A Development Framework to Determine the Applicability of a Dry Port to Fremantle Port Supply Chains: a Case Study

Fremantle Ports’ landside container transport has environmental and social impacts and, through congestion, reduces the efficiency of its hinterland links. Incorporating dry ports into supply chains can reduce these impacts and increase seaport capacity and effective life. Using dry port characteristics, common criteria and development theory with a Fremantle Ports case study and user survey, a dry port development framework is established and validated. The framework demonstrates a dry port's role in Fremantle Ports operations

Cabotage: The effects of an external non-tariff measure on the competitiveness of agribusiness in Puerto Rico

Small islands developing states (SIDS) sustainability is a United Nations’ aim. Their markets are often influenced by external policies imposed by larger economies. Could an anti-competitive measure affect the food vulnerability of a SIDS? This research examines the effects of an external non-tariff measure (NTM) on Puerto Rico’s (PR) agribusinesses. It explores the effects of a maritime cabotage regulation (US Jones Act) on the affordability and accessibility of produce and grains. PR imports 100% of their needs of grain and over 85% of fresh produce. PR’s food imports are generally from the US and the trade service is restricted to the use of the US maritime transportation. As a result, the supply chain of these two sectors although different, are limited by the US Act that may impact the cost of food, its availability, firms’ efficiency and other structures of production. Using a mixed convergent design, PR’s agrifood supply chains were explored and analysed in relation to the maritime cabotage regulation. Oligopolistic structures and collusion between maritime transporters and local agribusinesses importers limit the access to data, but other internal factors also have a role. Fieldwork shows that while the cabotage regulation itself is a constraint, interaction with others NTM and the current political framework between US and PR are relevant. Factors such as lack of efficiency, poor innovation and a self-limitation of the agribusinesses firms were found. The novelty of this research is the use of mixed methods to evaluate the effects of cabotage on the agrifood supply chain

Analysis of marketing strategies in Polish ports

The service sector of economy is a field of growing interest to marketing research and in particular such services as provided by seaports. However, these activities have rarely been considered to date. This project consists of three parts. Firstly a review of service marketing approaches, their status and development, the nature of marketing strategies and the marketing mix had to be provided. Also the development of marketing in seaports had to be examined. The focal elements discussed were the elements of the services provided by seaports, and competition between them in the context of Poland Secondly the situation in Eastern Europe and Poland under the communist rule and during the transition had to be provided. This part examined East European economic development, focusing down upon Poland and the consequenceso f the changesi n recent years particularly for the maritime sector and its structure and ownership. Thirdly, an analysis of marketing strategies in the main international ports of Poland were developed, with particular reference to their potential users' point of view, in the context of recent economic and market changes. A conceptual model had been developed to analyse these changing strategies that resulted in a derivation of a multivariate approach (cluster, factor or conjoint analysis) to accommodate the large number and diversity of variables that are required. A structured interview approach, plus mail survey techniques were used to collect the data in direct interviews with the Polish port authorities and the operating companies. More questionnaires were distributed amongst the most important maritime companies. Problems of language, customs and accessibility to individuals and data were overcome, as the researcher is a native Pole wi * th good English and Russian skills and close contacts with port experts at the University of Gdansk. Finally analysis from the data obtained from both personal interviews and mail surveys resulted in the identification of the main,, underlying constructs of. the marketing strategies in the ports of Gdansk and Gdynia as,.'p erceived by their users. Application of factor analysis indicated the existence of six main factors in"each of the ports. The results were valid and reliable and also supported on a-theoretical basis from the service marketing and port marketing literature. A discussion of the results provides implications for practitioners. The research shows that some of the elements of the marketing mix are less developed than others as seen by customers. It can help marketing managers to alter their strategies and better satisfy customers' desires. Furthermore, implications for theory development, research methodology and scope for future research in transition countries and port industries are discussed.University of Plymout

Characterisation framework of key policy, regulatory and governance dynamics and impacts upon European food value chains: Fairer trading practices, food integrity, and sustainability collaborations. : VALUMICS project “Understanding Food Value Chains and Network Dynamics” funded by EU Horizon 2020 G.A. No 727243. Deliverable D3.3

