Japanese Ports Research Articles

A Study on Port Planning with Berthing Ship Motions Due to Strong Tidal Currents

The influence of tidal currents is a very important factor in port planning. The normal orientation of harbor facilities is usually designed to be parallel with the main direction of tidal currents to accommodate larger-sized vessels. However, there are still many ports that do not necessarily satisfy this fundamental rule, especially in small ferry berths. This study describes the present situation of Japanese ports under strong tidal currents. First, meteorological and oceanographic parameters have been observed to understand the properties of seawater and tidal currents. This observation revealed the existence of a complicated water density environment with strong tidal currents around OK Island in Japan. To evaluate a difficulty of ferry berthing, it is essential to take ship motion into consideration. This new numerical simulator makes it possible to reproduce motions of a berthing ship in tidal currents and winds while applying maneuvering forces. With this system, ship motions can be accurately reproduced, which makes it possible to quantify berthing criteria. The analytical methods presented here could be used for the planning of ports with strong tidal currents.

Capacity investment and efficiency cost estimations in major East Asian ports

This study applies an integrated suite of Data Envelopment Analysis models to investigate the various sources of efficiency contributing to the overall efficiency of major ports in Asia and estimates the amount of savings a port can potentially achieve through intelligent capital investments that promote a lean and fully efficient operation. Empirical results reveal that the Asia port industry is generally characterized by non-decreasing returns to scale. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Incheon and Singapore found to be operating at their most productive scales and are fully technical, scale and mix efficient. Competitiveness benchmarking analysis further shows that Japanese ports will benefit the most by reducing excess capacity and the associated financial commitments through economizing on the deployment of physical resources. Similarly, Busan port in Korea possesses significant potential to regain traffic from its Chinese competitors via cost reduction. However, the competitiveness of the Singapore and Hong Kong ports may be eroded as the Malaysian and Taiwanese ports remove their productivity slacks and improve cost efficiency.

The Secret Japan-US Security Pacts: Background and Disclosure

For many years the Japan-US Security Treaty has been the cornerstone of Japanese foreign policy and security policy. Suspicions have long been voiced, however, that behind the security treaty there lurked unpublicized secret pacts. In particular, despite the denials of the Japanese government, there were suspicions that nuclear-armed warships had in fact called at Japanese ports. With the change in government in September 2009, the issue came to be the subject of an investigation by the new Democratic Party of Japan administration. The author of this article served as chairman of the commission of inquiry.

Competition and Collaboration among Container Ports

The development of new ports in China and the enhancement of port facilities in Korea will force major Japanese ports, which were the region's hub ports until the 1980s, to become local feeder ports for entry into East Asia. To consider the integration of cargo flow and liner networks, such Japanese ports need to collaborate with each other rather than compete with neighboring ports on an individual basis. Ports located on Tokyo and Osaka Bays started to share these concerns and jointly sought effective measures. It was suggested that they could advance their collaboration and be managed by a single port authority to strengthen their respective positions. This paper focuses on a strategy for container ports, especially those in Japan, for survival during the next stage under conditions of harsh competition.

Detection of recombinant haplotypes in wild mice (Mus musculus) provides new insights into the origin of Japanese mice

Japanese house mice (Mus musculus molossinus) are thought to be a hybrid lineage derived from two prehistoric immigrants, the subspecies M. m. musculus of northern Eurasia and M. m. castaneus of South Asia. Mice of the western European subspecies M. m. domesticus have been detected in Japanese ports and airports only. We examined haplotype structuring of a 200 kb stretch on chromosome 8 for 59 mice from throughout Eurasia, determining short segments (approximately 370-600 bp) of eight nuclear genes (Fanca, Spire2, Tcf25, Mc1r, Tubb3, Def8, Afg3l1 and Dbndd1) which are intermittently arranged in this order. Where possible we identified the subspecies origin for individual gene alleles and then designated haplotypes for concatenated alleles. We recovered 11 haplotypes among 19 Japanese mice examined, identified either as 'intact' haplotypes derived from the subspecies musculus (57.9%), domesticus (7.9%), and castaneus (2.6%), or as 'recombinant' haplotypes (31.6%). We also detected recombinant haplotypes unique to Sakhalin. The complex nature of the recombinant haplotypes suggests ancient introduction of all three subspecies components into the peripheral part of Eurasia or complicated genomic admixture before the movement from source areas. 'Intact'domesticus and castaneus haplotypes in other Japanese wild mice imply ongoing stowaway introductions. The method has general utility for assessing the history of genetic admixture and for disclosing ongoing genetic contamination.

