Individual Ports Research Articles

The impact of port green competitiveness on the hinterland economy: A case study of China.

In the global trade landscape, ports are not only critical nodes for the transportation of goods but also increasingly recognized as key factors driving sustainable development through their green competitiveness. This paper takes a green competitiveness perspective to delve into the interactive relationship between port development and the hinterland economy, aiming to provide a theoretical foundation and policy recommendations for the green development of ports. An evaluation index system for green competitiveness of ports was constructed, and a combination of the Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) and the Entropy Weighted-Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (EW-TOPSIS) method was employed to quantitatively measure and assess the 25 major coastal ports and their hinterland economic systems in China. The study reveals that the overall green competitiveness of these major coastal ports is on the rise, yet notable disparities exist among individual ports. Regionally, the green competitiveness of the Yangtze River Delta port group stands out, while that of the Bohai Rim, southeastern, Pearl River Delta, and southwestern coastal port groups is relatively low. Empirical analysis conducted in this paper demonstrates the positive impact of port green competitiveness on the hinterland economic system, particularly its significant role in enhancing the total and quality aspects of the hinterland economy. Furthermore, it was found that the green competitiveness of ports exerts a more pronounced promotional effect on the hinterland economies of the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta port groups compared to that on the Bohai Rim, southeastern, and southwestern coastal port groups. The results of this paper also hold important guiding value for optimizing the allocation of port resources, promoting port technological innovation, and improving port environmental management, contributing to the harmonious coexistence and long-term development of ports and their hinterlands.

Design of a 240 elements antenna system for 5G massive MIMO applications with an inclined beam and two operating modes

A massive MIMO (multiple-input-multiple-output) antenna system for 5G base stations is developed, featuring 240 elements and 60 ports. The system supports two modes: individual port operation and network operation. It has a rectangular shape with dimensions of 28×16.8×0.32 cm³ and consists of three layers per side, with 15 ports per layer. Each port contains a 2×2 patch sub-array operating at 3.5 GHz, with beam tilting to generate uncorrelated radiation patterns. The system provides a measured bandwidth of 252 MHz, covering the 3.39–3.64 GHz band. Gain and envelope correlation coefficients are evaluated according to mMIMO parameters. A prototype is fabricated, and the results obtained through CST simulations are validated by experimental measurements.

Uncovering the multiplex network of global container shipping: Insights from shipping companies

Shipping companies are key drivers of maritime trade and crucial in the development of container shipping networks. Each company's strategy shapes differences in port services and shipping routes, creating a complex and interconnected global container shipping network that is difficult to analyze using single-layer or aggregated models. This paper introduces a novel multiplex network modeling approach that leverages a very large set of AIS data and applies a series of structural indices to reveal the unique characteristics and multiple key roles of various shipping company networks. By applying methods such as overlap ratio analysis, HITS analysis, and community detection, the study identifies differences in overlap between ports and routes, hub and authority properties of individual ports, as well as local and regional patterns within the global network. Furthermore, it examines structural differences between the multiplex network, the aggregated network, and individual layers, highlighting the importance of multiplex container networks in understanding ports' roles on both regional and global scales. The findings clarify how different shipping companies shape shipping network patterns, enhance the multiplex network's functional roles, and provide a better understanding of the complex structure of the Global Container Shipping Network (GCSN). Finally, it provides authorities with valuable insights on how to better understand maritime shipping networks.

