Chinese Transportation Industry Research Articles

Convertible Bond Pricing in Chinese Transportation Industry : A Comparison Methods Between Binomial Tree model and Black-Scholes Model

Convertible Bond Pricing in Chinese Transportation Industry : A Comparison Methods Between Binomial Tree model and Black-Scholes Model

The causal effect of carbon emission trading scheme on green TFP: Evidence from the Chinese transportation industry

While industries globally strive to meet the 1.5-degree target set forth in the Paris Agreement, the transport sector, as the largest emitter of carbon, has yet to sufficiently reduce its emissions. This study utilizes panel data spanning from 2007 to 2022 in China and employs a time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) method to examine the causal impact of the carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) on green total factor productivity (GTFP) within the transport industry. Our empirical analysis yields several key findings: First, the implementation of the ETS policy significantly enhances GTFP in the transport sector within pilot areas. Second, decomposition of GTFP indicators reveals that the ETS primarily improves green scale efficiency and fosters green innovation, driven by technological advancements and optimal resource allocation. Third, heterogeneity analysis demonstrates a notably stronger positive effect of the ETS on transport sector GTFP in the eastern region, with insignificant impacts observed in the central and western regions. Through rigorous robustness tests, these conclusions are consistently upheld. In sum, this paper provides robust empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of ETS in reducing emissions and presents valuable policy implications for fostering the green transition of the transport sector.

Provincial energy and environmental efficiency analysis of Chinese transportation industry with the fixed-sum carbon emission constraint

Measuring energy and environmental performance has become a significant public concern, owing to increasingly severe environmental pressures. The transportation industry plays an essential role in modern economic and social development and has caused many environmental problems due to its huge energy consumption and carbon emissions. This study examined the provincial energy and environmental efficiency (EEE) of the transportation industry in China, considering a newly announced dual-carbon policy target with a total fixed-sum (FS) constraint on carbon emissions. The transportation industry is modeled as a parallel production system with passenger transportation and freight transportation. Because both subsystems would inevitably generate carbon dioxides, a parallel transportation system is innovatively considered with a FS constraint of shared carbon emissions under the dual-carbon policy target. This study contributes to the literature by measuring the EEE of the Chinese transportation industry under the FS constraint of shared carbon emissions in a parallel system. To address this problem, we propose a novel parallel data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach that considers FS shared undesirable outputs (FSSUO) based on the generalized equilibrium efficient frontier (GEEF) concept. The GEEF was obtained by minimizing the total adjustment of carbon emissions and used to calculate the overall parallel transportation efficiency. Furthermore, we developed a decomposition framework to estimate the individual passenger transportation performance and freight transportation performance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to study the fixed-sum outputs (FSO) in a parallel production system, whereas previous studies addressed FSO in either black-box or two-stage series production systems. Finally, we apply the proposed approach to empirically analyze the EEE of the Chinese transportation industry at the provincial level from 2015 to 2019 and provide valuable empirical findings and policy suggestions.

A new approach to COVID-19 data mining: A deep spatial–temporal prediction model based on tree structure for traffic revitalization index

The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has had a huge impact on a global scale and its impact has covered almost all human industries. The Chinese government enacted a series of policies to restrict the transportation industry in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. With the gradual control of the COVID-19 epidemic and the reduction of confirmed cases, the Chinese transportation industry has gradually recovered. The traffic revitalization index is the main indicator for evaluating the degree of recovery of the urban transportation industry after being affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. The prediction research of traffic revitalization index can help the relevant government departments to know the state of urban traffic from the macro level and formulate relevant policies. Therefore, this study proposes a deep spatial–temporal prediction model based on tree structure for the traffic revitalization index. The model mainly includes spatial convolution module, temporal convolution module and matrix data fusion module. The spatial convolution module builds a tree convolution process based on the tree structure that can contain directional features and hierarchical features of urban nodes. The temporal convolution module constructs a deep network for capturing temporal dependent features of the data in the multi-layer residual structure. The matrix data fusion module can perform multi-scale fusion of COVID-19 epidemic data and traffic revitalization index data to further improve the prediction effect of the model. In this study, experimental comparisons between our model and multiple baseline models are conducted on real datasets. The experimental results show that our model has an average improvement of 21%, 18%, and 23% in MAE, RMSE and MAPE indicators, respectively.

