Shipping Network Research Articles

Cause-Specific Infant Mortality in Copenhagen 1861–1911 Explored Using Individual-Level Data

This study explores cause-specific infant mortality in Copenhagen between 1861 and 1911, using newly available individual-level data from The Copenhagen Burial Register, as part of a larger comparative project within the SHiP network (Studying the history of Health in Port Cities). The aim is to determine the dominant cause of death patterns for infants and to explore how the ICD10h coding system performs with the Danish individual level-historical causes of death. The results show that in Copenhagen, infant mortality began a distinct decline during the period of study (1861–1911), but the city experienced only very few changes in the cause of death pattern. While a transition from symptomatic to more specific causes of death took place over time, the largest killers overall were the water-food borne and airborne diseases, with a respectively summer and winter peak. The airborne and water-food borne diseases were mainly dominant amongst the post-neonates, whose mortality made up an increasingly larger share of infant deaths. Finally, the results show that although coding the Danish causes of death to the ICD10h has proven successful, more attention needs to be paid to different uses of the same cause of death by different nations, such as the case of atrophy.

Environmental effects of Maersk Line’s global container shipping operation

ABSTRACT This article investigates emissions from a container ship fleet’s worldwide operation regarding spatial distribution and negative externality on regional ports. It is the first to study the adverse effects of a mega operator’s transport activities. A bottom-up model is developed to compute emissions using ships’ voyage data and applied in the service network of Maersk Line, the world’s biggest carrier. The fleet of 653 units (3.52 m TEUs) serves a global network with a weekly travelling distance of 1,043,845 miles. Such large-scale activities result in weekly emissions of 683,428 tonnes of CO2 and other pollutants, equivalent to an external cost of €202.3 m. Emissions are primarily released on the focal East-West shipping network to connect East Asia, Europe, and North America. The fleet serves 353 ports in all continents, but focuses mainly on a few strategic spots, leading to most in-port emissions in East Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Data-driven static and dynamic resilience assessment of the global liner shipping network

As a critical infrastructure system of modern society, the global liner shipping network (GLSN) has become increasingly complex and thus vulnerable to disruptions. This study proposes a resilience assessment framework for the GLSN across two dimensions, including static resilience and dynamic resilience. First, by leveraging high-frequency vessel movement data, the GLSN is constructed. Then, with the clique percolation method (CPM), overlapping community structures and key nodes can be identified. The static resilience assessment is initially conducted using simulation techniques, with nodes attacked through pre-designed scenarios. Then, a network disintegration method is employed to consider the impact of traffic flow on system resilience assessment, which separates the weighted GLSN into different layers for evaluation. The results show that both overlapping community structure and traffic flow significantly impact the resilience evaluation of the GLSN. Finally, to assess the dynamic resilience of the GLSN, we propose an innovative, knock-on effect simulation model with tailored, locally weighted flow redistribution rules. It provides a method for predicting the impacts of potential global disruptions (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic) and critical maritime infrastructure failures (e.g., the Suez Canal obstruction) on the shipping network, which are of great concern not only to academia but also to industry.

Disruption risks to global container shipping network in the presence of COVID-19 pandemic: A static structure and dynamic propagation perspective

Disruption risks to global container shipping network in the presence of COVID-19 pandemic: A static structure and dynamic propagation perspective

Liner alliance shipping network design model with shippers' choice inertia and empty container relocation

<abstract><p>Liner companies have responded to escalating trade conflicts and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by forming alliances and implementing streamlined approaches to manage empty containers, which has strengthened the resilience of their supply chains. Meanwhile, shippers have grown more sensitive during these turbulent times. Motivated by the market situation, we investigate a liner alliance shipping network design problem considering the choice inertia of shippers and empty container relocation. To address this problem, we propose a bilevel programming model. The upper model aims to maximize the alliance's profit by optimizing the alliance's shipping network and fleet design scheme. The lower model focuses on optimizing the slot allocation scheme and the empty container relocation scheme. To ensure the sustainable operation of the alliance, we develop an inverse optimization model to allocate profits among alliance members. Furthermore, we design a differential evolution metaheuristic algorithm to solve the model. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm, numerical experiments are conducted using actual shipping data from the Asia-Western Europe shipping route. The results confirm the validity of the proposed model and algorithm, which can serve as a crucial decision-making reference for the daily operations of a liner shipping alliance.</p></abstract>

Mitigating the financial risk behind emission cap compliance: A case in maritime transportation

