Port Enterprises Research Articles

Advancing Ton-Bag Detection in Seaport Logistics with an Enhanced YOLOv8 Algorithm

Intelligent logistics and freight transportation is an important part of realizing the intelligence of port terminals. Due to the problems of inaccurate ton bag identification, high costs, large model sizes, and long computation times in traditional freight transportation—issues that hinder meeting real-time requirements on resource-constrained operational equipment—this paper proposes an improved lightweight ton bag detection algorithm, YOLOv8-TB (YOLOv8-Ton Bag), which is optimized based on YOLOv8. Firstly, the improved LZKAC module is introduced to combine with SPPF to form a new SPPFLKZ module, which improves the feature expression performance. Then, with reference to spatial and channel reconstruction convolution and deformable convolution, the C2f-SCTT block is designed for the backbone network, which reduces the spatial and channel redundancy between features in the network. Finally, the C2f-ORECZ block based on a linear scaling layer is designed for the neck, which reduces the training overhead and strengthens the feature learning of the feature extraction network for the targets in the complex background of the harbor and adds the 160 × 160 scale detection head to strengthen small target detection abilities. On the logistics ton bag operation dataset provided by shipping port enterprises, the improved algorithm improves by 3.7% and 5% compared with the original algorithm in mAP50 and mAP50-95, respectively, the model size is reduced by 4.42 MB and the amount of model computation is only 8 G, which is capable of accurately detecting logistics ton bags in real time. The superiority of the method is verified by comparing it with other classical target detection algorithms.

Evaluation of environmental and economic performance of terminal equipment considering alternative fuels

Container-terminal equipment is the main source of emissions at ports, and the environmental and economic impacts of alternative fuels on them have not been sufficiently investigated. In this study, a novel framework for quantitative evaluation of environmental and economic performances is constructed by considering four dimensions: various fuel pathways, full fuel lifecycles, fuel preparation sources, and economic policies. A case study is conducted through empirical data from Qingdao Container Terminal, and the combined impacts of the five sensitive factors at different periods are studied in depth. The result shows that liquefied natural gas, electricity, and diesel-electric hybrid offer substantial overall benefits. Owing to energy transformation, technological progress, and cost reduction, hydrogen and electricity may emerge as the most advantageous energy sources. Policies are crucial in reducing emissions by port enterprises, and the government should improve emission regulations, stabilize incentive policies, and promote the use of new energy.

Motivation and Performance Analysis of Spin-offs and Listings: A Case Study of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port

Spin-off and listing is one of the means of contractile asset operation. This paper takes Ningbo Zhoushan Port (hereinafter referred to as Ningbo Port), the first case of "A split A" of China's port and shipping enterprises, as the research object, explores the motivation of Ningbo Port's spin-off and listing of Ningbo China Ocean Shipping(Group) Company (COSCO), and analyzes the risks of the spin-off to enterprises and market investors based on some financial indicators of the parent and subsidiary before and after the spin-off. The results show that from the perspective of the overall spin-off effect, the spin-off effect of Ningbo Port is not significant. From the perspective of the realization of specific motivations, the spin-off of Ningbo COSCO by Ningbo Port conforms to the external development trend and the characteristics of the enterprise in its own mature stage. From the perspective of market reaction, the market is not optimistic about the prospect of this spin-off, and the stock price of Ningbo Port has fallen before and after the spin-off. At the same time, after Ningbo Port spun off Ningbo COSCO and listed, Ningbo Port's control over Ningbo COSCO has declined, which also makes investors worried. This study hopes to provide a reference for the spin-off and listing of Chinese port enterprises in terms of broadening financing channels and reducing market information asymmetry.

Research on the Decision Making of Value Chain Reconstruction of Chinese Port Enterprises under the Background of Free Trade Zone Policy

This paper aims to solve the decision-making problem of value chain reconstruction of Chinese port enterprises under the background of the Free Trade Zone policy. Based on value chain theory and system dynamics method, this paper constructs a simulation model that can simulate the value-added change process of port enterprises under different combination input conditions. Furthermore, it conducts simulation case studies. The research indicates that the Free Trade Zone policy has a significant promoting effect on the restructuring of port enterprise value chains and the transformation and upgrading of enterprises. Moreover, considering the impact of the Free Trade Zone policy and limited resources, the overall benefits to port enterprises from combined investments are superior to those from single-factor investments. According to the value chain theory, the business segments of a port are decomposed into ancillary value activities, basic value activities, and external value activities. The investments in these three types of value activities play roles, respectively, in enhancing the operational efficiency of port enterprises, expanding the business scope of port enterprises, and strengthening the core competitiveness of port enterprises. From the overall perspective of the system, Shanghai Port can obtain the maximum operating profit when the endogenous factor input rate is 13%, the basic factor input rate is 4%, and the exogenous factor input rate is 13%. The findings of this research provide a decision-making reference for Chinese port enterprises to realize value reconstruction, transformation, and upgrading in the context of the Free Trade Zone policy.

