Global shipping and ports: The quest for sustained competitiveness

The freight market in the shipping industry is cyclical and volatile. In particular, global shipping has experienced huge changes over the past decade. In 2015, shipping slowed as carriers and ports were still adding capacity. This drove several shipping companies into bankruptcy, and others into mergers and new strategic partnerships to survive. The purpose of this special themed issue on global shipping and ports is to examine how the shift in global trade has affected global shipping, port competitiveness, and performance including shipping and port services, multi-modal shipping, hinterland services, maritime supporting services, linkages to global supply chains, as well as how shipping and ports respond to sustain their competitiveness. This first issue deals with how new competitive pressures affect decision-making and design in carriers and ports

The balanced theory of port competitiveness

Due to weakening demand since the 2008 global recession, ports have had to reconsider how to compete differently to attract new business and new investors. Extant literature mainly focuses on either customer competitiveness or investor competitiveness. This study develops a new model of port competitiveness that simultaneously considers the effect of port strategy on customers and investors. This model is referred to as the balanced theory of port competitiveness. An analytical hierarchy process model builds on 10 factors that customers and investors consider important, and it is tested on 12 global seaports. The results show that port managers should consider the effect of their decisions among the factors because failure to do so can improve one factor of competitiveness while harming another. This study tests a theory that explains the behaviour of port managers and provides them with a practical guide to evaluate the effect of their decisions on customers and investors

The Balanced Theory of port competitiveness

International audienc

The Balanced Theory of port competitiveness

International audienc

The Balanced Theory of port competitiveness

International audienc

An empirical test of the balanced theory of port competitiveness

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a new theory called the balanced theory of port competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from multiple respondents in 72 of the largest container ports. The instrument was translated into English, Simplified Chinese, Korean, and French. The data were collected through online and paper-based surveys. The data were analyzed using analytical hierarchy process. Findings - The theory was shown to explain the behavior of port stakeholders in improving competitiveness by balancing the need to attract new customers with that of attracting new investors when making decisions, which can often be contradictory. The analysis showed significant effects for the five variables of volume competitiveness (VC) and the five variables of investment competitiveness. Research limitations/implications - This study is limited in that it only tested the balanced theory on the largest container ports. The decisions by port managers may differ at smaller ports or those that do not handle containers. Practical implications - Port stakeholders now have a ten-variable model of the factors needed to attract new customers and investors. These variables, and their tradeoffs, can evaluate the impact of managerial decisions on port competitiveness. Originality/value - This study informs the literature by being the first to test a new theory that explains a greater level of port stakeholder behavior when improving competitiveness. Prior to this study, VC and investor competitiveness had only been studied separately, although they were related in practice

Real-Time In Vivo Characterization of Primary Liver Tumors With Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy During Percutaneous Needle Interventions: Feasibility Study in Woodchucks

Objective: This study presents the first in vivo real-time optical tissue characterization during image-guided percutaneous intervention using near-infrared diffuse optical spectroscopy sensing at the tip of a needle. The goal of this study was to indicate transition boundaries from healthy tissue to tumors, namely, hepatic carcinoma, based on the real-time feedback derived from the optical measurements. Materials and Methods: Five woodchucks with hepatic carcinoma were used for this study. The woodchucks were imaged with contrast-enhanced cone beam computed tomography with a flat panel detector C-arm system to visualize the carcinoma in the liver. In each animal, 3 insertions were performed, starting from the skin surface toward the hepatic carcinoma under image guidance. In 2 woodchucks, each end point of the insertion was confirmed with pathologic examination of a biopsy sample. While advancing the needle in the animals under image guidance such as fluoroscopy overlaid with cone beam computed tomography slice and ultrasound, optical spectra were acquired at the distal end of the needles. Optical tissue characterization was determined by translating the acquired optical spectra into clinical parameters such as blood, water, lipid, and bile fractions; tissue oxygenation levels; and scattering amplitude related to tissue density. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to study the difference in the derived clinical parameters from the measurements performed within the healthy tissue and the hepatic carcinoma. Kurtoses were calculated to assess the dispersion of these parameters within the healthy and carcinoma tissues. Results: Blood and lipid volume fractions as well as tissue oxygenation and reduced scattering amplitude showed to be significantly different between the healthy part of the liver and the hepatic carcinoma (P < 0.05) being higher in normal liver tissue. A decrease in blood and lipid volume fractions and tissue oxygenation as well as an increase in scattering amplitude were observed when the tip of the needle crossed the margin from the healthy liver tissue to the carcinoma. The kurtosis for each derived clinical parameter was high in the hepatic tumor as compared with that in the healthy liver indicating intracarcinoma variability. Conclusions: Tissue blood content, oxygenation level, lipid content, and tissue density all showed significant differences when the needle tip was guided from the healthy tissue to the carcinoma and can therefore be used to identify tissue boundaries during percutaneous image-guided intervention