日本発着の国際コンテナ輸送におけるネットワークとハブ港の選定と評価法

The number of shipping services by very large container ships is decreasing in Japan because they are avoiding the inefficiency of picking cargos at distributed Japanese ports. On the other hand, China and Korea have concentrated their investment on a few large ports to create hub-spoke networks and to keep their influences on the physical distributions in East Asia region. This paper describes a container logistics simulation for designing of international container transportation networks. We discuss the economical benefit of concentrating international cargos in one or two major Japanese hub ports by evaluating the total shipping cost of shippers and shipping companies. The result shows the suitable selection of Japanese hub ports and its benefit to domestic and foreign shippers.

Methodology for the estimation of the increase in time loss due to future increase in tropical cyclone intensity in Japan

The present paper develops a methodology for estimating the risks and consequences of possible future increases in tropical cyclone intensities that would allow policy makers to relatively quickly evaluate the cost of different mitigation strategies. The methodology simulates future tropical cyclones by modifying the intensity of historical tropical cyclones between the years 1978 and 2007. It then uses a Monte Carlo Simulation to obtain the expected number of hours that a certain area can expect to be affected by winds of a given strength. The methodology outlined has a range of applications, and the present paper shows as an example the calculation of the expected cost of mitigation of the increased downtime for Japanese ports by 2085 for a variety of economic growth scenarios.

New evidence for exchange rate pass-through: Disaggregated trade data from local ports

For the estimation of exchange rate pass-through (henceforth ERPT), except for some evidence based on firm-level data, even the most disaggregated level of national export data is still biased with aggregation over sub-regions within an exporting country. We investigate to what extent this aggregation within product category is biased by comparing ERPT estimates across local ports. We use monthly exports at the HS 9-digit level from January 1988 to December 2005 for five major Japanese ports. Using a panel data regression framework, we control for exporting industry and importing country. Statistical tests provide strong evidence that export prices are set at different levels across local ports and that they correspond differently with respect to fluctuations of exchange rates.

An Analysis of Efficiency of Major Ports in Korea, China and Japan Using Mathematical Programming Approach

East Asian regional logistics is expected to grow rapidly. It may provide much more business opportunities for many countries within the region, on the other hand, it will create hot competition for market occupancy at the same time. Korea, China, and Japan, the key countries in East Asian region, have undertaken concerted efforts to improve their logistics sector, upgrade their infrastructure and technology to get a bigger slice of the market, especially in the filed of maritime and port. This paper presents the emperical measures of efficiency of 7 major Chinese ports, 3 major Korean ports, and 5 major Japanese ports along with the DEA and the Bootstrap method. In this paper, the container port service process is considered as a production process using five inputs (number of cranes, number of berths, length of berths, depth of berths, total area of container terminal) and generating one outputs (throughput). Through the analysis, we will investigate the efficiency of these major East Asian ports and figure out the trendof the efficiency.

Developments in Container Port Competition in East Asia

The ports of Hong Kong, Busan and Kaohsiung have long dominated container handling in East Asia. However, the emergence of new transhipment and gateway hub candidates, which include Shanghai, Shenzhen, Kwangyang and Qingdao, among others, will vie with these incumbents for a greater share of container traffic. Some might even unseat the incumbents. This study finds, through evidences from container shipping services connecting the region to major markets and trade routes between 1995 and 2001, that Mainland Chinese ports are increasingly attractive as direct ports of call for mainline services. The evidence also suggests that new services started by mainline operators calling at Mainland China are bypassing Japanese and Taiwanese ports. Nonetheless, these services continue to call at Hong Kong. Although the composition of containers handled at Mainland Chinese ports consists largely of gateway cargo, these ports are expected to handle a rising share of transhipment traffic.

Monitoring the escape of transgenic oilseed rape around Japanese ports and roadsides

An investigation was carried out to monitor the escape and spread of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) transgenic plants and the introgression of transgenes to its closely related feral species in Japan. We screened a total of about 7500 feral B. napus, 300 B. rapa, and 5800 B. juncea seedlings from maternal plants in 143 locations at several ports, roadsides, and riverbanks. The presence of glufosinate-resistance or glyphosate-resistance transgenes in these seedlings was confirmed by means of herbicide treatments and also immunochemical and DNA analyses. B. napus plants with herbicide-resistant transgenic seeds were found at five of six major ports and along two of four sampled roadsides in the Kanto District. Transgenic oilseed rape plants have not been commercially cultivated in Japan, suggesting that the transgenes would probably have come from imported transgenic seeds that were spilled during transportation to oilseed processing facilities. No transgenes were detected in seeds collected from B. napus plants growing along riverbanks in the Kanto District or in seeds from closely related species (B. rapa and B. juncea). To our knowledge, this is the first published example of feral, transgenic populations occurring in a nation where the transgenic crop has not been cultivated commercially.

