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In today’s era of mega ships, rail is increasingly being recognized as an important and sustainable mode to transport containers in and out of congested marine terminals. However, rail’s potential impact on terminal and road congestion is highly dependent on the ability to fully utilize the available train space. This paper contributes to the literature by presenting an optimization model that can create high-utilization loading plans for double stack trains at marine terminals. To facilitate the solution of the model, it will be shown how the initial binary nonlinear model can be linearized. Model properties will also be derived and discussed. To illustrate the usefulness of the proposed model in a practical setting, a realistic case study is conducted. The results demonstrate that the model is able to find optimal loading plans for double-stack trains in realistic settings.

To relieve pressure from large vessels and intensive arrival of trucks, an increasing number of marine terminals require trucks to make appointments prior to delivering containers. The quotas are supposed not to impede truck deliveries but should be sufficiently used. For terminals where trucks are allowed to make appointments and arrive on the same day, a critical problem is the simultaneous allocation of appointment quotas and yard cranes. A bi-objective integer model is set up to balance the trade-off between terminals and trucks. A three-dimensional quota is used for characterizing the variabilities in delivery operation. It also overcomes the challenges involved, including the inside workload, and the yard closing deadline. A non-dominated genetic algorithm II-based approach is developed to solve the problem. The method is validated through extensive numerical experiments, and the results show the advantages of simultaneously balancing the workload of yard cranes instead of merely smoothing truck arrivals. Parameter analysis then reveals the influence of both larger vessel size and an increase in trade, as well as the utility ratio of quotas.

This article examines such port competitiveness from the perspective of port efficiency and supply chains. Specifically, studies are examined that investigate port competitiveness from the traditional perspective and from the chain perspective. In doing so, methodological problems of the literature in investigating port competitiveness are deduced.

A hinterland transport chain is the transport network on the landward side of a seaport, over which cargo moves to/from the seaport. A hinterland transport chain choice is jointly determined by seaports, dry ports, intermodal carriers, importers and exporters. In this paper, determinants of sea/dry port choice, shipper choice and intermodal carrier choice are deduced to also be determinants of hinterland transport chain choice. Furthermore, a behavioral model is presented that describes the joint choice of a hinterland transport chain, accounting for each of the above parties’ objectives: sea/dry ports seek to maximize throughput; intermodal carriers seek to maximize profits; and shippers seek to minimize logistics cost. The behavioral model is used in the analysis of unexplored areas in the hinterland transport chain literature, i.e. the fundamental issues of the existence and uniqueness of such chains.

Trade economists have investigated the international trade between countries but not the transportation service provided for the trade between countries. The latter, however, can be investigated by using UNCTAD’s data on seaborne trade, i.e., merchandise international trade that is transported by ship from a seaport in country A to a seaport in country B. The world’s tonnage of seaborne trade is equivalent to 80 percent of the world’s tonnage of merchandise international trade. In addition to transportation service, other logistics services provided for seaborne trade include commercial documentation, document transmission, global trade management system submission, partner government agency adherence service and free trade agreement adherence service.

The cargo port choice literature has investigated cargo port choices by users of cargo port services, i.e., by shippers in having their cargo and by transportation carriers in having their ships and vehicles serviced by a cargo port, but little attention has been given to cargo port choices by providers of cargo port services. This paper investigates cargo port choices by providers of cargo port services, i.e., by port: (1) operators, (2) shipper agents (freight forwarders and third-party logistics providers) (3) harbor pilots, (4) tugboat operators, (5) shipping line agents and (6) customs brokers.

Traditionally, cargo port choice has been investigated from the perspective of port users. More recently, studies on cargo port choice from the perspective of the port service providers have appeared. Irrespective of the perspective taken, the common element in these studies is that they focus on one perspective at a time. In this paper, it is postulated that cargo port choice should really be examined from both perspectives, simultaneously, as cargo port choice is made by both users and providers of cargo port services. The port users we will focus on in this paper are the shippers. To model this simultaneous choice, a new modeling framework is proposed, i.e. cargo port choice equilibrium. This new framework enables policy makers and other maritime industry stakeholders to evaluate the network-wide impact (i.e. across all cargo ports) of a range of policy measures while considering the choices by both shippers and port service providers. One key consequence of our equilibrium model is that prior findings in the port choice literature might no longer be valid without further qualifications. Overall, this paper generalizes, unifies and extends a segment of the port choice literature.