Intellectual capital and firm performance: the moderating effect of auditor characteristics

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of intellectual capital (IC) and its three components (human, structural and relational capital) on corporation performance in the Chinese transportation industry. In addition, this study also investigates auditor characteristics (both Big-N and non-Big-N auditors) as a moderating role to examine the relationship between IC and corporate performance.Design/methodology/approachThe data include 398 firm-year observations of transportation companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2020. Value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) model and its modified version (MVAIC) are applied to measure IC efficiency. Finally, the fixed effects regression analysis is used to mitigate the endogeneity issue. To investigate the moderating effect of auditor characteristics, the authors divide the samples based on the clients audited by Big-4 and non-Big-4 firms.FindingsThis study reveals that IC can enhance firm performance in China’s transportation sector. Overall, findings indicate that on the whole, IC has a positive and significant impact on corporation profitability and productivity. Human capital and physical and financial assets (capital employed) play highly important roles, but structural capital has no significant impact. The authors also found that auditor characteristics play an important moderating role in the connection between IC and corporate performance. For example, the positive association between IC and corporate performance is more pronounced when Big-4 auditors audit client firms. At the same time, the authors found a negative relationship between IC and firm performance when non-Big-4 auditors audit client firms.Practical implicationsManagers must understand that several components of IC have a total effect on corporate financial performance. Therefore, managers can dedicate more resources to such components based on the performance outcomes to emphasize their business strategies.Originality/valueThis study is the first empirical analysis of the impact of IC and its components on corporation performance in the transportation sector in China, an emerging market. Previous studies mainly focus on developed countries’ high technology and financial industries sectors but the impact of IC in transportation industry largely remains unknown. Thus, the present findings contribute to IC literature by revealing several underlying mechanisms by which the components of IC help achieve good firm performance.

A Combined Evaluation Method of Corporate Social Responsibility Based on the Difference and Similarity: A Case Study of Transportation Industry in China

Currently, it is becoming more essential for a company to operate in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. This study aims to evaluate corporate social responsibility (CSR) in China’s transportation industry by applying indicator weighting approaches. This study evaluated 68 transportation companies with 82 associated CSR indicators. Firstly, this paper established an indicator system, including seven criteria layers that conform to the characteristics of the Chinese transportation industry. Secondly, by integrating the G1 method, standard deviation method and CRITIC (criteria importance though intercriteria correlation) approach, a combined weighting method, CWMDS (combined weighting method based on the combination of difference and similarity), was constructed, which embodies the two goals of “horizontal similarity and vertical difference”. The experimental results show that CWMDS achieves better results in many aspects. The empirical results show that the air transportation subindustry was the best in CSR performance while the high-speed transportation subindustry was the worst. Finally, this paper put forward some policy suggestions to promote China’s transportation enterprises to fulfill their social responsibility.

A sustainable shipping management framework in the marine environment: Institutional pressure, eco-design, and cross-functional perspectives

The shipping industry plays a vital role in the world trading system and in maintaining the stability of global supply chains. However, we cannot ignore the damage it brings to the marine environment. With a focus on protecting the marine environment, the sustainable development of shipping companies has also drawn growing attention. This study examines the sustainable shipping management practice system and develops a comprehensive framework to evaluate the significance of influencing elements and prioritizes those factors. This paper adopts a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method. It establishes a total of 11 sub-index systems from three aspects: the external policy pressure of shipping companies, the ecological design of shipping services, and the cross-functional green management within shipping companies. We used the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to analyze data collected from 37 experts in the Chinese shipping industry. The findings show that external policy pressure is the most critical factor influencing sustainable shipping management, followed by eco-design and cross-functional green management. These factors have a big impact and provide management references for shipping company managers and policymakers. They also give the government a company perspective when creating pertinent regulations.

