Social media and CSR communication in European ports: the case of Twitter at the Port of Rotterdam

PurposeThe research objective of the paper is twofold. First, it scrutinises the current state of the art concerning adopting the most popular social media by European port managing bodies (PMBs). Second, it investigates the use of social media in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication strategies of European PMBs.Design/methodology/approachThe paper carries out online field research on the use of social media by the top-25 European ports. Then, it provides an in-depth case study of the use of Twitter by the Port of Rotterdam for CSR communication. Finally, a content analysis of the tweets published in the 2017–2019 timeframe is performed.FindingsEmpirical results demonstrate the extensive use of social media by European PMBs to reach a wider array of stakeholders. Uneven approaches emerge considering port sizes and cultural clusters. The content analysis shows that one-third of tweets published by the Twitter account of the Port of Rotterdam address CSR issues, especially green initiatives, advocating the use of social media to communicate CSR.Research limitations/implicationsThe study focuses on the European domain. A broader sample of ports worldwide should be examined to further investigate the drivers affecting PMBs' strategic adoption and use of social media, mainly to communicate CSR.Practical implicationsThe paper provides port managers with insights to strengthen CSR communication. Given the increasing pressure of the public opinion on environmental and social issues, the ability of European PMBs to communicate their CSR commitment through social media represents a key driver when searching for consensus of stakeholders and “licence to operate”.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the existing maritime logistics literature by introducing a promising field of research.

A Review of the Conceptualization and Operational Management of Seaport Microgrids on the Shore and Seaside

Seaports are well known as the medium that has evolved into the central link between sea and land for complex marine activities. The growth in maritime logistics particularly necessitates a large volume of energy supply in order to maintain the operation of sea trade, resulting in an imbalance between generation and demand sides. Future projections for three major concerns show an increase in load demand, cost of operation, and environmental issues. In order to overcome these problems, integrating microgrids as an innovative technology in the seaport power system appears to be a vital strategy. It is believed that microgrids enhance seaport operation by providing sustainable, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective energy. Although microgrids are well established and widely used in a variety of operations on land, their incorporation into the seaport is still limited. The involvement of a variety of heavy loads such as all-electric ships, cranes, cold ironing, and buildings infrastructure renders it a complicated arrangement task in several aspects, which necessitates further research and leaves space for improvement. In this paper, an overview of the seaport microgrids in terms of their concepts and operation management is presented. It provides the perspectives for integrating the microgrid concept into a seaport from both shore side and seaside as a smart initiative for the green port’s vision. Future research directions are discussed towards the development of a more efficient marine power system.

A Review of the Conceptualization and Operational Management of Seaport Microgrids on the Shore and Seaside

Seaports are well known as the medium that has evolved into the central link between sea and land for complex marine activities. The growth in maritime logistics especially necessitates a large volume of energy supply to maintain the operation of sea trade, resulting in an imbalance between the generation and demand sides. Future projections for three major concerns show an increase in load demand, cost of operation, and environmental issues. In order to overcome these problems, integrating microgrids as an innovative technology in the seaport power system appears to be a vital strategy. It is believed that microgrids enhance the seaport operation by providing sustainable, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective energy. Despite the fact that microgrids are well established and widely used in a variety of operations on land, their incorporation into the seaport is still limited. The involvement of a variety of heavy loads such as all-electric ships, cranes, cold ironing, and buildings infrastructure makes it a complicated arrangement task in several aspects, which necessitate further research and leave space for improvement. In this paper, an overview of the seaport microgrids in terms of their concepts, requirements, and operation management is presented. It provides the perspectives of integrating the microgrid concept into a seaport from both shore side and seaside as a smart initiative for the green ports vision. Future research directions are discussed towards the development of more efficient marine power system.

The Development of Stowage Planning Model for General Cargo Ship and Cargo Barge Vessel

As a maritime country whose water area is three times wider than its land, Indonesia has one of the ways to increase the logistic activities especially in adjusting to the development of the industry 4.0 by enhancing the productivity of maritime logistics in a way of streamlining the action at unit terminal containers. Stevedoring is a one of very important logistics activities in port operational ecosystem. In order to optimize the performance of the port, the efficiency of the stowage planning process is done. Some factors which can be evolved in stowage planning are processing time, ship stability, and minimum over stow. This research uses the stowage planning algorithm to develop an application in Python programming language. This application will eventually be used to create a stowage plan map for general cargo ship and cargo barge vessel in by prioritizing the ship stability, as well avoiding low over stow in a short time. With Python programming language a routine operational four hours job that used Microsoft Excel, only requires far less time with 10-15 seconds.

Reducing Anchorage in Ports: Changing Technologies, Opportunities and Challenges

Developments in digitisation and the need to reduce carbon emissions have increased attention on port call optimisation. Just-in-time arrival for ships is recognised in the literature as being achieved more readily in container trades than in bulk trades. This paper examines the governance and trade logistics conditions in the bulk trades of Vancouver, Canada, as the increasing number of ships at anchor gives rise to the need to explore the absence of initiatives to limit anchorage and to identify what is done elsewhere to manage the incidence of anchorage. Newcastle, Australia, is used to identify critical governance and logistics factors that played a role in the development of innovative practices to reduce anchorage. The major obstacles to port call optimisation lie in the organisational and behavioural aspects of maritime logistics, not in the technology of digitisation.