Asian Journal of Shipping and Logistics最新文献

Despite the dominance of the Caribbean as the leading cruise destination in the world, research that focuses on the network of cruise ports in the region is limited. To fill this research gap, the current study carried out social network analysis (SNA) to inquire into cruise port interconnections and their influence on the operation of the entire Caribbean port network. The results are summarized as follows: First, in terms of connections among ports linked to the Caribbean region, a European port and a Southampton harbor exhibit the most significant in-degree and out-degree centrality. Nevertheless, ports within the Caribbean region are still significantly represented as regards both indexes. Second, in the matter of port influence, Caribbean ports are considerably the most important with respect to hub and authority centrality (HAC), especially those located in Florida and the eastern Caribbean. This research contributes to industry through its presentation of an extended panorama of the cruise network in the region, subjecting several ports to respective analyses that describe their principal characteristics and attractiveness in the industry.

The selection of foreign-registered ships upon entering ports poses challenges to maritime authorities in ensuring the effectiveness of the port state control (PSC) inspection. The derived data from the ships' arrival notification system has been utilised in this study to identify the preferred vessel type for inspection. A combination of the Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) model and Entropy Weight Method (EWM) has been applied to discern the various types of ships that entered five selected ports in Malaysia and disclose the propensity of each vessel type. Based on 100,623 ship arrival records obtained for a period of five years (2015–2019), the types of ships were identified, analysed, scored, and graded. The result shows that the oil tanker has the highest value of grey relational grade for Bintulu port while the passenger ship is in the pole position for Penang port. Kuching port and Port Kelang share the container type as the first in the ranking, whereas Lahad Datu posted the oil tanker. Other results include the sequence of types at individual ports for providing useful information to help policymakers in establishing an effective inspection design. A similar approach is applicable in PSC inspection records for further analysis.

It is well known that the international logistics and supply chains are subject to the domination of seaports and shipping lines each with increasingly significant market power. This implies that international supply chains, which typically involves sea transport as a key chain segment, could be subject to the double marginalisation problem. This means, chain operators are likely subject to both technical and allocative efficiency issues. The former is related to the use of inputs in production and distribution, and the latter is generally related to the market structure that affects resource allocation. The current study seeks to study the simultaneous relationships between three components, namely logistics integration, technical efficiency, and allocative efficiency in international container shipping. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling are conducted using data collected from a survey of global shipping lines. The analysis results show that logistics integration comprises of two main interrelated aspects, namely relational integration, and operational integration. It has significant effects on both technical and allocative efficiency. Technical efficiency and market contestability are affected by relational integration, while allocative efficiency and infrastructure capacity are affected by operational integration. Based on the analysis results, implications for port, terminals and stakeholders are also discussed.

The efficiency of logistics is a determinant in developing trade cooperation between regions. Many areas in the eastern part of Indonesia have a flawed logistics system that results in a low level of competitiveness. The paper analyses local ports’ performance and maritime logistics impact on the small island economy in East Indonesia, especially in the North Maluku Province. The research method used the survey and the Stochastic Frontier Analysis to measure each local port's performance in which Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) per capita constitutes the output variable. While GRDP, number of cargo throughput, number of port labor, inland connection, loading and unloading tariff, and sea freight cost are input variables. The results show that the loading and unloading tariffs and sea transportation costs harm the GRDP per capita of the respective small island districts. Other findings suggest that the port of Morotai, Central Halmahera, North Halmahera, and Ternate have a higher level of technical efficiency than those in East Halmahera, South Halmahera, Sula, and Tidore. Low port efficiency can disrupt the distribution of goods between islands, resulting in higher logistics costs. The limited data and the small scope of the area is the restriction of the study.

Truck appointment systems facilitate coordination between container terminals and drayage trucks in container pick-up operation reservation. However, in many cases, trucks with a reservation do not arrive at the scheduled appointment. As the number of no-shows increases, the container terminal’s productivity will plummet, and drayage trucks that failed to get reservations will lose their opportunity to get service. This research proposes an overbooking reservation mechanism (ORM) to alleviate the negative impact of these no-shows. This research scrutinizes the detailed process mapping of the existing reservation mechanism, proposes an ORM, and conducts agent-based simulations to evaluate the ORM's performance against the regular and go-show reservation mechanisms at different levels of no-shows and working occupancies. The application of an ORM can improve productivity and service levels while minimizing such negative externalities as queue length, overtime, and greenhouse gas emissions. High overtime intensities only appear when the container terminal's workload is exceptionally high, at 200% of maximum capacity, with a low level of no-shows. Even in exceptionally high demand conditions, the drayage trucks wait only up to 16 min before receiving service.

We estimate intentional and unintentional herding in the dry-bulk, ocean-going segment that spans from August 1998 to January 2020 and measure how this can impact vessel orders. As the results suggest, while intentional herding has a large effect on the orders of the newbuilding vessels, the impact is very short-lived. On the contrary, unintentional herding, related to common environmental factors, has a smoother but more time persistent effect on the newbuilding vessels. The findings suggest that the key players in the market do not only affect the dry-bulk market with their decisions but also the logistics trade and ultimately the world economy. Thus, the inclusion of the dry bulk key shipowners by the policymakers in the discussions before reaching an important decision could minimise the volatility of the overall sector.

Hub-and-spoke (HS) networks are cost-effective because they allow the realization of economies of density. However, the cost of point-to-point (PP) networks may be lower than that of HS networks when certain conditions, such as cargo demand, bunker price, vessel size, and the shippers’ value of time change. This study explores the factors that influence the cost-effectiveness of HS and PP networks. We developed a mixed-integer programming model that allows for bi-level optimization between shipping lines and shippers. As a case study, we applied it to Chinese and Japanese ports, with both HS and PP networks. We found that high cargo demand increases the use of PP networks while enlarging vessel size increases the use of HS networks. These findings enable us to predict the occurrence of hubbing—shifting from a PP to an HS network—and de-hubbing—shifting from an HS to a PP network.

One of the serious inquiries for industry experts and academics is whether and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) can help create better workplace environments. However, this has not been studied enough so far from employees’ perspective. To fill this gap, this study aims to examine the relationship between employees’ perception on corporate social responsibility (CSR), their job satisfaction, organisational trust and ultimately, organisational commitment to suggest academic and practical implications on sustainable management for international freight forwarders in Korea. For this study, 166 global logistics companies in Busan, one of the world’s leading maritime cities, were targeted, and questionnaires were surveyed from 10 April to 30 May 2019. A total of 265 questionnaires were analysed to verify the relevance of individual hypothesis in the research model through confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model analysis using AMOS 18.0. The results of five hypotheses testing demonstrated a positive and significant effect except that Hypothesis 4 on ‘job satisfaction will have a significant effect on organisational commitment’ was rejected. Overall, this paper provides important insights into the significance of CSR in global freight forwarding companies with theoretical development and the empirical test of CSR model, highlighting the trust to increase the organisational commitment of employees.