The supervision and multi-sectoral guarantee mechanism of the global marine sulphur limit—assessment from Chinese shipping industry

To significantly reduce sulfur oxides emissions from fossil fuel-powered ships, reduce air pollution in ports and slow ocean acidification, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has imposed the new 0.50%m/m limit (reduced from 3.50%m/m in the past) on sulphur in ships’ fuel oil. This has given rise to a host of issues regarding fuel replenishment operations, safe operation management, maritime regulation, and coordinated governance of air and climate. In response to ocean acidification and climate change, regulations on the use of low-sulfur oil or alternative fuels by ships greatly reduce sulfur oxide emissions, but have no significant impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the refining process for low-sulfur fuels and the use of the gas cleaning system on ships both increase energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. To ensure the decarbonization process of shipping industry, there is an urgent need for a conceptual change in global ocean governance so as to promote the coordinated governance of air pollution and climate change. China’s conception of “a maritime community with a shared future” provides a new model for global ocean governance. The Chinese government has formulated regulations at different levels to promote the coordinated management of atmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Regarding supervision of sulfur oxide emissions from ships, this study proposes to build a multi-department collaborative supervision mechanism from marine fuel life cycle to enhance sulfur oxide monitoring and risk control capabilities. Specific measures of the proposed supervision mechanism include: the joint supervision of compliant fuel supply, the compliant fuel information disclosure platform, a joint law enforcement mechanism for atmospheric pollution, the ability of intelligent ship exhaust monitoring, and the construction of port power infrastructure.

Analysis of spatial associations in the energy–carbon emission efficiency of the transportation industry and its influencing factors: Evidence from China

Grasping the structure of the spatial associations in the energy–carbon emission efficiency (ECEE) of the transportation industry is of great importance for ensuring the green and sustainable development of the transportation industry. Based on the panel data on the transportation industry in 30 Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2017, this paper measures the provincial ECEE using the non-radial directional distance function (NDDF) and explores the structure of the spatial associations in ECEE and its influencing factors using social network analysis (SNA). The results show that (1) the average value of transportation ECEE in China is 0.34. The overall ECEE is relatively low and exhibits obvious spatial and temporal heterogeneity. (2) The network structure of the spatial associations for ECEE exhibit a hierarchical gradient characterized by density in the east and sparsity in the west, with provinces in the eastern and central regions, such as Henan, Zhejiang, and Fujian, possessing core leadership positions in the spatial transportation ECEE network. (3) The results of the block model show that the spatial ECEE network in the Chinese transportation industry has an obvious factional structure and that there are significant spatial associations among the blocks. Block 4, which contains several western provinces, exerts clear spatial spillover effects. (4) Regarding the factors affecting the formation of the spatial association network for ECEE, the differences in industrial structures, transportation energy structures, education levels, environmental regulations, and foreign direct investment among the provinces have positive and relatively significant effects on ECEE networks. The findings of this paper have theoretical and policy implications for integrating energy conservation and carbon emission reduction in China's transportation industry across regions.

Direct and economy-wide energy rebound effects in China's transportation sector: a comparative analysis.

Although the existing literature has evaluated the energy rebound effect (ERE) from various aspects, the estimates of different types of ERE obtained by different methods still deserve further discussion. For this reason, by analyzing the pros and cons of assessment methods, this study offers a comparison between the direct and economy-wide EREs based on China's transportation sector during the period of 2003-2019. Specifically, on the basis of the translog cost function, we use the dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) method with seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) to evaluate the sectoral direct ERE. Considering that the direct ERE estimation is limited by its strict assumptions, this article further assesses the sectoral ERE from a macro perspective. By constructing the dynamic two-stage panel function, the generalized method of moments (GMM) was adopted to estimate the sectoral economy-wide ERE. The empirical results demonstrate that first, capital and labor relative to energy are Morishima substitutes; second, the sectoral short-term economy-wide ERE in China was 71.60%, while the long-term economy-wide ERE was 32.00% during the study period; third, there are significant regional differences in the EREs of Chinese transportation industry both for the short and long term, and the east China demonstrated the highest sectoral economy-wide ERE.

