Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics最新文献

Container ports or terminal operators need operational efficiency and effective management to gain global market competitiveness, as world container ships continue to be larger, global shipping alliance reshuffles and becomes larger. This study investigated the effects of integrated operations of the existing separate container terminals using scenario analysis. The scenario analysis is attempted based on actual vessel arrival data on additional effects that Busan New Port can obtain from the use of a infrastructure pool by consolidating all five terminals. The results explain the benefits of terminal consolidation: the reduction of a vessel waiting time, balanced utilization across terminals at the port, and an increase of overall profits to the actors.

Digital transformation and automation in the shipping industry is resulting disruptive changes to ship design, operations, and manning that aim to enhance safety, efficiency, and the environmental sustainability of maritime logistics. While there is growing research interest in these areas, examining the role of human element in the new smart shipping context is largely neglected. Through a systematic literature review, this paper aims to explore the multi-dimensional impact of autonomous shipping technology resulting from the application of Industry 4.0 and future industrial revolutions on seafarers. The impacts include the changing role of seafarers on-board and the strategies required to engage seafarers in their transition from traditional shipping to autonomous and smart shipping. The paper concludes that Industry 4.0 is being challenged for its shortfall in recognition of the importance of human role and its intelligence in the expected current industrial revolution. As a result, there is a demand to look further and beyond Industry 4.0 by introducing the next generation of industrial revolution, namely Industry 5.0. This paper suggests that the impact of this revolution in the maritime industry can be defined by concepts such as Maritime 5.0, Shipping 5.0, Seafarer 5.0, Maritime Education and Training 5.0 (MET 5.0).

As intra-Asian trades grow, businesses in the intra-Asian shipping market have expanded. Subsequently, many shipping liners, which have struggled since 2008, have made inroads into Asia as a new market. Although the intra-Asian trade volume has increased, shipping liners in intra-Asia experience difficulties in their timeliness and excessive competition due to unfavorable weather, as well as changes in global shipping liners’ operational strategies. Hence, this study aims to identify the obstacles faced by Korean intra-Asian shipping liners (KIASL) and suggests solutions using Fuzzy- technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (MCDM). As a result of an analysis to weigh these obstacles, an oversupply of ships (0.693) was analyzed as the greatest obstacle to KIASL. As a result of evaluating the obstacles’ impact on each KIASL route, it was determined that the Korea-Singapore (0.870) and Korea-Vietnam (0.583) routes were significantly affected by obstacles. Further, an analysis of measures to overcome these obstacles revealed a high weight for the integration between KIASL (0.168) and support from operating funds (0.152).

Grounded on the Resource Based View (RBV) theory, this paper argues that technological advances and process optimisation through standardisation and centralisation could been used to improve various aspects of port operational performance. Using information and secondary data from the case of Patrick Terminals in Australia, the impacts of the Patrick's Brisbane AutoStrad™ container terminal and National Operations Centre (NOC) on yard design and operations, quay crane deployment, operational productivity, safety, manpower, vessel planning, customer service delivery, invoicing, and process alignment and standardisation, were examined. It was found that the deployment of advanced technology i.e. Brisbane AutoStrad™, bundled with the optimisation of business processes through standardisation and centralisation at the NOC, are valuable and costly-to-imitate tangible and intangible resources which can translate into positive operational performance in terms of better equipment and facility utilisation, higher productivity, reduced costs, and more satisfied customers. This research contributes to strengthen the RBV theory in the context of container terminals management while also provides managerial insights to port managers and policy makers not only in Australian container terminals but also those in Asia, given their growth and competitive position on the global basis.

This paper investigates the predictability of the asset prices of commodity transport (i.e. dry bulk carriers) by testing the shipping Q index as a leading indicator. We employ a comprehensive back-testing procedure with a broad spectrum of benchmark simulations. The shipping Q index (an adaptation of Tobin's Q index) has been introduced to benchmark models to observe predictive gain and interpret predictability features. This study presents a novel hybrid model to forecast time series data. The forecasting ability of the proposed hybrid algorithm is compared to specific univariate time series models, dynamic models, nonlinear models, and widely used hybrid models in the literature. The findings document that not only the proposed hybrid model performs better than the other competitive models in terms of hold out sample forecasting, but also using the shipping Q index improves the forecast accuracy by remarkably reducing forecasting error.

Analyzing the dry ports’ impacts on different stakeholders is imperative for assessing the feasibility of a dry port project and promoting the collaboration among such parties to optimize the supply chain between inland customers and seaports. This paper aims at developing a conceptual framework to evaluate the role of dry ports from multi-criteria and multi-stakeholder approaches. Based on an extensive literature review, a hierarchy of evaluation criteria was developed from the perspectives of three main stakeholder groups, i.e. dry port users, seaport-based players and community. Interviews were then carried out to verify the face validity of the initially proposed framework given the context of Vietnam, followed by a survey assessing the dry port’s contributions. The findings highlight the major role of dry port users in driving the success of a dry port, while also recognizes significant roles of seaport-based players and the community. The study provides insights into how different stakeholder groups might value the contribution of dry ports and demonstrates that dry port characteristics have apparent impacts on their role as perceived by each group. Finally, this research points out the current issues of the Vietnamese dry port system and provides recommendations and managerial implications accordingly.