The report provides a framework that categorises the different European Union (EU) policies, laws and governance actions identified as impacting upon food value chains in the defined areas of: fairer trading practices, food integrity (food safety and authenticity), and sustainability collaborations along food value chains. A four-stage framework is presented and illustrated with examples. The evidence shows that European Union policy activity impacting upon food value chain dynamics is increasing, both in terms of the impacts of policies upon the chains, and, in terms of addressing some of the more contentious outcomes of these dynamics. A number of policy priorities are at play in addressing the outcomes of food value chain dynamics. unevenness of the distribution of profit within food value chains, notably to farmers. Regulation of food safety and aspects of authenticity has been a key focus for two decades to ensure a functioning single market while ensuring consumer health and wellbeing. A food chain length perspective has been attempted, notably through regulations such as the General Food Law, and the rationalisation of the Official Controls on food and feed safety. However, there are still gaps in the effective monitoring and transparency of food safety and of food integrity along value chains, as exemplified by misleading claims and criminal fraud. This has led to renewed policy actions over food fraud, in particular. EU regulations, policies and related governance initiatives provide an important framework for national-level actions for EU member states and for EEA members. The more tightly EU-regulated areas, such as food safety, see fewer extra initiatives, but where there is a more general strategic policy and governance push, such as food waste reduction or food fraud, there is greater independent state-level activity. Likewise, there is much more variation in the application of both national and European (Competition) law to govern unfair trading practices impacting upon food value chains. This report presents the findings of a survey of members from the VALUMICS stakeholder platform, that were policy facing food value chain stakeholders across selected European countries, including both EU and EEA Member States. The survey was conducted to check the significance of the main policies identified in the mapping exercise at EU and national levels and so to incorporate the views of stakeholders in the research. The responses suggest the policy concerns identified in EU and national-level research resonate with food value chain stakeholders in participating nations. The report concludes by exploring in more detail how the themes of fairness and of transparency are being handled in the policy activities presented. Highlighted are the ways that both fairness and transparency can be extended within the existing frameworks of EU policy activity. The findings in this report provide an important context for further and detailed research analysis of the workings and dynamics of European food value chains under the VALUMICS project

Fresh fruit and vegetables: a world of multiple interactions : the case of the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market (BACWM)

This research explores ethnographically the everyday social interactions between the ‘users’ of a particular marketplace, the Buenos Aires Central Wholesale Market (BACWM). The ‘users’ of this marketplace are the social actors who work there everyday, and who bring and buy fresh produce. These ´users´ are the ´makers´ of the BACWM since, through their everyday practices, interactions and interpretations and knowledge, they socially construct this hub of distribution

Greening African ports: environmental governance transformations in a network society

West and Central African ports have historically not paid much attention to environmental issues. However, since the year 2000, economic globalisation that has brought about an institutional and infrastructure restructuring of the ports, in an era of global environmental change, has triggered a gradual but still fragmented and limited process of port environmental reform. This thesis investigates how the environmental reform of the ports is being institutionalised. Environmental interactions among actors and institutions and their interplay across multiple levels of governance - within individual ports at the sub-national (local) level, within nation-states at national level, and at the regional level - are analysed within a global setting. Differing sets of theoretical perspectives from the environmental reform and governance literature are applied as analytical lenses. A mixed bag of qualitative research techniques, including case studies and action research, are used. Primary data was generated through face-to face interviews, closed and open-ended questionnaires, and participant observation while secondary data was obtained from the review of relevant literature, policy documents and reports. Findings highlight an emergent re-scaling of port environmental governance, for West and Central Africa, from the sub-national moving beyond national and statist environmental politics towards territorial environmental regionalisation in a transnational port environmental governance. The emergence has however not homogenised environmental policies in West and Central African ports nor replaced existing statist institutional environmental arrangements.</p

Stakeholder Management in Maritime Logistics Ecosystems: How tackling the main challenges of the industry

This PhD thesis deals with stakeholder management theoretical constructs and empirical practices within maritime logistics ecosystems. The rationale of the study grounds on the recent shift of the academic literature\u2019s focus on maritime logistics from the single organisation to the whole business ecosystem. In this perspective, formal and informal relationships with business partners and related parties have been demonstrated to become fundamental for the survival and success of firms and organisations belonging to maritime logistics ecosystems. The constant dialogue and coordination of strategic and operational activities between the heterogeneous actors constitute the preconditions to build wider and more resilient networks as well as to generate benefits for all parties and stakeholders involved. In this context, stakeholder management theoretical constructs can provide maritime logistics firms and organisations with useful managerial practices and best practices for identifying and exploiting unprecedented opportunities to handle relationships and interactions with both business parties and different categories of stakeholders. The variety of actors belonging to maritime logistics ecosystems as well as the array of related stakeholders, that unveils heterogeneous needs and interests, urge further empirical research to disentangle multiple practices of stakeholder management that have not all been investigated yet. In this vein, collaborative and responsible behaviours from maritime logistics firms and other involved organizations may support key actors with facing the new environmental, social, and technological challenges shaping the industry. In this perspective, this PhD thesis examines the main theoretical constructs of stakeholder management by performing an extensive literature review to comprehend the foundations and managerial benefits of stakeholder relationship management and corporate social responsibility. Then, it provides four empirical research to disentangle both strategies and behaviours of different maritime logistics actors, stressing the business benefits and managerial opportunities emerging from the adoption of well-defined and planned stakeholder management practices. Each empirical research addresses multiple challenges (i.e., environmental, social, and technological challenges) and assumes the perspective of one of the key actors of the maritime logistics ecosystem (i.e., once port managing bodies, once shipping companies, and twice terminal operators). The thesis investigates specific dimensions related to the strategic objectives, behaviours, and managerial options of these actors for effectively managing the relationships with their salient stakeholders. The outcomes of empirical research provide four valuable exploratory and qualitative studies grounding on stakeholder management literature. Managerial implications for private, public and hybrid actors of maritime logistics are extensively debated to pave the way for future studies on stakeholder management within this business ecosystem. In this perspective, this PhD thesis would take a step forward in the research on new managerial practices to effectively manage stakeholder relationships in the maritime logistics ecosystem