Eco-efficiency of Chinese transportation industry: A DEA approach with non-discretionary input

In the context of the rapid development of Chinese economy and the advancement of urbanization and industrialization, the transportation industry caused serious environmental pollution and resource waste problems. The eco-efficiency of Chinese transportation industry has become a hot spot of society. Recently, China announced several initiatives to stabilize and expand employment, so that the efficient and sustainable development of industries cannot be based on the premise of reducing the labor force. However, traditional efficiency measures usually assume that inputs can be reduced at will, which is insufficient to correctly represent the observed practice. In this paper, we investigate the eco-efficiency of the transportation industry in 30 Chinese provinces incorporating the non-discretionary input labor and undesirable output CO2 emission. Data envelopment analysis and directional distance function approaches are employed in constructing the measurement model. Our empirical results reveal explicit spatial features of the eco-efficiency in various provinces and show significant correlation between eco-efficiency and industrial structure, technological, and management factors. To examine the validity of our proposed models, comparative studies were further conducted and illustrated that the introduction of non-discretionary inputs and the selection of direction vectors have a crucial impact on the results of eco-efficiency. Based on the empirical results and our summarized policy implications, we found several deficiencies in the real policies and put forward corresponding policy suggestions for the industry and government.

Accelerating domestic and international dual circulation in the Chinese shipping industry—An assessment from the aspect of participating RCEP

In the context of increasing uncertainties in the global political and economic situation, the signing of the RCEP marks an initial victory for multilateral trade and economic globalisation. This has also been welcomed by China’s shipping industry and has eased the decline in the shipping market, which had resulted from the economic downturn and the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. In order to realise the stable development of the shipping industry, however, it is not only necessary to make full use of the policy dividends resulting from the RCEP but also to recognise the higher requirements that the RCEP places on the shipping industry, in the new norms of international cooperation. It is suggested that, driven by the RCEP, building international shipping hubs, using new technologies to promote the development of the shipping industry and related service industries and forming a domestic and international dual-circulation industry development structure, are the main directions for the future development and the sustainability of China’s shipping industry.

Regional inequality of total factor CO2 emission performance and its geographical detection in the China's transportation industry.

The total factor CO2 emission performance (TFCEP) of transportation industry has received increasing research interests, while existing literature pays little attention to its regional inequality and driving factors. In order to uncover the regional inequality of TFCEP in China's transportation industry, this paper used Theil index and combined with geographical detector model (GDM) to explore the driving factors and their interactions on TFCEP in Chinese transportation industry. The results revealed that the TFCEP of transportation industry showed a promising increase during 2003-2017 with an annual growth rate of 0.12%, and the improvement was contributed by the technical efficiency change. The TFCEP in the Eastern region performed better than that in the Northeast, Central, and Western region. Regional inequality of TFCEP did exist and exhibited an obvious downward trend. The within-region inequality had a greater impact on the inequalities than between region. Freight turnover was the main driving factor of TFCEP in the transportation industry, followed by the energy intensity and per-capita GDP. In the Eastern and Western regions, freight turnover had the greatest impact on TFCEP, while in the Central and Northeastern regions, urbanization rate and energy intensity were the dominant factors, respectively. The interactions between energy intensity and freight turnover were highly influential. This paper provides important insights for different regions to formulate targeted carbon emission reduction policies.