From ports to routes: Extracting multi-scale shipping networks using massive AIS data

Maritime transportation is a critical component of global trade and commerce. To ensure maritime safety, fixed shipping routing has been established in many complex waters. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive digital shipping networks in wide-range maritime areas. To better understand the navigational patterns, this paper proposes a data-driven extraction framework for multi-scale shipping networks, including port-, node-, and route-level shipping networks. It is essentially a hierarchical approach, which progresses from port to route. In particular, for the extraction of port-level shipping networks, the clustering in quest (CLIQUE) and alpha-shapes algorithms are employed to accurately extract the boundaries and spatial extents of individual ports. For the node-level shipping network extraction, an adaptive Douglas-Peucker algorithm is developed to identify crucial feature points, and CLIQUE clustering is further exploited to extract the network waypoints. A novel slice-based traffic flow fitting algorithm is finally introduced to extract the route-level shipping network. To verify the performance of shipping network extraction methods, comprehensive experiments are conducted using the massive Automatic Identification System (AIS) data in different water areas. The experimental results have demonstrated that our method was capable of extracting multi-scale shipping networks, revealing traffic characteristics and vessel behaviours. Overall, the method proposed herein is useful for shipping logistic analysis and provides a foundation for several potential maritime applications, including route planning, trajectory prediction, and others.

Dual-Band Antenna with Pattern and Polarization Diversity.

This study proposes a pattern-diversity antenna with different radiation patterns at two different frequency bands (f1 and f2; f1: broadside radiation pattern, f2: conical radiation pattern). The proposed structure consists of a central circular antenna and two annular ring antennas, with each of the antennas having individual ports. Two of the ports (port 1 and port 3) exhibit orthogonal broadside radiation patterns at low bands, and the other two ports (port 1 and port 2) exhibit orthogonal conical radiation patterns at high bands. Thus, they have polarization diversity characteristics. To improve isolation between the ports, the inner part of the annular ring antennas is shorted by an array, and the outermost port is positioned orthogonal to the other ports. Using this configuration, the isolation values between the ports are -26.7 and -30.1 dB at the two frequency bands, respectively. Using the fabricated prototype, experimental results show that the proposed antenna achieves -10 dB bandwidths of 240 MHz (5.71-5.95 GHz) and 210 MHz (7.69-7.9 GHz) at f1 and f2, respectively.

Quantitative assessment of charging ports in EV charging stations from reliability and economic perspective in the distribution system

With the emerging development of electrical vehicles (EVs) in transportation, the utilization manufacturing companies are concentrating on the development of charging facilities for customers. Maintaining the reliability of charging ports is a difficult task for the intermediate charging conditions of EVs, even though the charging station industries are installing the charging stations as per the specifications of the distribution system. To improve the reliability of the charging station for the distribution system, the 12 and 24-ported configurations have been proposed and systems have been designed with the individual batch structure. The performance analysis of the proposed non-uniform configurations has been estimated in terms of reliability as per the failure rate of the individual port in batch. The proposed 12 and 24-ported configuration’s failure rate has been evaluated with the standards of MILHBK-217 F. According to the failure rate of the port, the evaluation process has been introduced to find the success rate of the charging station. The maintenance cost has been estimated based on the failure and success rate of the proposed 12 and 24 systems. Finally, the performance analysis of the proposed 12 and 24-port configurations comparison has been estimated in terms of failure rate, success rate and maintenance cost. In this work, the binomial distribution probability technique has been implemented for the appropriate failure rate estimation of the charging station. The proposed 12 and 24-port non-uniform configurations are capable of providing reliable operation and are implementable for the low area of the plinth for EV charging stations.

Conceptual design of shore station for an innovative waste collecting vessel

Marine environment protection legislation in the EU requires ships to return waste they generate on voyages to waste-reception facilities in ports. In many harbors there is a need to expand the port infrastructure to enable the operation of Waste Collecting Vessels (WCVs). In addition, these vessels can perform new functions of cleaning port basins and adjacent waterways. A novelty in the presented research on the conceptual design of the shore station is the inclusion of new requirements for an autonomy and modularization of the vessel. The shore station was designed in the form of a floating pontoon, taking into account the various functional requirements addressed in the ship's conceptual design stage. The pontoon consists of modules corresponding to the ship segments moored in them. The conceptual design was intentionally defined in a generalized form to allow for further development and adaptation to local requirements at individual ports.

