from eight overseas regions via 10 ports in China. They found that China is well connected with the developed regions but not with the developing regions. BRI is needed to reduce the transport impedance, especially for the developing regions. On a different focus, Wei and Sheng determine the logistics connectivity of import and export trades through 127 seaports along the Maritime Silk Road. They illustrate the importance of dry ports in the global maritime network. Wang, Chen, and Huang discuss the locating problem of dry ports on a network as extensions of the Tianjin port. They developed a location model to determine the optimal location and number of dry ports. Maritime network provides a solid foundation for BRI and associated maritime sector to grow and blossom. Liu, Wang, and Zhang analyse the spatial properties of global maritime network.

A cause of oversupply and failure in the shipping market: measuring herding behavior effects

ABSTRACT The shipping market is volatile. In general, the shipping market cycle shows four stages, through—recovery—peak—collapse, while a upward trend lasts for 7~8 years and a downward trend for another 7~8 years. So the market’s bubble is not sustainable but always ends in a recessionary trend. The economic cycle is common knowledge and an axiom of the shipping industry, but many ship-owners take no account of it. Previous study stated that ship-owners’ fears, triggered by a violently changeable market, make them mimic the crowd mind or herd mentality, following market sentiment. This study aims to measure the effects of herding behavior (HB), triggered by market sentiment, on the shipping market. We attempt to address two research questions: (1) How does HB arise, and what course does it follow? (2) How many vessels (or how many tons) were purchased under the influence of HB? We estimate that 50.5% (227.8 vessels) of the total vessels or 30.4% (3,670.2 tons) of the total tonnage were purchased under the influence of HB. Looking at international finance, we found that ship investment HB is a very strong factor of the recent shipping market, at least in Korea.

An application of balanced scorecard in campus facilities management

In the context of educational research, campus facility management is in the spotlight and plays a significant role in the twenty-first century. However, deficient uses of campus facilities continuously appear. Diseconomies of scale and lower service level are likely resulted. In order to find out an optimal solution for the campus facility planning for schools, this paper aims to illustrate capacity planning and control for the campus facility management and to further evaluate the associated logistics strategies. This paper presents a case study on a campus facility management, which is related to the proposed framework for performing efficiency and effectiveness at the different levels of planning including strategic, tactical and operational. In addition, we also apply the balanced scorecard framework including rigorously different perspectives of financial, customer, internal operations and continual learning and growth to evaluate the performance of campus facility management.