Effects of applying the new ASBE 21 Leases on the financial statements: Evidence from China

The Ministry of Finance of China has proposed a new lease accounting model to the existing lease accounting standard that requires the capitalization of all operating leases as assets and liabilities. In this case study, the key effects of the application of a new accounting standard — Accounting Standard for Business Enterprises 21 (ASBE 21), on financial statements and financial ratios of listed companies in the Chinese air transport industry have been analyzed and investigated. Significant relative differences were found within the airline industry in China. Results indicated that the total assets and liabilities would increase due to the capitalization of operating leases, whereas the profitability of firms was expected to decrease. Furthermore, the coverage of firms would decline, but the leverage of these firms would be improved. Rather than China, prior studies have analyzed the firms in other countries, where different accounting principles are applied. Hence, this study can provide useful information for the investors, as well as other stakeholders that are interested in Chinese airline corporations, and help to complete the studies about different lease accounting standards applied in different countries.

Prediction on Peak Values of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from the Chinese Transportation Industry Based on the SVR Model and Scenario Analysis

As the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, the peak values of Chinese CO2 emissions have attracted extensive attention at home and abroad. The carbon dioxide emissions of the Chinese transportation industry, accounting for 9.5% of total carbon dioxide emissions, is one of the high-emission industries, and its total carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise. Therefore, the accurate prediction of the peak values of carbon dioxide emissions from the Chinese transportation industry is helpful for China to formulate a reasonable policy of carbon dioxide emissions control. This paper, firstly, selects six major factors affecting the carbon dioxide emissions of the Chinese transportation industry. They are the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population, urbanization rate, energy consumption structure, energy intensity, and industrial structure. Then, it builds a prediction model of carbon dioxide emissions based on Support Vector Regression (SVR). Finally, it analyses the sensitivity of each factor. The predicted results show that, under the baseline scenario, they will reach a peak of 1365.71 million tons in 2040; under the low-carbon scenario, the carbon dioxide emissions of Chinese transportation will peak at 1115.43 million tons in 2036; and in the high-carbon scenario, the peak value will occur in 2046 and the carbon dioxide emissions will be 1738.18 million tons. In order to promote the early peak of carbon dioxide emissions from the transportation industry, it is, firstly, necessary to change the mode of economic growth and appropriately reduce the speed of economic development. Secondly, the energy intensity of the transportation industry is reduced and the utilization rate of clean energy is improved. Thirdly, the industrial structure is optimized. Fourthly, the carbon dioxide emissions of the transportation industry caused by the increased urbanization rate are reasonably controlled.

Analysis of the Influencing Factors of Regional Carbon Emissions in the Chinese Transportation Industry

Global warming caused by excessive emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases is one of the greatest challenges for mankind in the 21st century. China is the world’s largest carbon emitter and its transportation industry is one of the fastest growing sectors for carbon emissions. However, China is a vast country with different levels of carbon emissions in the transportation industry. Therefore, it is helpful for the Chinese government to formulate a reasonable policy of regional carbon emissions control by studying the factors influencing the carbon emissions of the Chinese transportation industry at the regional level. Based on data from 1997 to 2017, this paper adopts the logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) decomposition method to analyze the influencing degree of several major factors on the carbon emissions of transportation industry in different regions, puts forward some suggestions according to local conditions, and provides references for the carbon reduction of Chinese transportation industry. The results show that (1) in 2017, the total carbon emissions of the Chinese transportation industry were 714.58 million tons, being 5.59 times of those in 1997, with an average annual growth rate of 9.89%. Among them, the carbon emissions on the Eastern Coast were rising linearly and higher than those in other regions. The carbon emissions in the Great Northwest were always lower than those in other regions, with only 38.75 million tons in 2017. (2) Economic output effect is the most important factor to promote the carbon emissions of transportation industry in various regions. Among them, the contribution values of economic output effect to carbon emissions on the Eastern Coast, the Southern Coast and the Great Northwest continued to rise, while the contribution values of economic output effect to carbon emissions in the other five regions decreased in the fourth stage. (3) The population size effect promoted the carbon emissions of the transportation industry in various regions, but the population size effect of the Northeast had a significant inhibitory influence on the carbon emissions in the fourth stage. (4) The regional energy intensity effect in most stages inhibited carbon emissions of the transportation industry. Among them, the energy intensity effects of the North Coast and the Southern Coast in the two stages had obvious inhibitory influences on carbon emissions of the transportation industry, but the contribution values of the energy intensity effect in the Great Northwest and the Northeast were positive in the fourth stage. (5) Except for the Great Southwest, the industry-scale effects of other regions had inhibited the carbon emissions of transportation industry in all regions. (6) The influences of the carbon emissions coefficient effect on carbon emissions in different regions were not significant and their inhibitory effects were relatively small.

