Roles of Geospatial Technologies in Hydrographic Practice

Any seafarer or mariner that uses the sea knows that navigation without correct charts is impossible and hazardous because nautical charts are the most essential and indispensable tools for vessels to sail safely at sea. For vessels to safely sail at sea, the seas and the oceans ought to be charted and this falls within the domain of hydrography. However, the seas cannot be charted effectively in the absence of the deployment of human resources and adequate tools like satellite and aerial imagery, survey boats and other equipment that will facilitate the hydrographic operations. The acquisition of data and information about the sea depths, nature of sea bed, waterways, navigational hazards and navigational objects among others, basically falls within the sphere of hydrography which is primarily known as survey at sea. The paper offers a review of geospatial technologies in hydrographic practice for enhanced safety of navigation at sea. The review is important to both the mariners, shipping industry and the government in order to explore the potentials provided by Geographic Information System, Remote Sensing, cloud GIS, big data GIS and Global Positioning System to enhance the practice of hydrography. The data and materials used for the review were obtained from literature in the internet and other published works. The paper looked at hydrography as a profession, roles of geospatial technologies in hydrographic practice, benefits of hydrography to national development and finally, the weaknesses of geospatial technologies in hydrographic practice were equally examined.

Navigating norms and invisible rules: Explaining the case of business influence in international shipping regulation

This article develops a micro-level theoretical perspective of business influence in international negotiations. By drawing on organizational institutional theory, the article proposes that site-specific institutionalized norms can structure the nature and extent of business power. The article illustrates the value of this perspective through an illustrative case study of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) through interviews and participant observation of on-site dynamics during negotiations on environmental shipping regulation. The article shows how, in the case of the IMO, specific institutionalized norms and beliefs structure private actors’ possible influence and their claims to authority. In particular, strongly held beliefs about the nature of political deliberation in the IMO both constrain and enable business interests, sometimes overriding the general structural power of the shipping industry. This research implies that future scholarship of business power and lobbying should be attentive to specific institutionalized ideas structuring business actors’ range of legitimate activities, in particular in international institutions where individual negotiation sites can develop idiosyncratic norms and beliefs about the legitimacy of private actor participation.

Market structure and horizontal growth strategies – A case study of the container shipping industry

This article aims to review the structural transformation in the container shipping industry from 1995 to 2020 and identify the growth strategies of global carriers to enhance their market presence. Along with large investments in mega vessels, the growing deployment of charter capacity in all ship sectors has been a prominent trend in fleet expansion. The waves of mergers/acquisitions and bankruptcies have narrowed the group of global carriers. In addition to internal and external growth, they have been increasingly involved in strategic alliances to expand service coverage and compete well with powerful rivals. A few mega carriers have progressively captured the industry. In 2020, the Top 12 controlled 88 % of the global supply, and nearly 56 % was in the hands of the Top 4. Besides the substantial expansion of the four biggest carriers, we can identify the de-concentration within this gigantic group through the less inequality between their market shares.

Review of studies of blockchain technology effects on the shipping industry

Decision-making is a prolific research area in the internet era, which has propelled globalization and the virtual elimination of many country border barriers. However, effective decision-making in the shipping industry is a time consuming and often complicated process. Digital evolution has provided new innovative organizational operation methods. Blockchain technology—a basic component of the Fourth Industrial Revolution—is one such innovation that promises to alter the process of decision-making. However, only a few academic studies have explored the decision-making aspect of blockchain technology. Moreover, there is a dearth of comprehensive research on how blockchain affects decisions in the shipping industry. This study explored how this novice technology can address issues, such as vast documentation and information asymmetry in the shipping industry. Specifically, grounded theory was used to qualitatively investigate extant practices and examine the potential impact of blockchain technology on decision-making in the shipping industry and the potential of using blockchain technology to emancipate decision-making. The study results indicate that the instant and reliable data-sharing capability of blockchain can significantly impact the shipping industry, while transforming its decision-making processes.

The Vulnerability and Resilience of the Global Container Shipping Industry

Intermodal shipping containers, standardized and capable of being carried on trucks, trains, barges, or ships, have transformed the global economy since they were introduced in 1959. By allowing previously separated segments of regional and global transport systems to interact, they have vastly expanded global trade and facilitated supply chains that stretch around the world. But vulnerabilities in the system became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Problems at key bottlenecks in the system, compounded by an unexpected six-day shutdown of the vital Suez Canal, precipitated global disruptions leading to shortages of goods and soaring prices around the world. As the global shipping industry recovers, it will have an opportunity to transition toward a system that is more resilient.

Reflections and Future Directions for the Green Maritime Supply Chain in Malaysia

The maritime sector and shipping industry have been argued to be effective drivers of international trade. Internationalization has become a strategic business plan by entrepreneurs and industry players to expand the business, especially when their business was already established in the domestic market. However, current international laws began to be tightened by requiring each exporting and shipping firms to implement green sea transport practices and documentations. A limited number of empirical-based evidence has forced the maritime practitioners to conduct business without clear green concepts knowledge and availability of best business practices to be benchmarked. With this in mind, the aim of this chapter is to examine current issues, differences, and dilemmas confronting practitioners, governments, stakeholders, and scholars. This chapter has developed a green maritime supply chain concept based on practitioners' reflections and provides future direction to scholars interested in studying green logistics and supplying chain management in the maritime sector.

Modeling and performance analysis of diesel engine considering the heating effect of blow-by on cylinder intake gas

Recently, the stringent international regulations on ship energy efficiency and NOx emissions from ocean-going ships make energy conservation and emission reduction be the theme of the shipping industry. Due to its fuel economy and reliability, most large commercial vessels are propelled by a low-speed two-stroke marine diesel engine, which consumes most of the fuel in the ship. In the present work, a zero-dimensional model is developed, which considers the blow-by, exhaust gas bypass, gas exchange, turbocharger, and heat transfer. Meanwhile, the model is improved by considering the heating effect of the blow-by gas on the intake gas. The proposed model is applied to a MAN B&W low-speed two-stroke marine diesel engine and validated with the engine shop test data. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results. The accuracy of the model is greatly improved after considering the heating effect of blow-by gas. The model accuracy of most parameters has been improved from within 5% to within 2%, by considering the heating effect of blow-by gas. Finally, the influence of blow-by area change on engine performance is analyzed with considering and without considering the heating effect of blow-by.

Monopoly in the container shipping market: an econometric approach

PurposeSince the 2010s, market conditions for container shipping companies have been deteriorating owing to decreasing container cargo trade and increasing supply capacity. This study aims to contribute to the empirical literature on the container shipping industry market structure. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the extent of market competition.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzes the market structure and evaluates the market power of shipping companies through a non-structural test.FindingsThe H-statistic for the entire period of 2004–2018 was 0.37, which is significantly different from zero. This indicates the absence of monopoly pricing throughout the entire period. For the time-phased estimates, the H-statistic between 2004 and 2008 is 0.15, which is not significantly different from zero. On the other hand, the H-statistic from 2009 to 2018 was 0.40, which differs significantly from zero.Originality/valueAs the Far East Freight Conference had released tariffs and charge rates by item for container shipping routes, monopolistic pricing is said to have appeared until the European Union abolished the European Economic Community (No. 4056/86) in 2008, before the economic crisis. However, this study indicates that pricing in the container shipping industry has been distinctly non-monopolistic; further, competition seems to have intensified since 2008. Industry competitiveness is of interest not only to academics but also to practitioners, including policymakers, especially when considering competition policies.