Public-Private Partnerships in Port Areas:Lessons Learned from Case Studies in Antwerp and Rotterdam

The cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a widely used approach for the appraisal of transport projects, but criticisms on it have led to the development of alternatives such as the BENEFIT approach. This book chapter analyzes three cases of infrastructure investments in port areas in Belgium and the Netherlands, by application of the BENEFIT approach. We find inter alia that differences in country performance on internationally accepted indicators can influence differences in infrastructure investments between countries. Moreover, infrastructure projects with larger revenue-generating possibilities will influence the PPP (public-private partnership) potential of this type of projects in a positive way. Applying different appraisal methods to the same infrastructure project might help to arrive at infrastructure project investment approvals that are well-documented.</p

Toward implementing a fully automated truck guidance system at a seaport: identifying the roles, costs and benefits of logistics stakeholders

The seaport-hinterland access infrastructures become more saturated leading to extra unpredictable costs for logistics operators. To keep their services competitive, infrastructure managers (such as port authorities) seek new approaches in managing and delivering information to their users. Starting from existing technological advancements and exploring the declared opportunities enabled by (near) future ones, a range of solutions (e.g. real-time information platforms, dynamic information boards or digital on-request notification solutions) can be pursued. This research investigates how an advanced truck guidance system (TGS) leverages on technology and leads to more efficient resource (infrastructure, equipment and labour) usage. The current paper merges two perspectives. The first conducts interviews with representatives of different logistics stakeholders to highlight their data needs. The second perspective is given by a review of information communication technology (ICT) innovative trends. These two perspectives provide an up-to-date overview of both needs (demand) and opportunities (supply) that challenge logistics stakeholders. This study proposes a TGS architecture that merges the two perspectives and identifies a stepwise approach to implement it. Therefore, the roles, costs and benefits brought to the logistics stakeholders are highlighted for each step. The key findings of this study show that road transport operators would benefit from operational savings and increased performance, while the other supply chain stakeholders can benefit from setting up a more reliable planning, better managing their infrastructure and developing added-value services for clients. To enable these benefits, the port administration could take the facilitator role and cover the TGS’s development costs

Thermal niche differentiation in the benthic diatom Cylindrotheca closterium (Bacillariophyceae) complex

Coastal waters are expected to undergo severe warming in the coming decades. Very little is known about how diatoms, the dominant primary producers in these habitats, will cope with these changes. We investigated the thermal niche of Cylindrotheca closterium, a widespread benthic marine diatom, using 24 strains collected over a wide latitudinal gradient. A multi-marker phylogeny in combination with a species delimitation approach shows that C. closterium represents a (pseudo)cryptic species complex, and this is reflected in distinct growth response patterns in terms of optimum growth temperature, maximum growth rate, and thermal niche width. Strains from the same Glade displayed a similar thermal response, suggesting niche conservation between closely related strains. Due to their lower maximum growth rate and smaller thermal niche width, we expect the polar species to be particularly sensitive to warming, and, in the absence of adaptation, to be replaced with species from lower latitudes

Haloperoxidase mediated quorum quenching by Nitzschia cf pellucida: study of the metabolization of N-acyl homoserine lactones by a benthic diatom

Diatoms are known to produce a variety of halogenated compounds, which were recently shown to have a role in allelopathic interactions between competing species. The production of these compounds is linked to haloperoxidase activity. This research, has shown that this system may also be involved in diatom-bacteria interactions via the H2O2 dependent inactivation of a type of quorum sensing (QS) molecule, i.e., N-beta-ketoacylated homoserine lactones (AHLs), by a natural haloperoxidase system from the benthic diatom Nitzschia cf pellucida. The AHL degradation pathway towards corresponding halogenated derivatives was elucidated via HPLC-MS analysis and the synthesis of a broad series of novel halogenated AHL analogues as reference compounds. Furthermore, their biological activity as quorum sensing modulators was directly compared and evaluated against a series of naturally occurring beta-keto-AHLs. It has been demonstrated that the loss of the QS activity results from the final cleavage of the halogenated N-acyl chain of the signal molecules

Comparison of mechanical disturbance in soft sediments due to tickler-chain SumWing trawl versus electro-fitted PulseWing trawl

This study was part-funded by the EU FP 7 project BENTHIS (grant no. 312088). It does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission and does not anticipate the Commission’s future policy in this area. We are grateful for the logistic support of VLIZ, the fishermen of TX43 and TX29 and crew members of RV ISIS and RV Simon Stevin during the sea trials and NIOZ for the use of their box corer. ADR and LRT were partly supported by the project “Impact assessment pulsvisserij”. We are indebted to the skippers and Eddy Buyvoets for drawing the net plans of the trawls. We thank John Aldridge for his insights in sediment transport in relation to natural dynamics; Bavo De Witte for conducting the particle size analysis; Daniel Benden for assisting SPI analyses; Miriam Levenson for English-language editing and Julie Bremner and Stefan Bolam for their critical review. We also wish to thank 3 anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.Peer reviewedPostprin

