Increase In Tonnage Research Articles

Seafarer market structure analysis of Korean merchant shipping in COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic clearly demonstrates that seafarers are essential for sustaining world shipping services and global supply chain. Understanding the characteristics of supply and demand in seafarer market will be a solution for the bottleneck issues of seafarer change and shipping services. This paper explores the supply and demand of seafarer market in Korea and evaluates the effects of COVID-19 on both supply and demand sides of Korean seafarers by adopting regression models with panel data for the supply and time series data for the demand. First, this paper finds that the effects of COVID-19 are negative in the demand of Korean seafarer market even with the wider increase of tonnage of the Korean flagged ships in 2020. The demand shock seems to be resulted by the traveling restriction and stricter immigration measures to travellers after the announcement of COVID-19 pandemic. Second, supply in the regression models of panel data is affected negatively after declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic may trigger the hesitation of seafaring due to the travelling restriction and bottlenecks from seafarer changes onboard. Besides these findings, the correlation coefficients between the number of Korean seafarers of merchant ships and merchant fleet illustrate a diverse relationship between the two. The expansion of Korean ocean-going fleet is accompanied by the decrease of Korean seafarers on the Korean flag. The employment of foreign seafarers since 1992 has resulted in the continual decrease of ratings employment in the Korean flagged ships. The inflow of foreign deck officers in the Korean flagged ships after 2005 could lessen the officer deficiency caused by high separation rate of Korean deck officers. This inflow implies that seafarer market in a country not only affects global seafarer market in the world through the changes of seafarer supply and demand in the country, but is affected by the global market. The dual markets of Korean seafarers in ocean-going and coastal shipping present the following phenomena: severe aging of seafarers in coastal shipping and wider difference in welfare level of seafarers between the two. Further research on wage and career advancement of Korean seafarers would widen and deepen our understanding on seafarer market both for Korea and the rest of the world.

Ship tonnages determined by the world economic growth with game theory

Game theory is a discipline that examines subjects such as negotiation, conflict and cooperation between individuals, organizations, and companies by using mathematical models. Game theory is interested in understanding interaction between companies each other companies and individuals, particular decisions made by individuals and their effects on other individuals. The aim of the study is to investigate the maritime companies in a competitive environment where economic imbalances take place. For this purpose, the economic data reached through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been used. In this study, the effect of the increase in the economy over the increase in the tonnage of maritime transport and the effects of the tonnage over the excess or shortage in the market are calculated by using the game theory technique. In this respect, the issue of how long the overall tonnage increase should continue in the economy is taken into consideration. At the same time, moving economically with forward-looking estimates has also made the decision-making process more difficult.

POWER CONSUMPTION MANAGEMENT AND SIMULATION OF OPTIMIZED OPERATIONAL CONDITIONS OF BALL MILLS USING THE MORRELL POWER MODEL: A CASE STUDY

The amount of comminution or fineness of minerals in a mill can be described by various parameters, the most important of which is d80 (80% passing size). The purpose of this study is to investigate and simulate the optimal operating conditions of a ball mill in a copper processing plant. The actual operating conditions in the intended mill are performed with a 300 tph tonnage, a 267 second retention time, and a discharge d80 = 53 μm. Laboratory studies showed that the optimal economical and metallurgical recovery of copper in this plant is achieved in 65 μm ≤ d80 ≤ 75 μm with Flotation Recovery (R) = 90.16%, Economical Efficiency (EE) = 93.04% and Separation Efficiency (SE) = 88.64%. In this study, having the optimal d80 for the concentration unit, the mill data, and utilizing Excel Software and the Morrell method, first the total power for the optimal set of d80 was calculated, which is equal to 7790 to 8005 kW. Then, according to these power values, the corresponding retention times were calculated, which are equal to 236 and 247 seconds respectively. Finally, utilizing the retention time-tonnage relationship and taking into account the specific filling of the mill, the optimal corresponding tonnages to the obtained retention times were calculated, ranging from 324 to 340 tph. The results of these studies showed that by reducing the level of comminution from d80 = 53 μm to 65 μm ≤ d80 ≤ 75 μm, in addition to increasing flotation efficiency to R = 90.16%, EE = 93.04% and SE = 88.64%, about 4.21% to 7.09% energy savings and an 8.00% to 13.33% tonnage increase will occur.