Regional Dimension of Economic Cooperation Between Japan and Russia

The past decade has brought remarkable changes to the economic cooperation of North-West Japan (Hokkaido and Japan Sea coastal prefectures) and the Russian Far East, such as fast growth of intra-regional trade, great structural changes, a huge increase in the number of cooperating companies and thousands of Russians coming to Japanese ports, which until recently were closed to them. Similar trends were observed in Asian, European and American regions involved in trade with Russia. In Japan, the initial “Siberian euphoria” has gradually been replaced by a much more realistic approach. The reason is that liberalization of trade, globalization and regional development created a number of problems: the prevalence of geopolitical over economic considerations in energy projects, the growth of the shadow sector in certain arrears of mutual trade, the very uneven distribution of benefits and losses from cross-border cooperation and the deep differences of public opinion in Japan and Russia. This paper argues that in terms of public finance theory, these problems can be considered as examples of a failure of market mechanisms, shadow economy, negative externalities and asymmetric information, which can only be solved by effective public policy and state intervention.

Revitalization of Local Community and Ethnicity: Nagasaki's Lantern Festival Among the Immigrant Chinese

Abstract: The Nagasaki's Lantern Festival is gaining popularity through the continued partnership between the immigrant Chinese (Kakyo) and Nagasaki city, largely owing to the ethnic Chinese revitalization movement and the distinct way of life typical in Nagasaki. Following my past research, I would like to discuss the development and modification of Nagasaki's Lantern Festival, to examine the relationship between the features specific to the Nagasaki area and the changes in the Kakyo community's sense of ethnicity amid the wave of globalization. By the Meiji period, ethnic Chinese society in Nagasaki consisted mainly of immigrants from Fu Jian province. Today the community is experiencing rapid transformation. In particular, the restoration of Sino–Japanese relations and the wave of internationalization have led to the creation of the Nagasaki Shinchi Chinatown Shopping District Promotion Association and the renewal of Chinatown for the ethnic Chinese. The Chinese Spring Festival, originally aimed toward community vitalization, not only included the Kakyo (immigrant Chinese) but the Japanese in the district and private corporations. Nagasaki was transformed not only into a strategic point for East Asia's multilateral trade, but also served as a trading center for the entire nation. But as Japanese ports opened their doors to the world after 1850, Nagasaki was reduced to only one of the local trading centers. As for overseas business, Nagasaki took advantage of its heavy industry by expanding its share in the Asian international market and has been striving in the domestic market to activate the local economy through tourism. Such strategy hinges on the rich historical and cultural resources formed and nurtured within the 400 years of relations with Asian nations. The historical merger between the Kakyo community and its cultural tradition in Nagasaki society served as one of the incentives for such development and progress. The enlargement of Nagasaki's Lantern Festival has been achieved as part of this concept of “Asian‐oriented region”, in line with the city's plan on tourism promotion.

Economic and geographic backgrounds of land reclamation in Japanese ports

Under the present legal system, environmental impacts are usually assessed on condition that reclamation plans are given clearly. Although impact magnitude depends on reclamation scales, the economic and geographic backgrounds of reclamation scales have been rarely analyzed. Hence, properties of reclamation in port districts were investigated. The long-term trend showed that the area newly reclaimed per year has decreased rapidly since the first oil crisis; while the speed of the decrease dropped after 1984. The distributions of increased reclamation area planned against its water depth had one or two peaks in 1989–1991 and 1996–1998. These peaks resulted mainly from “island-type” reclamation, and shifted from shallow to deep sites. The areas of port districts had major effects on increased area of reclamation and maximum water depth in 1989–1991, while such effects were not observed in 1996–1998. Land price had some effects for deepening water depth of reclamation in both periods.