Workshop on Raising Data using the RDBES and TAF (WKRDBESRaiseTAF; outputs from 2022 meeting)

41 páginasThe Workshop on Raising Data using the RDBES and TAF (WKRDBES-Raise&TAF) met online (26–30 of September 2022) to evaluate the use of the Regional Database and Estimation System (RDBES) format to reproduce the 2022 InterCatch input and output, identifying a Transparent Assessment Framework (TAF) structure to organize the intermediate steps and to propose standardized output formats. The main outcomes of WKRDBES-Raise&TAF were: · RDBES provides sufficient support for current national estimation protocols. However, some minor issues were reported that hampered an exact reproduction of the estimates. Therefore, adaptations of the data model should not be excluded completely. · All the input to stock assessment that InterCatch currently provides, could be reproduced. The participants started from the current stock extracts that can be downloaded from InterCatch. · A workflow was proposed with a national TAF repository for each country, a stock estimation repository and a stock assessment repository. The intermediate output of those repositories will be stored in an ‘intermediate output database’ and depending on the user role, you will get access to the relevant stages in this workflow. · The following requirements for the standard output formats were defined: they cannot be more restrictive than the InterCatch input and output format; they should present measures of uncertainty and sample sizes (for national estimates) and should have a configurable domain definition (for national estimates). Despite those successful outcomes, the current plan for transition to an operational system was concluded to be too optimistic. WKRDBES-Raise&TAF therefore recommends to the Working Group on Governance of the Regional Database and Estimation System (WGRDBESGOV) to revise the roadmap and allow RDBES to be in a test phase also for 2023. WKRDBES-Raise&TAF felt the need to test the proposed workflow on a small scale and therefore recommends to the WGRDBESGOV to arrange a workshop where two stocks (pok.27.3a46 (Saithe (Pollachius virens) in Subareas 4, 6 and Division 3.a (North Sea, Rockall and West of Scotland, Skagerrak and Kattegat) and wit.27.3a47d (Witch (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) in Subarea 4 and Divisions 3.a and 7.d (North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat, eastern English Channel)) will be set up to go through the whole flow.Peer reviewe

Bottom trawl fishing footprints on the world’s continental shelves

Publication history: Accepted - 23 August 2018; Published online - 8 October 2018.Bottom trawlers land around 19 million tons of fish and invertebrates annually, almost one-quarter of wild marine landings. The extent of bottom trawling footprint (seabed area trawled at least once in a specified region and time period) is often contested but poorly described. We quantify footprints using high-resolution satellite vessel monitoring system (VMS) and logbook data on 24 continental shelves and slopes to 1,000-m depth over at least 2 years. Trawling footprint varied markedly among regions: from <10% of seabed area in Australian and New Zealand waters, the Aleutian Islands, East Bering Sea, South Chile, and Gulf of Alaska to >50% in some European seas. Overall, 14% of the 7.8 million-km2 study area was trawled, and 86% was not trawled. Trawling activity was aggregated; the most intensively trawled areas accounting for 90% of activity comprised 77% of footprint on average. Regional swept area ratio (SAR; ratio of total swept area trawled annually to total area of region, a metric of trawling intensity) and footprint area were related, providing an approach to estimate regional trawling footprints when highresolution spatial data are unavailable. If SAR was ≤0.1, as in 8 of 24 regions, therewas >95% probability that >90%of seabed was not trawled. If SAR was 7.9, equal to the highest SAR recorded, there was >95% probability that >70% of seabed was trawled. Footprints were smaller and SAR was ≤0.25 in regions where fishing rates consistently met international sustainability benchmarks for fish stocks, implying collateral environmental benefits from sustainable fishing.Funding for meetings of the study group and salary support for R.O.A. were provided by the following: David and Lucile Packard Foundation; the Walton Family Foundation; the Alaska Seafood Cooperative; American Seafoods Group US; Blumar Seafoods Denmark; Clearwater Seafoods Inc.; Espersen Group; Glacier Fish Company LLC US; Gortons Seafood; Independent Fisheries Limited N.Z.; Nippon Suisan (USA), Inc.; Pesca Chile S.A.; Pacific Andes International Holdings, Ltd.; San Arawa, S.A.; Sanford Ltd. N.Z.; Sealord Group Ltd. N.Z.; South African Trawling Association; Trident Seafoods; and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Additional funding to individual authors was provided by European Union Project BENTHIS EU-FP7 312088 (to A.D.R., O.R.E., F.B., N.T.H., L.B.-M., R.C., H.O.F., H.G., J.G.H., P.J., S.K., M.L., G.G.-M., N.P., P.E.P., T.R., A.S., B.V., and M.J.K.); the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, Portugal (C.S.); the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea Science Fund (R.O.A. and K.M.H.); the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (C.R.P. and T.M.); the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (R.A.M.); New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries Projects BEN2012/01 and DAE2010/ 04D (to S.J.B. and R.F.); the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania and the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Tasmania, Australia (J.M.S.); and UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Project MF1225 (to S.J.)