Liner shipping network vulnerability to component disruptions: A China-Europe container flow analysis

This study conducts a vulnerability analysis of the China-Europe liner shipping network, including all relevant liner shipping services and China Railway Express services. The standard multicommodity network flow model is extended to assess network vulnerability and the relative importance of ports and services by simulating container flow redistribution in various disruption scenarios. The results show the network is highly resilient to both individual port disruptions and individual service disruptions. Additionally, the distinct shipping network structures of the three shipping alliances result in varying degrees of vulnerability, highlighting the significance of diversified market suppliers in enhancing the overall network resilience. Specifically, the Ocean Alliance is vital in facilitating China-Europe trade, especially along the Mediterranean route, and is more resilient to individual port disruptions.

Assessment of Consistency in the Functioning of Seaports of Ukraine

Introduction. Seaports in a state’s economies are the main levers of economic development, investment generators, and innovation demand. Modern trade ports are open systems that are influenced by many factors. During the last decades of globalization and innovative technologies, an essential factor in the competitiveness of seaports, such as the stability of the functioning of Ukraine, is gaining relevance. The improvement of port management is driven by the urgent need to apply innovative strategies and methods to ensure the development and efficiency of the port industry due to the impact of many factors affecting the stability and growth of the port system.
 Aim and tasks. The aim of the study is to assess the influence of various factors on the consistency of the management system of the port industry.
 Result. An algorithm for forming generalized stability indicators for the functioning system of the port industry is proposed. Using an entropy approach to the management indicators of the development of the port industry functioning system showed an increase in the indicators of the ship operations group by 1.07% and cargo operations by 1.01%, a decrease in the financial group by 1.65%, and a port environment by 1.30%. The application of the established approach and the defined sequence of relevant calculations will allow ports to respond sensitively to violations of the stability of their system both at the industry and individual port levels and to find answers for each group of selected influential indicators for the finance group, the ship and cargo operations group, and the port environment. The main difference between the proposed approach and the existing ones is the calculation of the overall level of functioning of the port management system, which is based on the accumulation of the values of the relevant integral indicators for groups of indicators such as finance, ship-cargo operations, and port environment.
 Conclusions. The operation system of the port economy can be considered from the perspective of researching its various states, which are a consequence of the dynamics of the external environment. This allows us to use such a quality of entropy by considering the final nature of the management processes of the industry. This will help determine the nature of trends that can be considered in the future when forecasting the port industry’s development directions and when making relevant comparisons in the industry at the national and global levels.

Evaluation of Reliability and Financial Feasibility of Various EV Charging Station Layouts

As the popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) continues to rise, companies are increasingly focusing on expanding charging infrastructure to meet growing consumer demand. Despite attempts to design charging stations that align with distribution system requirements, ensuring reliable performance for EV charging ports remains a complex challenge. To address this issue, a unique design featuring 56 ports, comprising both uniform and non-uniform arrangements, has been introduced. These configurations underwent testing across distribution systems ranging from 50 to 500 kW. Reliability assessments were carried out using established standards for failure rate estimation and Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate port probability functions in terms of failure rate and reliability. By scrutinizing the failure rates of individual ports, a systematic evaluation method was established to gauge the overall performance of the charging station. The failure rate of the proposed 56-ported charging station was further assessed using the binomial distribution method. Also, cost estimation procedures were developed, taking into account the maintenance costs associated with the failure and success rates of individual ports for the proposed design. The research findings suggest that by enhancing port arrangement reliability and improving voltage stability, it is possible to achieve lower failure rates and maintenance costs, thereby enhancing overall system performance

Assessing Reliability and Economic Viability of Different EV Charging Station Configurations