Research on the Safety Evaluation Method for Quayside Container Cranes Based on the Best–Worst Method–Pythagorean Fuzzy VIKOR Approach

In the port domain, quayside container cranes are an indispensable component of maritime freight transport. These cranes are not only costly but also associated with safety accidents that often result in casualties and property loss, severely impacting port operations and the surrounding environment. Given their complex operational environment, rapid technological updates, high dependency on human factors, and the challenges of maintenance and inspection, the safety of quayside container cranes is a significant concern for port enterprises and managers. This paper, based on the operational modes and structural characteristics of the cranes, divides them into five main systems and identifies twenty-eight safety evaluation indicators, covering a comprehensive range of risk factors from equipment integrity to operator behavior, as well as environmental factors. However, numerous pain points exist in the safety risk evaluation process of quayside container cranes, such as fuzziness, uncertainty, and complex multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) environments. These issues make traditional safety evaluation methods inadequate in accurately reflecting the actual safety conditions. Therefore, this paper proposes a safety evaluation method for quayside container cranes based on the Best–Worst Method (BWM) and Pythagorean hesitant fuzzy VIKOR. This method effectively overcomes the uncertainties and fuzziness of traditional safety evaluation methods by integrating the decision maker’s preference information from the BWM and the fuzzy handling capability of Pythagorean hesitant fuzzy sets, enhancing the accuracy and reliability of the evaluation results. A case study was conducted on a quayside container crane at a specific port. Through empirical analysis, the feasibility of the proposed method was validated. Overall, the safety evaluation method for quayside container cranes based on the BWM and Pythagorean hesitant fuzzy VIKOR proposed in this paper enriches the theoretical research on the safety risk assessment of quayside container cranes and offers a new approach and tool for port enterprises and managers in practice.

A four-party evolutionary game analysis of carbon emission reduction behavioral strategies in the shipping industry

Abstract Global warming and the urgency of environmental issues have brought the issue of carbon emissions in the shipping industry to the forefront. Taking the government, port enterprises, shipping companies, and social and environmental organizations as research subjects, this study delves into the key challenges of carbon emission reduction in the shipping industry. By constructing a complex and dynamic evolutionary game model and conducting data simulations with the help of MATLAB 2016b, we analyze in detail the strategic choices of each party on the emission reduction issue and explore the impact of these choices on the evolution of the system. In this study, we find that the government plays a crucial role in emission reduction regulation. Regulatory strategy and intensity have far-reaching impacts on the development of the whole system, and a flexible and intelligent regulatory system will promote active emission reduction by all parties. In addition, the reputation mechanism of social and environmental organizations plays a significant role in motivating all parties to take the initiative to adopt emission reduction strategies. In terms of economic incentives, we find that the government needs to provide differentiated support according to the characteristics of different enterprises, so that all parties can work together to move towards the emission reduction target. Through this study, we present a comprehensive game analysis of carbon emission reduction in the shipping industry and propose practical recommendations that are valuable to the shipping industry and environmental managers. These findings provide strong policy and action support for realizing the decarbonization of the shipping industry.

Assessing the Bankruptcy Risks of China's Emerging Port Industries: Modeling and Early Warning

Vigorously developing emerging marine industries are an important way for China to implement the strategy of “Sea Power Nation”, and improving the ability of port enterprises to prevent financial and tax risks is a key link in accelerating the high-quality development of the marine economy. The research objective of this paper is to construct a reasonable early warning financial model for emerging port industries in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao Greater Bay Area. The research hypothesis is that the original Z-SCORE model and F-SCORE model are not able to accurately predict the financial risk of emerging marine industries. The data of typical port enterprises are utilized to compare the financial risk; after that risk assessment and early warning are carried out. This paper adopts the Delphi method to assign weights to different indicators and utilizes the Analytic Hierarchy Process method to derive a financial and tax early warning model applicable to Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao Greater Bay Area. The results of the study found that the traditional “Z-score model” and “F-score model” are less applicable to the emerging industries in the ports of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao Greater Bay Area. This paper will construct a financial and tax risk control model corresponding to the development of port emerging industries and provide early warning when exceeding a certain threshold to help enterprises develop better. In addition, this paper also puts forward policy suggestions for risk management of emerging port industries from the aspects of system improvement and government-enterprise linkage.