The enforcement of ever‐stringent regulatory requirements capping emission limits is challenging the traditional operations of various transportation sectors. In maritime transportation, the recent regulation tightening fuel sulfur limits to 0.50%, known as the “IMO 2020,” has been enforced. There is a flurry of activities by ocean carriers to equip their vessels to comply with this regulation. Although the technical conditions are clear, investment decisions are hard to make due to inevitable uncertainties in the current transition period, especially on the impact of fuel prices in the long run. In this study, we consider an ocean carrier's technology investment decisions. Each compliance solution is subject to uncertain operating costs with a partially characterized probability distribution that may deviate from current expected norms. The carrier chooses a portfolio of compliance solutions for its entire fleet that would best adhere to two decision criteria characterized by a net present value (NPV) target in investment and a capacity utilization rate target in fleet deployment. To find optimal decisions that will perform well in the uncertain transition period, we introduce a tractable mathematical model, termed the ambiguous robustness optimization model, to minimize the financial riskiness index associated with the risk of expected NPV not meeting a specified target. We further propose a solution scheme through mixed‐integer second‐order cone programming approximation that can be efficiently solved by off‐the‐shelf solvers. We show that this decision support system performs well in numerical experiments constructed using real data on the Asia‐North America West Coast shipping network.

Development of GPCN Model to Assess Domestic and International Competition Patterns of Coastal Container Ports in China

The importance of a port’s strategic position has long been recognized, during which process inter-port competition is becoming increasingly fierce. This paper aims to assess the domestic and international competition patterns of 43 coastal container ports in China. A global port competition network model (GPCN) is developed based on the global liner shipping network (GLSN) model and the multiple linkage analysis (MLA) method. In the GPCN model, three competition indicators (competition degree, competition intensity, and competitive pressure) are proposed to quantitatively describe the competitive patterns of Chinese container ports. This study has found that ports tend to compete with other ports that have similar competition degrees, and competition among large ports may be more intense. Additionally, a port’s traffic volume is correlated well with its competitiveness; the larger Chinese ports, such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Ningbo-Zhoushan, and Hong Kong, have put much more competitive pressure on their smaller competitors than they are subjected to, and Singapore and Busan ports are found as the main competitive threats to the development of Chinese coastal container ports. The methodology developed in this study can provide a good strategic decision-making and guidance tool to quantitatively assess the competition situations of other countries’ coastal container ports.

On the liner shipping network design: the Maritime Silk Route case study

The Maritime Silk Route is a crucial channel for economic exchanges between China and Europe. In the year 2018, the sea route between Asia and Europe moved more than 24 million TEU. In this context, the optimal design of liner services is of crucial importance. We present a general framework for the optimal design of these services. First, we develop a gravity model representing the spatial interaction between ports. Then we obtain a minimum spanning tree by means of Kruskal optimisation and finally we use the Louvain method to determine the communities within the network. Two scenarios are discussed. The first gives more importance to distances, while the second gives more importance to port throughputs. The paper discusses the main differences between the two cases and highlights which ports gain or lose connections depending on the market environment. The resulting graphs are a good reference for designing better services.

Arctic adventure cruise shipping network: Itinerary characteristics and spatial structure

Abstract The frigid geographical environment in the Arctic has shaped the exploration attribute of the polar cruise shipping network. In this study, the typical characteristics and special structure of the Arctic adventure cruise shipping network are investigated by using the network analysis method based on the data of 172 adventure cruise itineraries in the Arctic. It is found that the Arctic adventure cruise itineraries are dominated by 8–17 days of medium itineraries, and the ratio of one-way itineraries to round-trip itineraries is about 1:1. There are differences in the centrality of different ports, forming two core ports Reykjavík and Longyearbyen and a sub-core port Kangerlussuaq. The overall contact strength of the Arctic adventure cruise shipping network is low. Under the joint influence of such factors as centrality and contact strength, the Arctic constitutes the dual-core clusters of Iceland and Svalbard Islands and a sub-core cluster of Greenland.

Vulnerability Analysis of Maritime Silk Road Shipping Network under Port Emergencies

Vulnerability Analysis of Maritime Silk Road Shipping Network under Port Emergencies

System Reliability Analysis for a Stochastic Liner Container Shipping Service with Stochastic Terminals

In the container shipping industry, a company could have an advantage over its competitors while its liner container shipping system (LCSS) can successfully transport the requested demand. However, some uncertainties such as unstable sea state, terrible weather, sailor’s negligence, and the condition of vessels would affect the number of slots on the vessel to place containers when shipping on different legs. Thus, that number should be regarded as stochastic. At the container terminal, containers are loaded from and unloaded to the vessel ship by the quay cranes. The number of available quay cranes at each terminal is also stochastic because of the reservation of other competitors. Therefore, this study proposes an algorithm that constructs an LCSS as a stochastic liner container shipping network (SLCSN) model to analyze the network reliability. Network reliability is defined as the probability that all vessels in the SLCSN can satisfy the demands within the time threshold. For an executive of the liner container shipping company, the network reliability can be utilized as the performance indicator to make an appropriate managerial decision.