With the increasing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) as a mode of transportation, companies are prioritizing the development of charging infrastructure to cater to customer needs. Despite efforts to align charging station designs with distribution system requirements, maintaining reliability for EV charging ports remains challenging. To enhance reliability, a novel 56-ported design incorporating both uniform and non-uniform port arrangements has been proposed. These configurations have been tested with distribution systems ranging from 50 to 500 kW. Reliability assessments were conducted using standards outlined failure rate estimation and monte-carlo functions for evaluating port probability functions in terms of failure rate and reliability. By analyzing the failure rates of individual ports, an evaluation process was introduced to determine the overall success rate of the charging station. The failure rate of the proposed 56-ported charging station was further evaluated using the binomial distribution method. Additionally, cost estimation procedures were implemented considering the failure and success rates of individual port maintenance for the proposed configuration. The findings indicate that achieving lower failure rates and maintenance costs is possible through improved port arrangement reliability and enhanced voltage stability.

Vulnerability analysis of cruise shipping in ASEAN countries facing COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the cruise shipping industry, disrupting ports and shipping. However, current research predominantly focuses on the impact on individual ports or vessels, leaving a gap in understanding how these disruptions propagate across cruise shipping networks. To address this gap, a novel vulnerability assessment methodology that offers a comprehensive perspective on the broader impact of COVID-19 on cruise shipping networks is developed. It first uses a new weight social network analysis approach to quantify the vulnerability of each cruise port in a shipping network and then combines the curie port local pandemic risk to generate a new index to reveal the COVID-19 impact on the whole cruise shipping network systematically. The new methodology is applied to analyse the ASEAN cruise shipping network. This real-world COVID-19 pandemic case study yields valuable insights that bridge theoretical and practical domains. Integrating local port-level vulnerabilities with shipping network-level vulnerabilities creates a unique index. This index quantifies the individual and collective influence of COVID-19 risks at different cruise ports on the entire regional cruise shipping network. The results directly impact cruise lines seeking to enhance their operations' resilience in the face of COVID-19 challenges. The vulnerability index explains how risk exposure at various ports shapes the network's dynamics. This insight empowers cruise lines to optimise ship deployment schedules, lowering the network's overall COVID-19 pandemic risk. The research method and outcomes offer a pioneering perspective on the vulnerability of cruise shipping networks to COVID-19 disruptions, and other possible disruptions (e.g., climate change) in a broad sense. By elucidating interconnected vulnerabilities, cruise lines are equipped with actionable insights to navigate the complexities of global challenges.

QGWFQS: A Queue-Group-Based Weight Fair Queueing Scheduler on FPGA.

Weight Fair Queuing is an ideal scheduling algorithm to guarantee the bandwidth of different queues according to their configured Weights when the switching nodes of the network are congested. Many of the switching nodes based on FPGA in the current network support four physical ports or hundreds of virtual ports. Massive logic and storage resources would be consumed if each port implemented a WFQ scheduler. This paper proposes a Queue-Group-Based WFQ Scheduler (QGWFQS), which can support WFQ scheduling across multiple ports through the reuse of tag calculation and encoding circuits. We also propose a novel finish tag calculation algorithm to accommodate the variation in the link rate of each port. The remainder of integer division is also taken into account, which makes the bandwidth allocation fairer. Experimental results show that the proposed scheduler supports up to 512 ports, with 32 queues allocated on each individual port. The scheduler has the capability to operate at 200 MHz and the total scheduling capacity reaches 200 Mpps.

Managing noise from port operations via the use of automated noise monitoring systems

Ports are key pieces of infrastructure that enable the transportation of goods and passengers. Bays Port, Sydney NSW is located in close proximity to communities and balances the increased demand for Port facilities and services with community expectations, environmental requirements and regulatory approvals. For noise generated from Port activities at Bays Port, historically, individual port users have been required to monitor and evaluate noise under different environmental requirements and planning approvals, which can lead to inconsistent reporting, noise limits and regulation between operators and a lack of clarity for the community. Port Authority of NSW has implemented a first of its kind policy in Australia for the management of Port noise from both individual vessel and landside noise sources. To achieve these objectives, an automated directional noise monitoring system has been implemented to provide real-time measurement and analysis of noise contributions from vessel and landside activities. The system utilizes live data of individual vessel tracking locations, meteorology and an array of 6 direction microphones located around the port infrastructure. This information feeds into a live platform to facilitate management of port noise operations. This paper provides an overview of the Port Noise Policy and the use of unattended directional noise monitoring systems to meet the policy’s aims. Case studies are also provided to illustrate the benefits of real time monitoring systems in pro-actively managing port noise.