A geomechanics classification for the rating of railroad subgrade performance

The type of subgrade of a railroad foundation is vital to the overall performance of the track structure. With the train speed and tonnage increase, as well as environmental changes, the evaluation and influence of subgrade are even more paramount in the railroad track structure performance. A geomechanics classification for subgrade is proposed coupling the stiffness (resilient modulus) and permanent deformation behaviour evaluated by means of repeated triaxial loading tests. This classification covers from fine- to coarse-grained soils, grouped by UIC and ASTM. For this achievement, we first summarize the main models for estimating resilient modulus and permanent deformation, including the evaluation of their robustness and their sensitivity to mechanical and environmental parameters. This is followed by the procedure required to arrive at the geomechanical classification and rating, as well as a discussion of the influence of environmental factors. This work is the first attempt to obtain a new geomechanical classification that can be a useful tool in the evaluation and modelling of the foundation of railway structures.

​Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Portunus trituberculatus in the Northern East China Sea based on Different Modelling Approaches

Background: Portunus trituberculatus is an important economic crab in the East China Sea. With the increase of tonnage and power of offshore fishing vessels, fishing intensity also increases, which has caused great pressure on P. trituberculatus resources. Protecting P. trituberculatus and achieving sustainable utilisation of resources are urgent problems that need to be solved. Therefore, protection and rational development of P. trituberculatus resources are important to accurately understand its spatial and temporal distribution. Methods: In this study, the temporal and spatial distribution predictive models of P. trituberculatus in the northern East China Sea were built on the basis of three analysis methods (generalised additive model [GAM], random forest [RF] and artificial neural network [ANN]) using bottom trawl survey data and environmental data from 2006 to 2007. The fitting and prediction performances of these three models were compared. Result: Season and sea bottom temperature were the most important factors on the distribution of P. trituberculatus. The fitting performance of ANNs was better than those of GAMs and RFs, but its predictive performance was worse than those of GAMs and RFs. Therefore, RFs was the appropriate model in predicting the distribution of P. trituberculatus in the northern East China Sea. The abundance of P. trituberculatus was significantly higher in summer than in other seasons (P less than 0.01) and generally higher in the northern part of the study area than in the southern part in all seasons.

Identification of behaviour patterns in waste collection and disposal during the first wave of COVID-19 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) has had significant impacts on almost every aspect of daily life. From ‘stay-at-home’ orders to the progressive lifting of restrictions, the COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented effects on consumer behaviours and waste disposal habits. The purpose of this short communication is to examine time series waste collection and disposal data in a mid-sized Canadian city to understand how behavioural changes have affected municipal waste management. The results suggest that private waste disposal increased during the pandemic. This may be due to people doing home renovations in order to accommodate working from home. Furthermore, it appears that changes in consumer habits destabilized the consistency of waste disposal tonnage when compared to the same time period in 2019. When considering curbside residential waste collection, there was also an increase in tonnage. This may be the result of more waste being generated at home due to changes in eating and cooking habits, and cleaning routine. Finally, the ratio of residential waste collection to total disposal is examined. More residential waste is being generated, which may have environmental and operational effects, especially related to collection and transportation. The results from this study are important from an operational perspective, and will help planners and policy makers to better prepare for changes in the waste stream due to pandemics or other emergencies.

