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Vessel logistics and shipping operations management
Published in Dong-Ping Song, Container Logistics and Maritime Transport, 2021
A container port or container terminal is an interface facility where containers are transhipped between seaborne transport and inland transport. Shipping lines have become major players in the container terminal market by entering major container ports through a variety of business arrangements, e.g. as shareholdings, establishing joint ventures with local or global terminal operators, creating subsidiaries, or sister companies carrying out terminal operations. A dedicated container terminal refers to the exclusivity for a shipping line to use the facilities of a defined part of the terminal for a certain period of time. It implies a private contractual agreement between a port authority and the shipping lines. For example, Evergreen Marine Corp. has a dedicated container terminal Kaohsiung Port; COSCO has a dedicated container terminal (the COSCO Shipping Ports Limited (CSP) Abu Dhabi Terminal) at Khalifa Port. In addition, COSCO shipping is the third-largest shipping line in the world, while its sister company, COSCO shipping ports, is the world’s largest terminal operator. Maersk Line is the largest shipping line in the world, and its sister company, AP Moller Terminals is the sixth-largest container terminal operator in the world. By offering cargo-handling functions at container terminals, the shipping line can improve the efficiency and security of its port operations. This is particularly important for the increasing size of container ships so that that the waiting time at ports can be minimised, and the transhipment can be done smoothly.
Efficiency analysis of Black sea container seaports: application of an integrated MCDM approach
Published in Maritime Policy & Management, 2021
Container seaports are the main component of container transportation and container port operations have a crucial role to carry out maritime trade among trading partners. To ensure excellent container port operations and solving a range of problems about maritime transportation it is important to upgrade the container seaport physical infrastructure, making the investment to increase port capacity and human capital, fostering connectivity of the seaports. In order to take the right and suitable decision about this subject to measure the performance of the container seaports is vital for stakeholders of maritime transportation. Performance analysis of container seaports can be accepted as the main indicator to take the decision about container ports including investment decisions. More importantly, a methodological frame is necessary to measure the container seaports performance.
Sustainability and interactivity between cities and ports: a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach
Published in Maritime Policy & Management, 2018
Chen Chen, Jasmine Siu Lee Lam
The economic significance of port activities to the regions has been assessed by a large body of literature. Ports as a dynamic node in global supply chains facilitate trade, posing direct and indirect economic contribution to the regional economy (Deng, Lu, and Xiao 2013). The port activities, especially container port activities, positively affect the regional economic growth (Park and Seo 2016). Deng, Lu, and Xiao (2013) did a research on China’s five coastal port clusters and found that port demand (i.e. throughput) has a significant positive effect on value-added activity in port (e.g. warehousing, loading and unloading, packaging and sorting, and so on). Moreover, the value-added activity in port has a significant relationship with regional economy. Despite the wide acceptance of the role of ports in the economy as a driver engine, the negative impacts of port activities on the regions have also been recognized. Ports can produce a lot of wastes from their routine port activities (e.g. dredging and navigation) (Girard 2013). The existence of ports is likely to cause deterioration of air and marine water quality in their surrounding areas which are habitats of wild life (Roh, Thai, and Wong 2016). Among the various environmental impacts, the most prominent one is air pollution: port operations will emit large amount of carbon dioxide (Cui 2017), which could be one of the dominant sources of climate change. Under this circumstance, sustainable development of port then emerges as a requirement and a solution.