Carbon footprint generated by individual port websites. The missing idea in the concept of green ports

One of the objectives of European Union policy, as well as the assumptions of cooperation as part of United Nations, is to ensure sustainable development. The gradual decarbonisation of the economy is a significant element in this case. This is particularly important in transport, including maritime transport. That is why the concept of Green Ports is so important. It contains various infrastructure solutions that maximize the benefits of maritime transport while minimizing environmental damage. However, the term Green Ports is defined in the literature it is difficult to have a clear definition, a formula that defines the term and there is still a place for scientific research in this area. The purpose of the research is to analyze the assumptions of the Green Ports concept in economic terms, but also in legal terms. The authors want to focus on Internet infrastructure as a link in reducing the carbon footprint in maritime transport. For this purpose, they studied the carbon footprint generated by the websites of selected seaports (seaports considered by the Transport and Environment report (https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/port-carbon-emissions-ranking/) the most polluting European ports and ports considered by the Leading Maritime Cities 2022 report to be the most technologically advanced (DNV, Menon Economics, 2022 https://www.dnv.com/maritime/publications/leading-maritime-cities-of-the-world-2022.html). Both at the United Nations and at the level of organizations of a regional nature (such as the European Union), the use of new technologies is closely linked to economic development or social progress. For example, access to the Internet has been recognized by the United Nations General Assembly as a human right. This is because it has been recognized that the Internet provides an opportunity to realize other rights, such as freedom of expression, the right to information, and education. However, there are also risks associated with the use of new technologies, if only in terms of the right to privacy, intellectual property, security or a clean environment. According to the authors, far less attention is paid to the risks than to the benefits. That’s why it’s worth building awareness to prevent harm rather than repair it. An important aspect of the research is to show that websites consume large amounts of energy. In addition, they have a negative impact on the environment, influencing the production of a significant amount of carbon dioxide. The main finding from the empirical part is that there is a certain relationship between the generation of CO2 by the ports and the “cleanliness” of their websites.

Thermo-optic VO2-based silicon waveguide mid-infrared router with asymmetric activation thresholds and large bi-stability.

We report a novel four-port optical router that exploits non-linear properties of vanadium dioxide (VO2) phase-change material to achieve asymmetrical power threshold response with power limiting capability. The scope of this study lies within the concept, modeling, and simulation of the device, with practical considerations in mind for future experimental devices. The waveguide structure, designed to operate at the wavelength of 5.0 µm, is composed of a silicon core with air and silicon dioxide forming the cladding layers. Two ring resonators are employed to couple two straight waveguides, thus four individual ports. One of the ring resonators has a 100-nm-thick VO2 layer responsible for non-linear behavior of the device. The router achieves 56.5 and 64.5 dB of power limiting at the forward and reverse operating modes, respectively. Total transmission in the inactivated mode is 75%. Bi-stability and latching behavior are demonstrated and discussed.

The power of fishing: The introduction of steam and motorization in Scandinavian fishing, 1880–1950