Global transformation of the contemporary labour market for merchant navy seafarers: case studies of Filipino, South African and British seafaring labour markets.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.The central aim of this thesis is to investigate how and why labour markets are formed in specific ways under contemporary global capitalism. This thesis achieves this through a sociological analysis and explanatory account of the contemporary transformation of merchant navy seafaring labour markets for Filipino, South African and British seafarers. The study is centrally concerned with four questions relating to the restructuring of these labour markets. These questions are: 1. How has the labour market for seafarers been reshaped? 2. How has the restructuring of shipping capital facilitated this process process? 3. What has the role of labour been in this restructuring process? 4. What other labour market institutions contribute to this restructuring? Answering these four questions allows me to achieve the central aim of my thesis which is to investigate how and why labour markets are formed in specific ways under contemporary global capitalism. In answering these questions this thesis makes three theoretical interventions in industrial sociology. Firstly, this work offers a substantially different account of labour markets that advances a more fully social explanation of labour market formation that does not consider the social as a 'factor' or an 'add on' as does classical and neo classical economics (and some strands of economic sociology) but a significant shaper of global labour markets. Secondly, it fills a gap in theorising the agency of organised labour under global capitalism. The thesis demonstrated how the agency of organised labour and the importance of locality or place should also be accorded primacy in arguing how labour markets are produced. Thirdly in making my own assertions about the creation and decimation of working classes under capitalism, I draw on three detailed case studies of seafaring trade unions, capitalist and state strategies in the shaping and transformation of contemporary labour markets for seafarers and therefore demonstrate the fallibility of the 'race to the bottom' thesis using contemporary research and data

The evolution of new combinations: drivers of British maritime engineering competitiveness during the nineteenth century

This work is an attempt to explore early British steamship innovation during the 19th century from the point of view of innovation studies. The proposed analytical framework draws on neo-Schumpeterian and evolutionary economics for understanding the patterns and factors behind the phenomenon of technical change in the capital good under analysis. The thesis aims at filling a gap in the maritime economic and technological history literature, namely the issues connected to the process through which modern (mechanically-propelled, iron-hulled, screw-driven) ocean transportation emerged. Two inter-related research questions are addressed: how and why did steamships evolve in the course of the 19th century? In other words, the present research focuses on describing the dynamics of technological evolution and on identifying the key drivers of those developments. While the thesis includes a review of the relevant literature (Part I), the main work consists of original empirical research (Parts II and III). The bulk of this work primarily rests on the compilation of two new main bodies of quantitative and qualitative evidence. First, a previously unpublished dataset on the population and characteristics of steamers is used to measure the rate and direction of technical change in steamers. Second, previously unpublished archival material is used to reconstruct the innovation processes of marine engineers and naval architects and the civil society arrangements around them. The results suggest a number of stylised facts and institutional variables that have been subject to little discussion in the extant literature. On one hand, time-series and other statistical analyses suggest a technological “take-off” of steamship performance by the mid-19th century. This turning point, which was the outcome of a complex but rapid process of structural reconfiguration (the transition from wood-paddle to iron-screw as the new “dominant design”), occurred between the late 1830s and the late 1840s particularly among cargo traders and unsubsidised packets. On the other hand, documentary evidence shows that such technological breakthroughs were preceded and supported by a specific set of institutional innovations. These included the emergence of voluntary engineering associations, technical mass media and a not-for-profit ship classification society within the British national system of innovation. The thesis argues that the process of revolutionary technological innovation leading to the economically efficient long-haul merchant steamer cannot be separated from the rise of a vibrant interactive environment promoting learning, knowledge integration and technological accumulation, which may be called a “technological public sphere”