Совершенствование системы регулирования выходного напряжения комплекса «валогенератор – преобразователь частоты»

The article focuses on operation of the ship shaft generator on the joint buses of the main switchboard through a frequency converter that consists of an uncontrolled rectifier and a self-excited inverter with pulse width modulation. The most common schemes of using shaft generators on ships are given, their advantages and disad-vantages are analyzed. There has been illustrated a flowchart and given a detailed description of the operation 
 of a ship electric power plant with power take-off from the main engine. A control system regulating the constant flow interlinkage in the “frequency converter - shaft generator” complex, which ensures stable output voltage, has been developed. It has been stated that a random change in the rotational speed or in a torque fluctuation of the shaft generator rotor have little impact on the quality of generated electricity. Simulation modeling of the complex is given in the MATLAB/Simulink software package. The developed controller of a self-excited inverter supports continuous flow interlinkage by vector control. There has been demonstrated the composition and operation principle of the control system of output voltage of a shaft generator by using vector regulation method. Modeling has proved the availability of the self-excited inverter control system. The oscillograms of modeling the input and output current and voltage values have been obtained. The modeling results justified that changing the input voltage and frequency of the generator provided the high quality output voltage indicators. Harmonic distortion coefficients and static deviations have been analyzed. The expediency of using combined filters of higher harmonics to eliminate interharmonics and higher harmonics in the ship network has been proved. Practical recommendations are given to improve the quality of operation of the ship electrical complex with a shaft generator.

Reliable design of container shipping network with foldable container facility disruption

Foldable containers constitute an emerging technology that returns an operational benefit in terms of cost savings and green transportation by curtailing empty container movements. However, their facilities are vulnerable to unfavorable events caused by disruptive events, and often experience complete failure in practice. To guarantee a certain level of reliability in foldable container operations, this study focused on designing a reliable container network against facility failure for foldable containers. A novel integer linear programming formulation for the problem of reliable facility location with foldable containers is proposed by designing an objective function with failure patterns. In this problem, special handling manners for operating foldable containers are incorporated for repositioning activities. We comprehensively analyzed numerical experiments to illustrate trade-offs between cost savings and potential risks concerning reliability in supply of empty containers by using a mix of standard and foldable containers. The impact of the failure on foldable container facilities is jointly influenced by foldable and standard containers and the degree of failure probability.

Port investment along the Maritime Silk Road considering mutual selections of the industries planned for transfer and recipient countries with location advantage

ABSTRACT This paper addresses the issues of port investment, considering the mutual selection process of the industries planned for transfer and recipient countries with location advantage, along the Maritime Silk Road (MSR). We propose a method for determining the production scale of different industries in each country by analyzing location advantage, the regional imports of commodities from each recipient country, the import transportation route scheme, the port network structure, and the port investment scheme along the MSR. This method is constructed on the basis of a hub-spoke network model, a location model, and a matching game model. We select 14 countries along the MSR as a case study and treat them as the supply zones of commodities, while six continents are taken as the demand zones. The numerical analysis show that Sihanoukville Port in Cambodia, Port Klang in Malaysia, and Mundra Port in India will become hub ports, and that 81, 41, and 24 container berths will be constructed at each of these harbors, respectively. Whether a port will become a hub depends on the industrial growth potential in its direct hinterland, its geographical advantages in the global shipping network, and its relative spatial relationship to other hub ports.

Distribution-Free Approaches for an Integrated Cargo Routing and Empty Container Repositioning Problem with Repacking Operations in Liner Shipping Networks

Cargo (laden container) routing and empty container repositioning are crucial components in liner shipping, which are closely relevant. However, most existing works focus on cargo routing and empty container repositioning separately, which cannot optimize the global shipping cost. In addition, (1) appropriate repacking operations for laden containers can curtail the total handling costs, and (2) the perfect information for uncertain laden and empty container demands may be difficult to obtain due to insufficient historical data. This work investigates an integrated cargo routing and empty container repositioning problem with repacking operations in which only partial information about uncertain laden and empty container demands is known. The objective is to minimize the total costs including repacking operation cost and laden and empty container transportation costs. For the problem, a new chance-constrained programming model based on moment-based ambiguous sets is formulated. Then, four distribution-free solution approaches are adopted to solve the investigated problem. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare the proposed methods.