The history of fishing has often been written from a local or regional perspective. There has gradually been a shift where fishing has been studied from a broader international perspective. Nevertheless, large international overviews need detailed studies of individual ports in a similar way as studies of individual ports benefit from the international perspective. The introduction of steam-powered fishing vessels in Scandinavia has often been regarded as an attempt to imitate fishing in Great Britain. However, a closer study of the Scandinavian countries shows that this does not match, for example, the Norwegian steam fishing fleet. Scandinavia's two main fishing ports with steam-powered fishing vessels, Ålesund in Norway and Gothenburg in Sweden, show great differences. Gothenburg is the place that has the most similarities with the large British fishing ports. Steam-powered fishing vessels played a modest role in Danish fishing. On the other hand, when it comes to the introduction of engines, the Danish fishery was the leader. However, it would take more than 30 years from the first functionable engines around the turn of the twentieth century before motor-driven fishing vessels could begin to compete with steam-powered fishing vessels. The problems of financing the new technology are emphasized in the article. Government loans were important in many countries, but much research is still needed to clarify the proportion that was government-financed and how much other financial actors contributed.

Seaports’ Role in Ensuring the Availability of Alternative Marine Fuels—A Multi-Faceted Analysis

In the effort to decarbonise shipping, a number of measures can be taken, one of which is to switch from conventional to alternative fuels. However, without an active role for seaports in providing adequate bunkering infrastructure for alternative fuels, these targets may not be achieved. Hence, the aim of this article is threefold: (1) to provide an overview of some of the emerging alternative fuel technologies that are being used or tested for further use in maritime transport, (2) to analyse the bunkering infrastructure in seaports, and (3) to assess the level of advancement of Polish ports in relation to the bunkering of alternative fuels by ships and to explore the ports’ plans in this regard. To achieve these goals, several research methods were applied: a critical literature review, desk-study research, critical and comparative analyses, and semi-structured interviews with representatives of three major Polish seaports. The research showed that the level of advancement of Polish seaports in the construction of bunkering infrastructure for alternative fuels is relatively low, as they are still in the early stages of conversations with their stakeholders identifying which new fuels should be included in their plans. However, with the growing number of LNG-fuelled ships operating worldwide, Polish ports are being forced to prepare for LNG bunkering; however, it is on a small scale for now. They have to make a decision about what type of fuel their bunkering infrastructures should be for, and this constitutes the subject of a great deal of uncertainty. All this is even challenging when taking into account the fact that shipowners are also struggling to choose alternative fuels for their ships. This uncertainty could be reduced through closer cooperation between ports and shipowners, between individual ports, and between ports and other shipping stakeholders. Unfortunately, there is a noticeable lack of cooperation between Polish ports in this regard, as well as with the relevant government departments.

Exploring the Development Trend of Ports in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) Based on the Intermodal Transport Development of Guangzhou Port

Nowadays, multimodal transport is developing rapidly, but the individual ports in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) have been operating separately. In this paper, the development status of multimodal transport in Guangzhou port will be used as an example to discuss the development trend of GBA ports. The study found that the multimodal transport model of the Port of Guangzhou has taken shape. However, there are still many shortcomings with old facilities, difficulties in sharing data, and a lack of unified management, which are common to all ports in the GBA. This paper aims to provide ideas for the direction of port development in GBA, hoping to enhance intermodal transport to connect the ports, improve the efficiency of freight transport and promote the formation of a unified dispatch centre for GBA ports. As a result, it is hoped that the GBA Port Management Committee will be built to achieve more efficient management.

Modular Design of Pyramidal Radial Combiners Based on Nonuniform Parallel Plate Waveguide Sections With Constant Impedance

This article presents a comprehensive treatment to a systematic design methodology of pyramidal waveguide radial combiners, which is based on nonuniform parallel plate waveguide sections with constant wave impedance. A theoretical framework for the design process is first presented, paving the way to a straightforward design procedure for radial combiners with different bandwidths and a different number of ports realized in metallic waveguides. The methodology to design the radial combiner starts with designing the individual transformer sections that provide matching between the individual parallel plate waveguide ports and the common coaxial line output port. This is followed by the design of transitions from coaxial lines to the individual parallel plate waveguide with the appropriate boundary condition. Proper design of different transformer sections makes it possible to achieve the required constant impedance levels for proper matching transformer designs. Two proof-of-concept prototypes were designed, simulated, fabricated, and tested demonstrating good measured results.