КОМЕРЦІЙНІ РИЗИКИ В СИСТЕМІ МОРСЬКИХ ПЕРЕВЕЗЕНЬ НА ПРИКЛАДІ КОНТЕЙНЕРОВОЗУ «EVER GIVEN»

Every year there is an intensive increase in tonnage and operational speed of vessels in the competition to improve the quality of transport and logistics services. Ship management needs to work in difficult, sometimes extreme conditions. It is necessary to comply with the commercial conditions of charters and not to violate the terms of delivery, to ensure the proper quality of cargo on board the vessel, as well as to comply with the conditions of safety of navigation in difficult weather conditions. All this affects the quality of cargo transportation.Purpose. The purpose of this article is to systematize various aspects of the commercial operation of a vessel, identify possible commercial risks of sea transportation, as well as factors influencing them.Methods. To solve the problem, the following methods were used: the method of theoretical generalization, the method of analysis and synthesis, the method of systematization, the method of deduction.Results. It has been determined that the anticipation of commercial risks of sea transportation will allow to develop mechanisms for their timely overcoming and reduce the commercial costs of all interested parties in the carriage of goods by sea. The main reasons for thegeneral accident of the container ship Ever Given in the Suez Canal are considered and analyzed and the consequences that it caused for the stakeholders of transportation and international maritime shipping in general are identified.Originality. Potential commercial risks of sea transportation have been identified using the example of the accident with the container ship «Ever Given». It is proposed to develop alternative options for a prompt solution to such problems in the future.Output. The blockage of the Suez Canal by the container ship Ever Given will have long-term repercussions, but such incidents could be deliberately provoked, affecting global and local trade in a targeted manner. There is a need to improve the safety of navigation by optimizing pilotage, especially during sandstorms and other situations where visibility is difficult.Keywords: commercial operation of a vessel, risks, sea transport, seaport, navigation safety

Emission Characteristics of Chemical Composition of Particulate Matter from Coal-fired Boilers

Samples of particulate matter from coal-fired boilers of different tons were collected in Lanzhou city, and the water-soluble inorganic ions, carbonaceous species, water-soluble organic compounds (WSOC) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed. The results showed that SO42-, Cl-, and Ca2+ were the most important water-soluble ions in the coal-fired boiler samples, accounting for 35.13%, 23.16%, and 22.20% of the total mass of water-soluble ions, respectively. The pyrolysis composition spectra of the carbonaceous species were similar among the coal-fired boilers, and organic carbon fraction (OC1, OC2, OC3, and OC4),and elemental carbon fraction (EC1, EC2, and EC3) accounted for 1.04%, 8.26%, 20.09%, 6.78%, 51.08%, 7.09%, and 5.66% of the total carbon (TC), respectively. EC1 had the highest content and was the most important carbonaceous species. The average ratios of WSOC/TC and WSOC/OC were 0.09±0.07 and 0.23±0.12, respectively, and the difference among the boilers of different tons was large. Phenanthrene (Phe), pyrene (Pyr), and benzene(k)anthracene (BkF) were the three main components of the PAHs, accounting for 16.69%, 11.93%, and 10.66% of the total PAHs, respectively. The particulate water-soluble ions, organic/elemental carbon aerosol (OCEC) and WSOC emitted from different tons coal-fired boilers were not significantly linearly related to the tonnage of the steam boiler, and low molecular weight PAHs decreased with the increase of tonnage of the steam boiler.

Influence of grafting on growth and yield performance of two tomato cultivars grown in open field in Nigeria

Tomato production is limited in Nigeria by foliar and soil-borne diseases. Most cultivars that command a premium market are susceptible to bacterial wilt disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. Tomato growers need researches that support the advantages of market niches afforded by these tomatoes through the development of systems to manage diseases against loss of yields. Bacterial wilt, the major soil-borne disease in the southwestern Nigeria, was effectively managed using susceptible tomato cultivars Beske and UC82-B grafted onto resistant rootstock (cv. Tomachiva). The experiment was laid down in a randomized complete block design. Grafted cv. Beske was not affected by bacterial wilt disease both in early and late planting season, respectively. However, non-grafted cvs Beske and UC82-B experienced various degrees of disease incidence and severity ranging from 36.70% to 50% in cv. Beske, 31.70% to 35% incidence in cv. UC82-B and were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than 0% incidence in cv. Beske and 0–3.30% incidence in cv. UC82-B in both early and late planting seasons, respectively. There was significant increase (P ≤ 0.05) in yield of grafted cv. Beske up to 63.16% and 53.38% in early and late planting seasons, respectively. Grafted cv. UC82-B had 56.14% and 71.76% yield increase in early and late planting seasons, respectively. Consistent numeric and tonnage increase in fruit yield were observed in grafted tomato plots which were significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) than in non-grafted tomato plots. In conclusion, grafting is an effective management tool for tomato growers in the southwest Nigeria to reduce risk of crop loss resulting from soil-borne diseases and could be a valuable component in an integrated pest management program.