Container shipping: a systematic literature review of themes and factors that influence the establishment of direct connections between countries

The establishment of direct connections between countries in container shipping is largely driven by the underlying trade dynamics. It is also the joint result of various other contributing factors, ranging from land infrastructure to carrier strategies. The literature to date has only partially focused on some of the factors that in theory may affect the establishment of direct connections but has mainly focused on the positive impact that a direct connection between two countries may have on bilateral trade development. However, there has been only limited research on the systematic identification of the factors that should be in place, to promote or prevent the establishment of a direct link between countries in container shipping. This paper attempts to fill this gap by undertaking a Systematic Literature Review that examines the issue from various perspectives and classifies the previous research under five themes: (1) Shipping Network, (2) Connectivity, (3) Port Selection Criteria, (4) Trade and (5) Alternative Transport Modes. A framework is subsequently developed which identifies the set of factors that determine the establishment of direct container shipping connections between trading countries and the expected impact (positive, negative or ambiguous) of each factor. The insights from our research and the framework developed can be of use to interested stakeholders across the research and policy domains who have an interest in both the establishment and continuation of direct container shipping connections between trading countries.

An effective distance-based centrality approach for exploring the centrality of maritime shipping network

Centrality has always been used in transportation networks to estimate the status and importance of a node in the networks, especially in the shipping networks. However, most of the studies only take the shipping network as an unweighted network or only considering the tie weights in the weighted networks, ignoring the truth that both the number of ties and tie weights contribute to the centrality in weighted shipping networks. Therefore, we proposed a new method combining both the number of ties and tie weights to assess the node centrality based on effective distance by integrating the studies of Opsahl et al., (2010) and Du et al., (2015). An empirical analysis of shipping network at the country level for the 21st-centrtury Maritime Silk Road (MSR) was performed. The result of correlation analysis between country's degree centrality and the Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) proved the superiority of our method compared to the traditional centrality metrics. In weighted networks, both the number of ties the tie weights should be considered by adjusting the parameters. The method proposed in this study can also be used to nodes' status and importance estimation of various networks in other fields.

How to Deploy Electric Ships for Green Shipping

Maritime transport plays an important role in global economic development but also inevitably faces increasing pressures from all sides, such as ship operating cost reduction and environmental protection. An ideal innovation to address these pressures is electric ships, which are more environmentally friendly than conventional manned fuel oil ships. The electric ship is in its early stages. To provide high-quality transportation services, the service network needs to be designed carefully. Therefore, this research simultaneously studies the location of charging stations, charging plans, route planning, ship scheduling, and ship deployment under service time requirements. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming model with the objective of minimizing total cost comprised of charging cost, construction cost of charging stations, and fixed cost of ships. A case study using the data of the shipping network along the Yangtze River is conducted in order to evaluate the performance of the model. Valuable managerial insights are also derived from sensitivity analyses.

Optimal scheduling of autonomous vessel trains in a hub-and-spoke network

An autonomous vessel train features several autonomous vessels sailing together, piloted by a conventional, manned leader vessel. It is a promising transitional solution at the present technological level before full autonomy is realized. We develop mixed-integer programming models for jointly optimizing the autonomous vessel assignment to vessel trains and vessel train routes and schedules in a hub-and-spoke network. Solutions to these models capture the optimal tradeoff between vessel trains' added detour and delay costs and the lower sailing cost of autonomous ships. Numerical case studies are carried out for a real-world short-sea shipping network around the Bohai Bay of China. Results reveal sizeable cost savings of vessel train operations compared to the case where only conventional ships are used. Sensitivity analyses are performed to unveil how the benefit of vessel trains is affected by key operating factors, e.g., the fleet composition, the vessel train size limit, and the network topology. The results inform practitioners of suitable and profitable scenarios for implementing the vessel train strategy. This study can be viewed as the first step toward real implementation of the economically competitive and environmentally friendly autonomous freight ships via vessel trains.

Hub port choice and shipping connectivity in Southeast Asia during COVID-19 pandemic: implications for post-pandemic competition landscape

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the container shipping and port industry in terms of its reach and scale. The research analyzes the impact of COVID-19 on hub port choice and shipping connectivity using the case of major container ports in Southeast Asia. This study enriches the definition of connectivity and proposes a new research approach that differentiates the order of port-call for mainline services. The research approach is applied to the case of major container ports in Southeast Asia for the Asia-Europe trade route. The study further analyzes hubbing strategies of major shipping lines and alliances with the application of data mining on global satellite ship data. Findings indicate shipping connectivity to have grown in Singapore particularly at the expense of Port Klang during the COVID-19 pandemic as evidenced by changes in the shipping networks of The Alliance and Ocean Alliance. The research offers important policy and managerial implications concerning the post-COVID competition landscape covering the aspects of joint venture terminals, shipping alliance networks, and container port development.