Port multi-service congestion occurs when port users of two or more different services (i.e., multi-services) provided at the same port node or over the same port link interfere with one another to the extent that they experience service congestion at the shared node or over the shared link. Container port nodes shared in the provision of port multi-services include, for example, the berth and yard. Container port links shared in the provision of port multi-services include, for example, the yard-to-departure-gate link, entrance-gate-to-yard link, berth-to-yard link and yard-to-berth link. If port multi-service congestion exists at a port node (or over a port link), then port multi-service congestion can be propagated to other port nodes and links in the port as long as there is a connecting path.

Ports provide services rather than producing physical products. However, port cost functions specify port cost as functions of physical products, e.g., port cargo throughput long-run cost is a function of port resource prices and cargo throughput (a physical product). In comparison, port cargo service long-run cost is a function of port resource prices, cargo service and shipper cargo received. The shipper provides cargo that is serviced by the port. A service cannot be touched and its user is involved in its provision. This paper derives port cost functions for which port outputs are “service outputs”, e.g., cargo, vessel and vehicle services.

This paper investigates determinants of the probability of non-fatal and fatal crew injuries in container vessel accidents. The determinants are deduced from an estimated probit regression equation based upon 2001–2008 U.S. Coast Guard container vessel accident data. The estimation results suggest that a crew member is: (1) less likely to have a non-fatal injury in containership and ro-ro container vessel accidents if the vessel has a steel hull and the vessel accident occurs at nighttime, (2) more likely to have a fatal injury if fire is involved in containership and ro-ro container vessel accidents, and (3) less likely to have a fatal injury in containership and ro-ro container vessel accidents if the vessel is U.S. flagged, steel hulled, and powered by a diesel engine. These results are critical in developing new policies in reducing non-fatal and fatal crew injuries in container vessel accidents.

Port choice by users of port services has been investigated in the literature, but generally not port choice by port service providers. This paper examines the choice of a cargo port by providers of cargo port services from the perspective of a (1) cargo port service chain, (2) hinterland cargo transportation service chain and (3) port hinterland cargo transport service chain. The determinants of cargo port choice by providers of port services from each of these perspectives will be deduced.

The 2016 opening of an expanded Panama Canal will allow for Post-Panamax containerships up to 12 500 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) in size to transit the Panama Canal. In response, some US East...

Ocean container shipping is the ocean transportation of cargo in a standardized container. Global trade transported in containers increased from 100 million metric tons in 1980 to 1.7 billion metric tons in 2015. This growth is not only attributable to the technology used in container shipping, but also to government investments and international trade policies. Ocean container shipping has resulted in the creation of intermodal transportation and the technically advanced container port. By the mid-1980s, containerships from Asian ports might stop at a US West Coast Port and have its East Coast destined cargo loaded on a double-stack train for transport to the US East Coast as opposed to all-water service via the Panama Canal. Ocean container shipping has revolutionized the ocean transportation of general cargo. By the late 1990s, container shipping lines experienced financial difficulties. The lines responded by investing in larger containerships, undertaking mergers and acquisitions, and forming alliances.

This paper provides a novel and unique methodology for evaluating the effectiveness performance of a port’s individual services by utilizing the concept of a port service chain – a service network utilized by a port’s service providers in the provision of the port’s services that accounts for the quality-of-service relationships among the services. If such relationships are ignored, the resource allocations by the port’s service providers to improve the quality of their port services will either over- or underestimate the amount of resources needed. A cooperative port service chain will always (under certain conditions) be more effective than a non-cooperative port service chain.

A maritime transport chain is a network over which carriers, ports and shippers are involved in the movement of cargo. This paper investigates the effects of carrier chain profit, port chain throughput and shipper chain logistics cost on the maritime transport chain choice by carriers, ports and shippers, respectively. The paper concludes that: (1) a carrier's (water and land) chain profit has positive direct and positive indirect effects on the carrier's choice of a maritime transport chain, (2) a port's chain throughput has positive direct and positive indirect effects on the port's choice of a maritime transport chain, and (3) a shipper's chain logistics cost has negative direct and negative indirect effects on the shipper's choice of a maritime transport chain.

The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze maritime transportation academic research. For articles published in Maritime Policy & Management (MPM) in the period 2001 to 2012, the most frequent topics addressed include shipping performance/management and shipping finance. For articles published in Maritime Economics & Logistics (MEL) in the period 2002 to 2012, the most frequent topics addressed include port performance and shipping performance/management. MPM articles are more likely than MEL articles to utilize the institutional (IS) methodology and MEL articles are more likely than MPM articles to utilize the optimization (OP) methodology. Maritime transportation proposition theoretical research may be particularly useful in undertaking research in maritime transportation areas for which data are unavailable, insufficient, difficult to obtain, or of poor quality. Future maritime transportation research needs to include focus on: (i) maritime shippers, (ii) maritime transport chains, (iii) mariti...