Research into parameters of energy loss when trains influence the track with wooden sleepers

The magnitude that quantitatively characterizes the process of interaction between the track and the rolling stock was determined as equivalent coefficient of dissipation (ECD). This coefficient, as an estimated magnitude, takes into account all kinds of friction forces in the process of dissipation – the forces of dry friction that depend on the deformation of the track structure, as well as viscous friction forces that depend on deformation velocity, and, possibly, other types of friction forces. These forces exert considerable effect on the characteristics of strength of a railway track and, therefore, on the safety of motion, which is why the research in this paper is quite relevant. Theoretical positions are presented that allow us to determine a mathematical formula for the calculation of ECD for rail supports of railway track. We detected the values of vertical and horizontal transverse ECD for the wooden sleepers, for which we used data of experimental studies carried out at 12 sections of Ukrainian railways with different operational conditions. Based on these data, dependence was established of ECD of rail supports in the vertical and horizontal plane on the magnitude of tonnage that passed the track. Results of the experiments indicate that with an increase in tonnage from 0 to 300 million tons, values of coefficients of dissipation in the vertical plane increase by 1.5–1.9 times, and in the horizontal plane – by about 1.3 times. Based on the aforementioned, there is a possibility of practical use of ECD to determine the current state of the track and a need for repair work.

MODELING OF THE CARBON IN PULP (CIP) PROCESS IN GOLD CYANIDE LEACHING PLANTS USING THE PLANT DATA

An improved method to model CIP plants by plant data is presented. The Turkish gold cyanide leaching CIP plants, Bergama Ovacik, Gumushane Mastra and Eskisehir Kaymaz were modeled by using gold concentrations of monthly carbon, solution and solids spot samples of adsorption tanks without a need of laboratory work. Five carbon adsorption models were used namely k-n, Nicol-Fleming, Dixon, Film Diffusion with Langmuir isotherm and Film Diffusion with Freundlich isotherm (Johns model). Several monthly obtained plant data were collected and modeled separately and model parameters as well as regression coefficient R 2 values were found by non-linear regression. By comparing R 2 values, the best fit model for the three CIP plants was determined as Film Diffusion with Langmuir Isotherm that R 2 values were above 0.95. Thus, by using the best fit model, the Kaymaz plant was optimized for existing 49 Mg per hour ore feed tonnage and plant parameters were predicted according to planned feed tonnage increase to 120 Mg per hour.

Study of Specific energy of mechanical destruction of ice for calculation of ice load on ships and offshore structures

Analysis of scenarios of transportation oil and gas which produced in the Arctic and others cold seas shows that in the near-term there will be a significant increase of tonnage of tankers for oil and gas and number of ships which should be exploited in difficult ice conditions. For the construction of ice-resistant structures (IRS) intended for production of oil and gas and transportation of these products at ice-class vessels, calculating the load from ice to board the ship and on surface of supports of the platforms are the actuality and urgent tasks. These tasks have one basis in both cases: at beginning of the contact occurs fracture of edge of ice, then occurs compressing of rubble shattered of ice, then they extruding from contact area, after this next layer of ice begin to destruct. At calculating the strength of plating and elements construct of vessels, icebreakers and ice-resistant platforms the specific energy of mechanical destruction ice ? cr is an important parameter. For the whole period of study of physical and mechanical characteristics of sea ice have been not many experimental studies various researchers to obtain numerical values of this energetic characteristic of the strength of ice by a method called Ball Drop Test. This study shows that the destruction of the ice from dynamic loading in zone of contact occurs in several cycles, and the ice destructed with a minimum numerical values of ? cr . The author offer this energy characteristic to take as a base value for the calculation of ice load on ships and offshore structures.

