Container Ocean-transportation System Design with the factors of demand fluctuation and choice inertia of shippers

This paper introduces an optimization model (COSDM) for a Container Ocean-transportation System with the objective of maximizing the revenue of a liner company while taking into account the seasonal fluctuation in transportation demand and the choice inertia of shippers. The COSDM optimizes shipping network design and fleet deployment simultaneously, and it optimizes plans for changing the shipping network and for distributing slots in ships based on the fluctuation in demand and the characteristics of the shippers’ choice inertia. To solve COSDM, a heuristic algorithm is created that combines Genetic Algorithm and Simplex Method. The results show that the COSDM gives an optimized design scheme of the system that takes into account the stability of transportation services and improves the user experience of shippers while increasing the revenue of the liner company. Moreover, the results also reveal new explanations for the increasing size of container ships.     

Evolution of regional inequality in the global shipping network

Global shipping is a backbone of the global economy, and as such, it evolves alongside the development of trade and the elaboration of commodity chains. This paper investigates the evolution of regional inequality in the global shipping network by analyzing the changing positions of world regions during the period from 2001 to 2012. This was a period of both prosperity and recession in maritime shipping. Using data on inter-regional flow connections, the positions of seventeen regions in the global shipping network are analyzed in terms of their traffic development, centrality, dominance and vulnerability. The East Asian, Northwest European and Europe Mediterranean regions have consistently held the highest positions, while East African and North African regions have held the lowest positions. By commanding the largest flows in the network, East Asia assumes a dominant position. The Australasian, North American West Coast, Northwest European and Southern African regions show an increasing dependency on East Asia. The analysis also identifies a few emerging regions that have had the highest growth rates in total traffic volume and connectivity for the studied period, namely South American North Coast, South American East Coast, West Africa, Southern Africa and West Asia. The empirical results of this paper supplement existing research on global shipping network evolution. One implication of the analysis is that the traffic growth of East Asia does not imply that, there is an equivalent improvement in its position in the global shipping network. The paper also shows that indicators from network analysis may be used to provide a more nuanced understanding of port-regional development than existing measures based solely on total traffic volume.     

Liner hub-and-spoke shipping network design

This paper proposes a liner hub-and-spoke shipping network design problem by introducing the concept of a main port, as well as some container shipping constraints such as multi-type container shipment and transit time constraints, which are seldom considered in the previous studies. It develops a mixed-integer programming model with nonconvex multi-linear terms for the proposed problem. An efficient genetic algorithm embedded with a multi-stage decomposition approach is developed to solve the model. Numerical experiments are carried out to assess the effectiveness of the proposed model and the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.     

Investment into container shipping capacity: A real options approach in oligopolistic competition

We develop a container industry-specific real options investment model in oligopolistic competition taking into account endogenous price function, fuel-efficient investment, endogenous lead times, and endogenous price formation in the second-hand vessel market. We assess how optimal capacity is influenced by competitive intensity, number of players, volatility, fuel-efficiency, lead time, and cost. Moreover, we investigate optimal investment policies. We find that strategic action increases firm value and that it is worthwhile to consider alliances. Additionally, players in the market should consider retrofitting old vessels for fuel economy in economic downturns and using new, fuel-efficient vessels for capacity expansion in market upswings.     

The time constrained multi-commodity network flow problem and its application to liner shipping network design

The multi-commodity network flow problem is an important sub-problem in several heuristics and exact methods for designing route networks for container ships. The sub-problem decides how cargoes should be transported through the network provided by shipping routes. This paper studies the multi-commodity network flow problem with transit time constraints which puts limits on the duration of the transit of the commodities through the network. It is shown that for the particular application it does not increase the solution time to include the transit time constraints and that including the transit time is essential to offer customers a competitive product.     

浅析我国中小航运企业的现状和发展

近年来航运市场持续低迷,整个市场不是很景气,这使我国中小航运企业经营出现很大困难,举步维艰。本文从当前国际国内航运市场的现状总结出中小航运企业面临的各种问题,并针对问题简要提出我国中小航运企业发展的对策。     

基于多目标规划的河道航运补水定价研究

从产品角度出发,通过分析河道航运补水准公共产品的属性,讨论河道航运补水的定价原则,并利用多目标规划决策法构建河道航运补水定价模型。在考虑政府对各方利益关注度的条件下,求解最优化定价。以解台翻水站为例,证明该模型的合理性和可行性,以期为航运补水价格的收取提供参考。     

A review of Short Sea Shipping policy in the European Union

Short Sea Shipping (SSS) has attracted a lot of attention in the European Union in the last 15 years. It is considered as a mode favoured to alleviate road congestion. Alas, promises have not been met and cargo transfers have not reached their objectives yet, despite strong financial will and a programme for modal shift implemented by the European Union (EU). The hypothesis raised by this paper is that Short Sea Shipping has not been well defined in the EU and market potential for modal shift from land to sea has been overestimated. Therefore, this has a great impact for policy-making. Studies have covered many topics such as its implementation using case studies, cost-benefit analysis compared to land-transport modes, general European shipping policy and its environmental contribution. Therefore, little has been written on the role of public institutions in its implementation and no critical assessment of the success of supporting public programme in the EU has been done. This paper explains how the lack of a final definition has led to misadapted public policies favouring modal transfer in the EU and how misknowledge of SSS markets has led to the overestimation of the modal shift potential.     

The China factor in recent global commodity price and shipping freight volatilities

This paper attempts an investigation of the impact of the China factor on the global commodity and ocean shipping freight volatilities in recent years. It measures China's contribution to the incremental growth in demand for selected bulk commodities and ocean shipping in the world. China's impact on price volatilities is statistically analyzed through a conventional econometric framework.     

金融中心与航运中心的互动发展及因果关系——来自上海的证据（1978～2007）

国际航运中心和国际金融中心在全球经济发展中扮演着重要角色,国际航运中心和国际金融中心之间具有密切的相互关系。但是,两者的因果关系并没有数量上的充分验证。文章对改革开放30年来上海相关行业的历史数据进行了计量分析,研究发现：上海航运和金融业之间存在相互影响,从短期来看,航运是金融的Granger原因的程度更大,而从长期来看,金融是航运的Granger原因的程度更大。