A maritime transport chain is a network over which carriers, ports and shippers are involved in the movement of cargo. This paper formally deduces that the port choice literature is included in the maritime transport chain choice literature. Specifically, it demonstrates that determinants of the port choice by shipping lines and shippers found in the literature and determinants of shipping line and shipper choice by ports are also determinants of maritime transport chain choice. Further, a maritime transport chain is formalized as an equilibrium model. Existence and uniqueness results for the proposed maritime transport chain model are derived.

The study investigates determinants of vessel-accident bunker fuel spillage. A vessel-accident bunker spillage equation is estimated using Tobit regression and data of individual non-oil-cargo vessel accidents that were investigated by the US Coast Guard during 2001-2008. The results indicate that the bunker spillage of a freight ship and an offshore supply vessel accident will be greater than that of a passenger ship accident. Also, the bunker spillage of a non-oil-cargo vessel accident will be greater if the vessel accident is an abandonment and occurs at night, but less if the accident involves a vessel that has diesel propulsion and even less if the vessel has both diesel propulsion and a steel hull.

A transportation carrier (or fi rm) provides for hire transportation services. A transportation service is the movement of goods and/or individuals from one location to another. Freight (passenger) transportation service involves the movement of goods (individuals) from one location to another. A transportation service creates value for goods and individuals by transporting them so that they arrive at the right time (time utility) and at the right place (place utility). Unlike a transportation carrier that transports the goods of others in return for monetary compensation, a private provider of transportation service uses its own resources (e.g., its own vehicles and labor) for the transportation of its own goods and individuals. A maritime carrier is a carrier that uses a waterway – an ocean, a river or a lake – in the provision of a transportation service; that is, a maritime carrier transports goods and/or individuals in vessels that move over a waterway from one location to another. Maritime carriers are described by the type of vessel utilized – cruise and ferry lines use cruise and ferry vessels – and by the type of cargo transported – container shipping lines transport containers and LNG carriers carry liquefi ed natural gas (McConville 1999 ; Stopford 1997 ). This chapter describes a maritime carrier from a microeconomic theory perspective. Section 5.2 considers maritime carrier resources, production functions, transportation service measures, operating options for varying the quality of service, and resource functions. Section 5.3 discusses the cost of maritime transportation service – long run and short run cost functions of single service and multi service maritime carriers in providing cost effi cient maritime transportation service in the long run and the short run, non shared versus shared costs, and internal versus external costs. Section 5.4 discusses demand for the transportation services of maritime carriers with respect to the full prices for these services, that is the carrier ’ s price that is charged for a transportation service plus the logistics Maritime Carriers in Theory

While much work has been done in investigating determinants of oil spillage attributed to vessel accidents, little research has been conducted on the effectiveness of ship hull design in reducing marine pollution. This paper addresses whether the double-hull requirement reduces vessel-accident oil spillage. The volume of oil spillage due to oil-cargo vessel accidents was investigated using tobit regressions and an empirical data set of individual vessel accident pollution incidents investigated by the US Coast Guard from 2001 to 2008. The results indicate that the double hull design on average reduces the size of oil spills by 20% and 62% in tank barge and tanker ship accidents, respectively.

The behavior of shipping freight (charter) rates and the timing of shipping contracts affect the transportation costs of charterers and the operating cash flows of shipowners. Although the literature has established macroeconomic determinants of shipping freight rates, there has been no systematic investigation of microeconomic determinants of freight rates and the delivery time of chartered ships (the laycan period) in the tanker market. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the importance of vessel and contract specific factors in the determination of tanker freight rates and laycan periods in shipping contracts. Individual tanker shipping contracts from January 2006 to March 2009 are used to estimate freight rates and laycan periods using a system of simultaneous equations. The estimation results suggest that the duration of the laycan period is an important determinant of the shipping freight rate and vice versa. Other determinants of freight rates include the vessel's hull type, fixture deadweight utilization ratio, vessel age, and voyage routes. Determinants of the laycan period include the former determinants as well as the Baltic Dirty Tanker Index and its volatility.

The accumulation and repositioning of empty containers have become acute problems for container ports and are expected to intensify in the future given the expected growth in trade imbalances among trading nations. These problems are major costs and operational challenges for container ports. More accurate forecasting of volumes of port empty containers will enable container ports to develop more cost efficient plans for the repositioning of empty containers. This paper compares the Tioga Group, United Nations and Winters method (utilizing empty container volumes of three U.S. container ports) in forecasting volumes of port empty containers. The Winters method is found to provide more accurate forecasts of volumes of port empty containers than the Tioga Group and United Nations methods.