The urban rise and fall of air lead (Pb) and the latent surge and retreat of societal violence

We evaluate air Pb emissions and latent aggravated assault behavior at the scale of the city. We accomplish this by regressing annual Federal Bureau of Investigation aggravated assault rate records against the rise and fall of annual vehicle Pb emissions in Chicago (Illinois), Indianapolis (Indiana), Minneapolis (Minnesota), San Diego (California), Atlanta (Georgia), and New Orleans (Louisiana). Other things held equal, a 1% increase in tonnages of air Pb released 22years prior raises the present period aggravated assault rate by 0.46% (95% CI, 0.28 to 0.64). Overall our model explains 90% of the variation in aggravated assault across the cities examined. In the case of New Orleans, 85% of temporal variation in the aggravated assault rate is explained by the annual rise and fall of air Pb (total=10,179metric tons) released on the population of New Orleans 22years earlier. For every metric ton of Pb released 22years prior, a latent increase of 1.59 (95% CI, 1.36 to 1.83, p<0.001) aggravated assaults per 100,000 were reported. Vehicles consuming fuel containing Pb additives contributed much larger quantities of Pb dust than generally recognized. Our findings along with others predict that prevention of children's lead exposure from lead dust now will realize numerous societal benefits two decades into the future, including lower rates of aggravated assault.

The role of intergenerational influence in waste education programmes: The THAW project

Whilst the education of young people is often seen as a part of the solution to current environmental problems seeking urgent attention, it is often forgotten that their parents and other household members can also be educated/influenced via home-based educational activities. This paper explores the theory of intergenerational influence in relation to school based waste education. Waste Watch, a UK-based environmental charity ( www.wastewatch.org.uk), has pioneered a model that uses practical activities and whole school involvement to promote school based action on waste. This methodology has been adopted nationally. This paper outlines and evaluates how effective school based waste education is in promoting action at a household level. The paper outlines Waste Watch’s ‘Taking Home Action on Waste (THAW)’ project carried out for two and half years in Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire, England. The project worked with 6705 primary age children in 39 schools (44% of primary schools in the project area) to enable them to take the “reduce, reuse and recycle message” home to their families and to engage these (i.e. families) in sustainable waste management practices. As well as substantial increases in students’ knowledge and understanding of waste reduction, measurement of the impact of the project in areas around 12 carefully chosen sample schools showed evidence of increased participation in recycling and recycling tonnages as well as declining levels of residual waste. Following delivery of the project in these areas, an average increase of 8.6% was recorded in recycling set out rates which led to a 4.3% increase in paper recycling tonnages and an 8.7% increase in tonnages of cans, glass and textiles collected for recycling. Correspondingly, there was a 4.5% fall in tonnages of residual waste. Waste Watch’s THAW project was the first serious attempt to measure the intergenerational influence of an education programme on behaviour at home (i.e. other than schools’ own waste). It clearly shows that household recycling behaviour can be positively impacted by intergenerational influence via a practical school-based waste education model. However, although the model could potentially have a big impact if rolled out nationally, it will require seed funding and the long-term durability of the model has not yet been fully quantified.

Mid‐basin deep‐water low‐frequency ambient noise estimation.

Estimating the increase in noise due to commercial shipping is of interest because of naval operations and its environmental consequences to marine life. Recent low‐frequency noise calculations [Evans and Carey, Proceedings of the 9th ICTCA, Univ. Bundeswehr, DE] for the mid‐Philippine sea illustrate the major uncertainties due to the basin’s slope reflectivity, the number density, and the source level radiation characteristics of commercial ships. Canonical source level characteristics are based on naval studies on measurements some 3 decades ago. In the early seventies, Ross [J.O.E. 30(2), (2005)] estimated the rate of increase of noise levels based on an empirical relationship between the radiated source level and tonnage to be order 0.5 dB/year based on the commercial ships of that era. Currently there are as many as seven classes of ships with an order of magnitude increase in tonnage, hull size, drafts, and propeller size. A plausible consequence is a radiation characteristic with a different directionality and effective efficiency. Deep ocean calculations are presented illustrating the uncertainties of slope enhancement and shipping noise levels. The current commercial ships are reviewed, qualitative estimates of the radiation characteristics are presented, and ambient noise implications discussed. [Work sponsored by ONR OA.]