Sustainability and Global Replication of the PPC Model: A Coupling Effect Perspective on Chinese Port Enterprises' Overseas Development

Sustainability and Global Replication of the PPC Model: A Coupling Effect Perspective on Chinese Port Enterprises' Overseas Development

An Empirical Study on the Influence of Internal and External Factors on Port Enterprise Employee Performance: A Case Study in Indonesia

An Empirical Study on the Influence of Internal and External Factors on Port Enterprise Employee Performance: A Case Study in Indonesia

Entropy Model For Safety Culture and Safety Performance

According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, combined with the political attribute of safety management, the human's demand hierarchy and the development trend of our country's safety production management system in recent years, the realization path of security vision of port enterprises in China is proposed, including that (1) Taking safety vision as the objectives, the process of safety awareness is analyzed from the perspectives of safety perception, safety cognition, and safety decision-making, and the framework model for implementing safety awareness is established.(2) Based on the analytic hierarchy process and logical analysis, the factors with greater weight in safety performance are determined.(3) An entropy model for safety culture and safety performance are established.

Vulnerability Assessment for Port Logistics System Based on DEMATEL-ISM-BWM

In order to identify and assess the vulnerability of the port logistics system itself, this paper further improves the methodology on the basis of previous studies by using the Deterministic Experimentation and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) methods to study the correlation between the vulnerability factors of the port logistics system, and the best-worst method (BWM) to identify the key vulnerability points of the system. The results of the study showed that in terms of the correlation between the factors, port consolidation capacity and average arrival time are the most direct factors affecting the vulnerability of the port logistics system, and the strength of government regulation and coordination and the level of port management are important indirect factors affecting the vulnerability of the port logistics system. This paper also found that port loading and unloading facilities and natural disasters are the main vulnerabilities affecting the port logistics system itself. Port enterprises should focus on reducing the vulnerability of the system by strengthening the above aspects. The model constructed in this paper can also be applied to future research on the resilience and sustainability of port logistics.

Neural network-based prediction system for port throughput: A case study of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port

Port throughput is a crucial indicator for assessing the efficiency of port enterprises. Accurately predicting long-term port throughput can help mitigate the risk of investing in major infrastructure during the development process. This study introduces a neural network-based system for predicting port throughput at the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. By utilizing the grey relational analysis method, we identified 12 highly correlated factors that affect port throughput variation in Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. These factors were then used as input indicators for the BiLSTM model to predict port throughput. Our research indicates that the proposed model achieved a high level of accuracy, with a MAPE value of 2.95%, outperforming commonly used machine learning and neural network models. Additionally, the model's predictions suggest a rapid growth trend in cargo throughput at Ningbo-Zhoushan Port by 2026. Consequently, we provide relevant suggestions to address this trend. Our research can assist port enterprises in making informed decisions, contributing to the field of port logistics.

Juridical Analysis of the Obligations Batam Free Trade Zone and Free Port Enterprise Agency (BP BATAM) to Problematic Land Allocation Recipients

BP Batam has very broad authority to manage Batam Island in order to attract investors to invest their capital in Batam Island. Land problems that occur in the city of Batam must be resolved by BP Batam as the authority holder for management rights in Batam in accordance with Head of BP Batam Regulation No. 26 of 2021 concerning Implementation of Land Management. The study's goal is to find out how BP Batam's duties to people who receive land allocations for problematic land are carried out and what factors affect those duties. This research uses empirical juridical qualitative methods, using one legal action against problematic land as a sample. Findings from the study show that BP Batam's duties and goals have been met in how they handled their responsibilities to people who were given problematic land. The obstacles faced so far are due to the lack of communication between BP Batam and the communities that receive problematic land allocations in the city of Batam. BP Batam's obligations are stated to be limited to planning the allocation and use of land and exploiting or using land for purposes of carrying out its duties. Implementation is proven by monitoring and taking action against problematic land, which is the authority of BP Batam.

Liman İşletmelerinde Kadın Yönetici Algısı: Güney Marmara Limanlarında Bir Araştırma

The participation of women in the workforce is increasing day by day. In many sectors, women are competing at the management level alongside men. However, the maritime sector remains one of the male-dominated industries despite the increasing number of female employees. This study aims to examine perceptions regarding the participation of women in port management, specifically in the male-dominated maritime sector and port operations. Three major port enterprises operating in the South Marmara region constitute the sample of the study. A survey was conducted to measure the perceptions of female managers in port management. The data were subjected to Exploratory Factor Analysis, and the results were analysed using t-tests to determine whether perceptions differed based on the management level of the participants. As a result of the research, the majority of participants rejected the commonly accepted belief that the sector is not suitable for women. Research results do not show any difference at the manager and officer levels. The research findings are considered a positive and inspiring outcome that challenges dominant perceptions of women in leadership positions at the management level.

Impact of business ethics on the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage at the port enterprises in the algerian east

This study aims to identify the impact of business ethics on the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage at the port enterprises in the Algerian East. To achieve the objectives of the study and test its hypotheses, a questionnaire was distributed to a simple random sample of 356 employees.
 The results indicated that there is Business ethics towards both workers and the environment is the most influential in the sustainable competitive advantage of port enterprises. The study recommended the need to pay more attention to ethical aspects by following the mechanisms of establishing them and working to establish them within the culture of the enterprises.