Berth allocation with service priority

Over the past several years, port related charges in Japanese ports have been substantially higher than those charged in other major international hub ports. All major container ports in Japan feature so-called Dedicated Terminals in which cost-effectiveness is justified by huge container volume to be handled. One of the reasons cited for high port charges is a relative decrease in handling volume compared to the terminal capacity, resulting in inefficient use of the existing capacity. The use of the Multi-User Container Terminal (MUT) concept employed in some of the major container hub ports such as Hong Kong, Pusan, Hamburg and Rotterdam reduces redundant terminal space and results in substantial cost savings in cargo handling costs and therefore is desired for ports in Japan as well. One of the key issues in the MUT operation is the berth allocation to calling vessels. In a recent study, an allocation problem for the MUT was examined, in which each vessel was treated equally. However, as some vessel operators desire high priority services, the goal of this paper is to modify the existing formulation of the berth allocation problem in order to treat calling vessels at various service priorities by developing a genetic algorithm based heuristic for the resulting non-linear problem.

An analysis of the overcapacity problem under the decentralized management system of container ports in Japan

This article is concerned with an analytical summary of how the Japanese container ports have been taking place overcapacity problem in a systematic way. It focuses on institutional aspects of the overcapacity problem from the viewpoint of accounting cost and opportunity cost. The first issue arises due to the port authority's accounting system and insufficient disclosures of financial statements of port business to the port users and taxpayers. The second issue is inherently related to resource allocation between the state government and local governments through the budget system and income distribution programmes. Since a proper allocation of economic resources in the port sector as a whole will depend on investment decisions being taken within a coherent framework for ensuring that costs are passed on to port users, these issues are closely related to each other in reality. Although the budget system is completely controlled by the state government, the local governments have authoritative power over port planning, financing, and management, which is assured by the Ports and Harbours Law. The overcapacity problem appears to be an inevitable result.

A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis of Efficiency Improvements at Japanese Ports

In this paper we investigate the system‐wide impact of increased efficiency of ports in Japan using a computable general equilibrium model developed for 1995. The Japanese Ministry of Transport has been implementing programs of the Ninth Seven‐year Port Development Plan to improve port efficiency. The technological efficiency in the ports reduces the cost of shipping transportation, and the forward and backward linkages of imports and exports introduce some positive gains in the national GDP. Our analysis proves that the spillover effects are substantial on shipping transportation and to a lesser extent on the Japanese economy.

MODELING AND ESTIMATION OF FUTURE MAINTENANCE COSTS FOR QUAYWALLS IN JAPANESE PORTS

本論文では, 港湾の係留施設を対象として将来の維持補修費の推計を試みた. 先ず, 全国を対象とした係留施設の維持補修に関するアンケート結果等から維持補修費率モデルを構築した. 次に, このモデルにより更新費をも考慮した維持補修費の将来動向を定量的に推計した. その結果, 係留施設については総事業費に占める維持補修費の比率が2010年度には約10%, 2025年度には約20%と推計され, また, 更新費も考慮した場合にはそれぞれ30%以上, 50%以上と推計された. これにより, 維持補修・更新に対する早期の対応の必要性が明らかになった.

Investigations of Management and Administration Systems for Foreign Trade Container Terminals

Against the background of expanding economic exchanges between Japan and foreign countries and the growing use of containers in marine transportation, the container cargo volume handled in Japanese ports is rapidly increasing. Furthermore, the trade value of container cargo accounts for over 40% of the total of seaborne trade in Japan, thus making container cargo trading one of the most important modes of shipping, closely connected to people's lives. Under these circumstances, and with the goal of continuously contributing to the stable development of the nation and further improvement of living standards, this paper summarizes and evaluates the historical transition of traditional management and administration systems for foreign trade container terminals, while at the same time discussing, from a practical point of view, management and administration systems for such terminals which are desirable for the future.

Seawater Exchange on Armored Caisson Breakwater with Intake Holes

Establishing breakwaters in Japanese ports have greatly improved the calmness in ports. However, the seawater exchange between landward and seaward areas in ports has greatly decreased. In ports near urban areas, the inflow of sewage or industrial wastewater and the accumulation of sludge are causing a variety of environmental problems. To realize a seawater exchange breakwater that will improve the calmness in ports and the seawater exchange, an armored caisson breakwater with intake holes was developed to allow fresh seawater into the port using wave energy.The armored caisson breakwater with an opening ratio of 16.8% is under construction in Kudoh fishing port on the Sea of Japan. In this paper, the characteristics of seawater exchange and wave transmission of this breakwater introduced based on the results of 2-D & 3-D model tests and numerical simulations.