Design Life Prediction of a Heavy Haul Track Foundation

Transnet Freight Rail monitors the behaviour of a new track foundation, constructed in 2004, on the South African Coal Line. This site forms part of a major rehabilitation project, aimed at increasing the capacity of the line to sustain future growth in annual tonnage. Sophisticated instrumentation is used to measure resilient and permanent deformation of the track foundation. Preliminary results of this research were published shortly after the construction of the new track foundation. Results of the permanent deformation, gathered over a period of 5 years, are now presented to provide new insight into the long-term behaviour of track foundations. Permanent deformation measurements are used to calculate the expected design life of a track foundation. The results are used to predict permanent deformation and ultimately the design life of the track foundation under heavy haul loading conditions. The research provides a scientific basis for planning foundation rehabilitation in the light of sustained capital expansion and projected tonnage increase on the Coal Line and other heavy haul lines.

Un goût nouveau pour le premier aliment industriel, la sardine à l’huile

Why are some industry and food innovations successful while so many others fail ? As regards tinned sardines in oil, their success was probably certain because they had been luxury goods for decades, since their invention around 1820. It was not until the eve of the First World War that they became more common. What was that success due to? It was due to three factors: the product, the manufacturers and the market. The product was innovative in many aspects: it was a ready-made meal, for any place and circumstance, it kept without problems, and its taste had nothing to do with salted and pressed sardines which were the poor man’s sardines. As far as the manufacturers were concerned, the situation was as favourable. The end of the slave trade provided the port areas of Nantes and Bordeaux with their manufacturing and trade traditions, with the opportunity to launch into new economic activity. As for the market, it offered two potential outlets: wealthy fringe groups throughout the world and French government institutions, particularly the Navy. Very quickly, the share of canned sardines for export came up to more than three quarters of the production, while the technical progress of the business, the increasing number of factories and the prospect of enticing profits allowed a tremendous increase in tonnage. A genuine industry was set up on the French Atlantic coast.

A Proposed Framework for Developing a Plan for Research in Lifesaving and Water Safety

Lifesaving has come a long way since 1878 in Marseille, when the first world lifesaving congress was held. The last half of the 19th century and up to World War I saw a dramatic and worldwide increase in sea trade, augmented by improved technology. The oceans became crowded, while concerns for safety lagged far behind the increase in tonnage by sea (Golden & Tipton, 2002). An escalation in armed conflict fanned the fire. Drowning statistics were at an all-time high. A tiny but significant seafaring nation like Norway approached 750 drownings per year at the peak, nearly 8 times the current toll and, per capita, over 20 times as great as today (Solberg & Nesheim, 2006). Little wonder that both governments and private individuals became alarmed, and initiatives to reduce this tragedy emerged. Local efforts led the way, appearing in the form of awareness campaigns, resuscitation education, learn-to-swim campaigns, lifesaving programs, and sea rescue. Several major cities worldwide had already formalized ambitious programs (e.g., The Society for Rescue of Drowning Persons, Amsterdam, 1767, in Bierens, 2006). The seeds of national consolidation were sown, and the first national lifesaving associations were in their fetal stage. The Marseille conference gathered like-minded persons and organizations and institutionalized the need to share and to learn from one another. A secondary effect of the congress was that seeing the progress of others in the nationalization of lifesaving accelerated this development in other countries. The next 25–30 years saw the birth of dozens of national lifesaving associations. As we all know, the Federation Internationale de Sauvetage Aquatique was launched in 1910. World Life Saving came later (1971), catering to the special needs of surf lifesaving, and in historic meetings in Leuven, Belgium, in 1993, these were merged into the International Life Saving Federation (ILS) of today. Many of these national associations have flourished and achieved a high degree of professional competence and experience and have been able to reach a large portion of their citizens. Some have succeeded in the political arena, influencing their governments to establish certain safety standards. In spite of increased international contact, the national agencies have maintained strong cultural traditions. A considerable variety of philosophies, methods, techniques, and programs still exists. Within the aquatic-research community,

