Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics最新文献

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.

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.

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.

Cyberattacks on worldwide port facilities have highlighted the urgent need for port facility security officers (PFSOs) to upgrade their cybersecurity knowledge and skills. This study used the survey data from all international container ports in Thailand and analyzed the results from two perspectives, i.e., IT and security officers. Based on 73 responses, cybersecurity knowledge and skill would become essential for PFSOs than ever before because the port digitalization and automation would shape the PFSOs career to a technically-oriented specialist rather than a multi-skilled generalist. Furthermore, the responsibilities of PFSOs would extend to cover cyber risk management, which enables them to prevent the digital port facilities from emerging cyber threats. Therefore, they should learn how to incorporate the existing risk management process with cyber risk management and cybersecurity knowledge because these would be the foundation for PFSOs to practice cybersecurity skills. At the end of the learning process, PFSOs could also gain cybersecurity competence once they have mature knowledge and skill, which would be the vital element of port security hygiene.

This study aims to contribute to the stable growth of the logistics industry by analyzing the differences in the financial structures within the Korean logistics industry and the impact of these financial structures on management performance.

This result shows that there are differences in financial factors that affect return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) by business types in the logistics industry, they require more management improvement efforts to enhance the soundness of their financial structure. Therefore, they need to recognize differences in major financial factors that affect performance according to the type of business it owns and push forward pre-emptive measures such as management efficiency and improvement of profits accordingly and the diversification of its continuous business portfolio.

The Northern Sea Route (NSR) has gradually become viable because of sea ice melting in the Artic. There is a large and diverse body of research on the NSR, investigating aspects such as weather, the environment, legal security, infrastructure and technologies, shipping transportation, and economic issues. However, there has been scant research carried out from a macroscopic perspective on NSR research trends. The purpose of this study is to analyze the trends in research about the NSR by applying a social network analysis. By collecting keywords from academic papers on the NSR, a network of keywords and two indexes (degree centrality and betweenness centrality) are accessed and analyzed. The results show that the trends can be divided into three periods (1899–1999, 2000–2009, 2010–2019). Throughout all periods, the issue of climate change causing the ice in the Arctic to melt has been a consideration for many scholars. In addition, “national security” and “oil exploitation” were important keywords in the first period. In the second period (2000–2010), in addition to words related to the environment, such as “sea ice” and “climate change,” the term “ocean transport” appears and becomes a central topic of research. This is because when the NSR has a non-icy period, ocean transport through the NSR can be deployed. The research trends become obvious in the third period (2011–2019) with two primary research areas: climate change and shipping area, which accurately measure the benefit and cost. This paper shows the importance of the NSR, reviews the main research topics involving the NSR, and informs researchers and authorities as to the trends in academic research on the NSR.

This paper fills the gap in the literature of applying an exponential smoothing model in the oil shipping market forecasting. The author refines the adaptive combined model with B-criterion based on Brown's model with modification by Trigg and Leach. Forecasting the values of the average time-charter equivalent of a tanker along 6 different routes of oil transportation in the world ocean during the crisis period 2015–2019. The accuracy of the proposed method is superior to naive, autoregression methods and machine learning models in all used error metrics. The obtained accuracy in 71% of cases is available for commercial use by operators and charterers of the tanker fleet.

The transportation sector is one of the largest fuel consumers and pollutant contributors worldwide. The International Maritime Organization predicts that the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation will be increasing significantly until 2050, driven by the growth in global maritime trade. Managing logistics distribution routes is considered a possible approach for controlling GHG emissions. This study aims to implement a green logistics concept in the logistics distribution of petroleum products—gasoline, kerosene, and diesel—in eastern Indonesia, whose supply sources are refineries located in Balikpapan and Kasim. A multi-objective approach is used to implement the green logistics concept. Multi-objective optimization is conducted using the AIMMS software to optimize a logistics system consisting of a multi-depot, multi-product, and heterogeneous fleet. The optimization is performed to determine the best logistics route and the amount of products delivered using certain types of fleets to minimize transportation cost and GHG emissions using constant speed. In addition, this study also investigates the effect of variable speed on cost and CO₂ emissions. For the constant speed case, the distribution routes obtained for the minimizing cost scenario tends to maximize the utilization of transit terminals while in the minimizing emissions scenario tends to deliver directly to the distribution centers, so the route decision in multi-objective optimization scenario is combination of the two. The multi-objective optimization results an 11% cost reduction and a 17% GHG emission reduction compared with the current values. The comparison between constant and variable speed reveals that the variable speed is preferred to constant speed as it gives lower emissions with slight changes in cost.