Dynamic Incentive Contract of Government for Port Enterprises to Reduce Emissions in the Blockchain Era: Considering Carbon Trading Policy

Blockchain technology is very useful. This paper considers the application of blockchain technology to smart contracts, green certification, and market information disclosure, and introduces the carbon trading market price as a parameter to solve the dynamic incentive problem of the government for port enterprises to reduce emissions under the carbon trading policy. Based on the state change of port carbon emission reduction, this paper uses principal–agent theory to construct the dynamic incentive contract model of government without blockchain, with blockchain, and when carbon trading is considered under blockchain, respectively, and uses the optimal control method to solve and analyze the model. This paper finds that only when the opportunity cost of port enterprises is greater than a certain critical point and the fixed cost of blockchain is less than a certain critical point, the implementation of blockchain will help improve government efficiency. However, only when the critical value of carbon emission reduction of port enterprises and the unit operating cost of blockchain are small, the government should start the carbon trading market under blockchain technology. Through numerical simulation, this paper also finds that it is usually beneficial for the government to regulate and appropriately increase the carbon trading market price.

Modelling the roles of fourth-party logistics (4PL) on the improvements of supply chain stability of port logistics services: the case of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in China

This paper examines the challenges and significance of improving contractual cooperation within the supply chain of port logistics services in China. In the context of a port supply chain comprising port enterprises and shipping companies, contractual cooperation serves as a vital coordination mechanism for cost reduction, information sharing, and risk sharing. Additionally, fourth-party logistics providers (4PLs) play a crucial role in enhancing operational efficiency and overall stability. However, the limited rational behavior of individual firms poses challenges to the stability of contractual cooperation. To address these challenges, this study proposes a game model to analyze the evolution of contractual cooperation and identify key factors influencing stability. Practical recommendations are provided to enhance stability and promote the high-quality development of China's port logistics service supply chain. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the main components of China's port logistics service supply chain, advances the theory of shipping supply chain contracts, and supports China's aspiration to become a global maritime and shipping powerhouse while maximizing global utility.

Coordination Mechanism of Revenue Sharing Contracts in Port Supply Chains: A Case Study of China’s Nantong Port

Considering the port function’s importance, the supply chain’s overall and individual revenues, and the port supply chain’s uniqueness, a game model for a two-stage port supply chain composed of port service providers and port enterprises was developed. Using revenue sharing contracts (RSCs) as a coordination mechanism, game equilibriums were investigated under two conditions: price-sensitive or price-insensitive port logistics service demand. The results suggested that RSCs can achieve Pareto improvement in both cases, thereby coordinating port supply chain revenues. Led by the port logistics service provider and port enterprise, the coordination mechanisms based on RSCs of port supply chain were discussed using logistics service capacity as the coordination link. Despite differing decision orders, the RSC model can coordinate the port’s supply chain with its service provider, while the port and logistics service provider determine the retention ratio. This paper also proposed coordination measures for the Nantong Port, one of the most important ports in China, to maximize the logistics capacity of iron ore supply chain and enhance the port logistics’ value-added services.

Research on the Construction Path of China's Zero-carbon Ports from the Perspective of Marine Carbon Sink Trading

At present, the international market has gradually carried out research on forecasting the trading price of carbon emissions with macroeconomics and energy market as the main influencing factors, supplemented by other factors such as policy factors. In order to speed up the construction of carbon accounting system, enrich the content of China's carbon pricing mechanism and improve the carbon emission trading market, this study constructs an index system from four aspects: macro-economy, energy price, climate environment and international market, and objectively screens out the important influencing factors of carbon trading price through Lasso regression, and uses BP neural network prediction model to predict carbon trading price. [7] We should focus on reducing the proportion of coal consumption by port enterprises and increasing other clean energy consumption. This result can provide basis and reference for the construction of zero-carbon ports and the construction of ocean-port carbon trading information platform in China.

Изучение роли профессиональных факторов в возникновении новообразований у работников портовых предприятий г. Новороссийска

According to the scientific literature, when studying the health status of workers engaged in various activities at port enterprises, it was revealed that they have a high risk of diseases of the visual organs, pathology of the ent organs and the endocrine system. A number of researchers believe that working at the port is a factor that increases the risk of diseases of the urinary system. According to other data, port work increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Many authors have presented results confirming the negative impact of professional activity in the port on human health, which increases the risk of developing such chronic non-communicable diseases as diabetes mellitus and malignant neoplasms. The increase in cancer incidence remains a problem worldwide, and advances in diagnosis and treatment do not lead to a significant reduction in morbidity and mortality. Undoubtedly, the priority reasons determining the growth of oncological morbidity of the population are various environmental factors, including occupational harmfulness.