The scale of operation, profitability based productivity and capacity utilization in seaports, the case study based on the Colombo Seaport in Sri Lanka, 1980-2005

The Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), an island nation, is strategically located in the South Asian main sea routes as a gateway to the Far-East, the Middle-East, Europe, Africa and Australia. This supreme strategic hub location created commendable achievements in seaports in different magnitudes over time. More specifically, after 1977 economic policy reforms, the Colombo seaport has earned the reputation as the best managed and the most efficient hub port in the South Asia and the major transshipment center in the Indian Ocean. This success further strengthened by the liberalization of shipping in 1990 which was the land mark of changing the fundamentals of the Sri Lankan shipping and ports related activities. In terms of future prospects of transshipment activities in South Asia, it can be estimated that, with the size of vessels growing in the main routes and economic booms in India and China, there will be a concentration of transshipment activities on a very limited number of strategically located hub ports equipped to cope with future generation of vessels requirements and ensuring excellent operation conditions. Therefore it is obvious that the Colombo’s qualifications are deemed fit to become one of these major hub in the South Asia. In this context, the recent growth of the Colombo seaport is analyzed by using production function, profitability and capacity utilization approach to get more insights into the seaport operation and to find the possibilities for further expansion. This new approach may overcome the potential problems of port impact and cost benefits studies. First this study conclude that the analysis based on the Cobb-Douglas production function has shown that the operation of the Colombo seaport is an increasing return to scale during the recent past. The returns to scale depends to a larger extent upon changing demand for seaport services and corresponding development to cope with this demand. In view of the rapidly rising tonnage handled and the other services provided for ships and the related other business activities by the Colombo seaport after the 1977 policy reforms has reasonable evidences to find increasing returns to scale in our estimated models even with some what ambiguous data set. Second the profitability based productivity analysis shows the average profitability measures such as the marginal revenue product of labour (MRPI) is very high compared to the average wage rate paid for labour (W) and the marginal revenue product of capital (MRPk) is very high compared to the interest rate (r%) paid for the port development loans. Furthermore, the small fluctuation of the Lagrange multipliers in the estimated max-min model indicates the sustainable nature of profitability of operations in the Colombo seaport. Finally the capacity utilization analysis shows that annual rate of increase of tonnage at the Colombo seaport has been positive and, the rate has increased at an increasing rate over time and it shows the high rate of actual to preferred capacity utilization which can be used as a basis to expand seaport facilities without creating the problem of overcapacity. This new approach can be use to any seaports in any parts of the world to see their scale of operation, profitability based on the productivity and capacity utilization aspects before major expansion in capacity.

Le Saint-Laurent, facteur de localisation industrielle

With almost 100 million tons of cargo yearly, of which more than 80 millions pass through Québec ports, the St. Lawrence is an important artery of transport. The fluvial communications System, comprising gulf, estuary, river, and the Great Lakes, extends deep into the north American continent; Duluth, for example, is 2,200 miles from the sea. Although the Seaway has opened the Great Lakes to ocean-going ships, the general increase in tonnage and draught of these vessels has allowed Québec ports, located at the break point between maritimes and Great Lakes traffic, to maintain their privileged position. Nevertheless, transhipment cargoes here are not particularly impressive (about 30 million tons yearly, mainly cereals) if one considers the enormous industrial capacity of the basin; this is because the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence network is in many ways an autonomous unit, essentially continental, and supplied from the interior rather than from the exterior, as is the case of the Rhine basin, for example. In Québec, cargoes originating from « secondary » industries scattered along the river and its tributaries (for example, the Saguenay) are relatively unimportant in terms of tonnage ... only 22 million tons of cargo from these industrial zones pass through Québec ports. Only 3.9% 0of the 6,539 factories located in cities touching on water, and only 13% of the total industrial payroll in these cities, are directly related to the St. Lawrence. This « underuse »of the river can be explained by Québec s industrial structure, geared to the production of consumer goods for local markets ; in contrast, Ontario has much heavy industry tied directly to the St. Lawrence network.