Green port development in Hong Kong - reduction of marine and port-related emissions

The Conference proceedings' website is located at http://www.hsmc.edu.hk/images/scm_CallForPaper/Conference%20Proceedings.pdfThe impact of air pollutant emissions from shipping and port operations towards environment and health is a pressing global concern. The marine and port sectors have contributed significantly to the growth of the supply chain industry and the economic development, while, at the same time, the pollutant emissions rising from ships and port-related operations have inflicted adverse public health concerns. Leading ports and terminals continuously impose measures to reduce the greenhouse gas emitted during vessel berthing. Hong Kong, being the third largest container port in the world and having the second cruise terminal running into operation, urgently requires comprehensive green port operations and practices. This paper evaluates and benchmarks the latest measures conducted by the leading ports over the world in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from ship and port operations. International regulations, onshore power supply, vessel speed reduction, and fuel switching are analyzed. Recommendations on the future green port development in Hong Kong are proposed.postprin

Development of the framework for a lean, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly port: umm qasr port as a Case Study

The research focus is to examine rigorously how the implementation of Lean within the Umm Qasr Port improves the operation processes and to explore the Lean impact on environment improvement and energy efficiency management. In this research, the ROPMEE model has been developed by the researcher to evaluate the service quality in the cargo delivery process in the Port of Umm Qasr as it covers all the functional and non-functional areas in the cargo delivery process compared to other quality dimensions. The findings confirm that the process quality dimension is the most influential factor in service quality in the Port of Umm Qasr. The reasons for the poor performance of current practices adopted by the port are the use of traditional ways of information flow and a decision-making process that requires more time and steps within the whole process. The lack of smooth process flow is a potential cause of bottlenecks within port operation that create serious problems not only for the customer but also for the port itself. In this research, a visual representation is created of how the current value stream map for different port processes has been established on the identification and elimination of non- value-added activity or “waste” involved in delivering services in Umm Qasr port for customers. A VSM tool was applied to visually map the cargo handling flow, ship entrance, ship maneuvering and cargo clearance to display the current and future states of processes in a way that highlights opportunities for improvement. Based on the defined and classified waste according to the seven deadly wastes of Lean, this research suggests a future value stream map for port processes. The impact of the identified wastes has been quantified in terms of cost, carbon dioxide emissions working time efficiency, and energy consumption cost. This research is the first attempt to develop a Lean port model for improving port processes, as there have been no previous studies aimed at providing a holistic framework for improving port performance, which can be used by other ports. Implementing the Lean approach requires a gradual shift in work culture by involving all port employees and customers in the continuous improvement process and changing the service delivery from a push to pull system

Model-Based Systems Engineering Approach to Distributed and Hybrid Simulation Systems

INCOSE defines Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) as the formalized application of modeling to support system requirements, design, analysis, verification, and validation activities beginning in the conceptual design phase and continuing throughout development and later life cycle phases. One very important development is the utilization of MBSE to develop distributed and hybrid (discrete-continuous) simulation modeling systems. MBSE can help to describe the systems to be modeled and help make the right decisions and partitions to tame complexity. The ability to embrace conceptual modeling and interoperability techniques during systems specification and design presents a great advantage in distributed and hybrid simulation systems development efforts. Our research is aimed at the definition of a methodological framework that uses MBSE languages, methods and tools for the development of these simulation systems. A model-based composition approach is defined at the initial steps to identify distributed systems interoperability requirements and hybrid simulation systems characteristics. Guidelines are developed to adopt simulation interoperability standards and conceptual modeling techniques using MBSE methods and tools. Domain specific system complexity and behavior can be captured with model-based approaches during the system architecture and functional design requirements definition. MBSE can allow simulation engineers to formally model different aspects of a problem ranging from architectures to corresponding behavioral analysis, to functional decompositions and user requirements (Jobe, 2008)

Evaluating the impact of smart technologies on harbor's logistics via BPMN modeling and simulation

A Smart Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enables a synchronized interplay of different key factors, aligning infrastructures, consumers, and governmental policy-making needs. In the harbor's logistics context, Smart ICT has been driving a multi-year wave of growth. Although there is a standalone value in the technological innovation of a task, the impact of a new smart technology is unknown without quantitative analysis methods on the end-to-end process. In this paper, we first present a review of the Smart ICT for marine container terminals, and then we propose to evaluate the impact of such Smart ICT via Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) modeling and simulation. The proposed approach is discussed in a real-world modeling and simulation analysis, made on a pilot terminal of the Port of Leghorn (Italy)

Decision Support and Systems Interoperability in Global Business Management

Globalization of business and volatility of financial markets has catapulted ‘cycle-time’ as a key indicator of operational efficiency in business processes. Systems automation holds the promise to augment the ability of business and healthcare networks to rapidly adapt to changes or respond, with minimal human intervention, under ideal conditions. Currently, system of systems (SOS) or organization of networks contribute minimally in making decisions because collaboration remains elusive due the challenges of complexity. Convergence and maturity of research offers the potential for a paradigm shift in interoperability. This paper explores some of these trends and related technologies. Irrespective of the characteristics of information systems, the development of various industry-contributed ontologies for knowledge and decision layers, may spur self-organizing SOS to increase the ability to sense and respond. Profitability from pervasive use of ontological frameworks and agent-based modeling may depend on the ability to use them through better enterprise and extraprise exchange

Systems Approach to the operational challenges in marine services within the port of Durban.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Modern problems are complex and are characterized by the existence of multiple actors, multiple perspectives, conflicting interest as well as key uncertainties. This dissertation aims to explore the operational challenges of marine services in the port of Durban. The researcher was interested in exploring marine operational challenges and their impact on the maritime industry as well as stakeholder benefits from the operation of marine services. The purpose of employing systems thinking was to recognize relationships and interconnectedness between elements at play in the marine services operations. Understanding behavior of marine services systems was critical for gaining insight into the behaviors and patterns underlying these complex systems. The research questions related to the operational challenges being experienced within the port of Durban; the stakeholders who are impacted by these challenges; and the recommendations that can be made to mitigate the impact of these challenges. The research objectives aimed to explore the dynamics of the marine services’ system. Furthermore, the research aimed to look at how the current levels of offering can be improved within the port of Durban. The research problem statement presented the level of connection between the South African economy and the port of Durban, acknowledging that the port of Durban is the gateway to international markets. Marine systems are complex and dynamic requiring the system thinking approach to understand the structure of the problem situation. A conceptual model of a dynamic marine service system was developed by employing a qualitative paradigm. Data was collected via interviews and observations from purposive marine employees who possessed knowledge and expertise of the global maritime industry. Using a thematic analysis the findings indicated that investment in infrastructure is the main marine services operational challenge confronted by the department. The volume of cargo triggers ship evolution where ship builders begin to build bigger size vessels to cater for volume throughput in international ports. The ship size evolution leads to the gap in the shipping industry and port infrastructure which require huge investments to close the gap