The purpose of this study is to predict North Korea's cargo volume per port, per item, using system dynamics. The products of which expected volumes are predicted include iron ore, oil, grain, cement, sand, coal, other ores, miscellaneous goods, and containers. We further distribute the forecasted value of each item among the different North Korean ports based on inputs obtained during expert interviews. The selected ports are the nine trading ports of North Korea, namely, Najin, Chongjin, Nampo, Rajin-Seonbong, Songnim, Haeju, Hungnam, Wonsan, and Dancheon. Herein, the authors assume and predict the complete economic reopening of North Korea. Based on the forecast outcomes, Nampo Port handles the largest cargo volume among North Korean ports, which is expected to amount to 113,217 thousand tons by 2050. Chongjin Port is revealed as the second largest in terms of throughput, and is predicted to handle 47,525 thousand tons of cargo by 2050. On the same terms, Najin Port is deemed the third largest and is predicted to handle 37,816 thousand tons of cargo by 2050. Containers (72,454 thousand tons) and cement (45,897 thousand tons) rank first and second among the items of which the largest volumes are expected to be handled by North Korean ports, by 2050. These findings provide insight into North Korean port development potential and indicate prospects for inter-Korean cooperation, following North Korea’s economic reopening.

Within the context of a geographically integrated capitalist economy, containerized transport networks act as the cogwheel of the global market, undertaking the circulation of commodities. While transport chains become the media of industrial circulation facilitating the augmented reproduction of industrial capital, transport is in itself a distinct sphere of investment, which ultimately opts to ensure its self-expansion. By employing Marx’s circuit formula $M-C-M\prime$, we investigate how the pace of reproduction of transport capital affects the evolution of concentration process in containerized supply chains within the context of contemporary capitalist development. Additionally, by adjusting the circuit for the case of liner shipping and terminal operators, the impact of transport innovations in the attached media functions of transport actors and hence in the velocity of their circuits, is examined. Analysis indicates that innovations, act as catalysts in accelerating the circuits of transport actors, reinforcing the concentration process within the sphere of circulation.

Southern Vietnam is a key economic region for the country, producing 45% of Vietnam’s GDP, despite only accounting for 9% of the country’s total landmass and 21% of its population. Specifically, the Southern Region dominates seaport-based container transportation, contributing 55% of Vietnam’s total vessel calls and 74% of its total container cargo volume, with the North and Central regions trailing far behind. However, despite the sector’s importance, the efficiency of container terminals in Southern Vietnam has not been evaluated by the literature in recent years. This study fills this research gap by using data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the efficiency of major container terminals in Southern Vietnam. The results of the DEA Malmquist analysis show that most container terminals demonstrated productivity growth between 2017 and 2019, and that this mainly derived from advancements in catch-up operational efficiency and in technological innovation. Moreover, the DEA slack-based measure and DEA undesirable output analyses demonstrate that three container terminals (Cai Mep International Terminal, Tan Cang Cat Lai, and Tan Cang–Cai Mep International Terminal) achieved the maximum efficiency level when both applying and not applying the undesirable output variable. However, other container terminals displayed severe operational inefficiency, with these terminals’ efficiency values decreasing by between 9% and 40% when considering undesirable outputs. The ineffective terminals can therefore be categorized as consuming excessive inputs and lacking in the production of desirable outputs or creating large amounts of undesirable outputs. Therefore, using these results, port authorities and policymakers should be better placed to develop appropriate strategies for managing container terminals in Southern Vietnam.

Human life is at the center of the fourth industrial revolution in the pharmaceutical trade. One of the major factors driving the growth of pharmaceuticals is the rapid growth of biopharmaceuticals. The global biopharmaceutical market is showing steady growth, and the current share of 20% of the drug market is expected to expand to 70% within the next 20 years. The domestic biopharmaceutical market has also turned into a trade surplus due to an increase of exports in 2017. Currently, there are no studies on the establishment of biopharmaceutical distribution centers. Therefore, in this study, it was assumed that the factors needed for the establishment of existing logistics centers and biopharmaceutical logistics centers would differ. In this study, three factors were extracted from a fuzzy AHP analysis – facility, location, and cost. In addition, 11 detailed factors were indicated, and their importance depended on temperature management devices, convenience of transportation, and the establishment of a logistics information system. Thus, facilities are more important in biopharmaceutical logistics centers than general logistics center.