Opening up the Chinese shipping market 1988–2018: The perspective of Chinese shipping companies facing foreign competition

Abstract Chinese shipping industry has experienced a rapid growth in the past three decades. With the analysis of the Chinese fleet capacity and the evolution of its market share in Chinese freight market, this paper reveals that foreign shipping companies took a majority share of ocean shipping while Chinese state-owned shipping companies have the upper hand in coastal and river shipping markets. Chinese private shipping companies were squeezed to either be a subcontractor or be confined in a niche market. This paper collects data from Chinese official shipping report and Chinese academic publications. It reveals that the prosperity of China's shipping market has not enabled the emergence of strong and very competitive Chinese shipping companies when facing foreign competitors.

Motivation and Acquisition Premium: Evidence from Chinese Shipping Industry

Chen, W. and Cui, Y., 2019. Motivation and acquisition premium: Evidence from Chinese shipping industry. In: Gong, D.; Zhu, H., and Liu, R.(eds.), Selected Topics in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 447–454. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.This paper studies influencing factors of acquisition premium for shipping industry in China with aspects of inner drive, inducement and success probability. It is based on acquisition theories and achievement theories, departing from earlier studies. Under the guidance of M&A Motivation, 379 acquisitions from 2010 to 2016 are empirically verified. The results indicate that the majority of higher premium in shipping industry in China are paid for promoting better enterprises development, and it is not highly correlated with agency motivation. The relationship between M&A motivation and acquisition premium revealed by the paper could contribute to a reasonable price bargain for the acquirer; meanwhile, the innovative consideration of inducement extends the set of influencing factors for acquisition premium.

Development of a Bridge Management System Based on the Building Information Modeling Technology

With the development of the Chinese transportation industry, the number of bridges has increased significantly, but this results in high pressure of structural maintenance and management. Bridge management system (BMS) is critical for efficient maintenance and ensured safety of bridge structures during long-term operation. Building information modeling (BIM) is an emerging technology with powerful visualization and informatization capability, making it an ideal tool for developing modern management systems. This paper introduces the development of a bridge management system based on the BIM technology. Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and International Framework for Dictionaries (IFD) standards are studied and extended, and coding rules are proposed for the Chinese bridge industry. Also, a standard structural modeling method is proposed to fast build the bridge BIM model. Web-BIM oriented bridge management is proposed, and portable devices are introduced into the system. Collaborative management is realized for different users. The BIM-based maintenance management system is designed. Finally, a practical BIM-based BMS is established for a long-span cable-stayed bridge in China. This system integrates the BIM with the geographic information system (GIS) and contains information management, inspection management, technical condition evaluation, and enables users to cooperate with each other. Such a BMS could help to improve the management efficiency and ensure its normal operation, providing a useful platform for the maintenance of massive bridges in China.

Spatio-temporal aspects of carbon dioxide emissions due to rail transport of coal in China

Climate change means that China needs to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from its transport sector. The study reported in the paper analysed the spatial–temporal characteristics of carbon doxide emissions produced by transporting coal by rail in the country between 2000 and 2014. The kriging interpolation method was used to analyse the emission distributions. The results showed that total emissions produced from rail transport of coal increased from 1·18 Mt in 2000 to 11·71 Mt in 2014, although they appear to have peaked. Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Shaanxi were the provinces with the largest emission increases. The emissions were positively correlated and showed spatial heterogeneity, with Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces being high-emission provinces surrounded by other high-emission provinces. The paper concludes with a discussion of energy conservation and emissions-reduction measures that could be implemented by the Chinese transport industry.