Transport Sub-sector Research Articles

A Review of the Motorcycle Phenomenon on Livelihoods in Eldoret and Kakamega Municipalities

Commercial motorcycle taxi has emerged as an important mode of road transport in many developing countries. In Kenya, it is only in the last one decade or so that this mode of transport, known popularly as boda boda gained prominence following a shift in economic policy geared towards reinvigorating growth. In this paper, we reviewed the phenomenal emergence of this mode of transport in Kenya using data from two urban areas – Kakamega and Eldoret municipalities, both located in Western part of the country. We focused specifically on earnings from the enterprise, ownership structure and the mode of operation. It has been established that the informal commercial motorcycle operation is an important source of livelihood to many poor urban households as it brings in a steady flow of daily income both to operators and motorcycle owners who happen to rent out their motorcycles. The boda boda operations also creates employment opportunity to many unskilled urban labour and further job opportunity to informal sector workers who wish to switch jobs in search of higher rewards. Boda boda business can be done on full-time or part-time basis. Those who work on full-time basis accounted for 82.1 percent while those who work as part-time operators accounted for 17.9 percent. The paper recommends further research on this informal transport sub-sector along rural-urban divide to ensure a more targeted approach aimed at improving livelihoods and eradicating poverty among the youth and other economically disadvantaged groups such as women.

Critical overview of emission calculation models in order to evaluate their potential use in estimation of Greenhouse Gas emissions from in port truck operations

Abstract Transport is the fastest growing emission sector with road transport subsector to consist the largest contributor to global warming. Heavy Duty Vehicles used for freight transportation in particular, are responsible about 6% of total EU emissions. Main objective of this study is to perform the first critical review of the most well known, used and cited emission calculation models and evaluate their potential use in estimation of Greenhouse Gas emissions from port truck operations. These operations, which mainly include container transport by heavy duty vehicle, are characterized by frequent stop and go motions due to traffic congestion, low speeds and heavy idling. In total, 10 models were presented, reviewed, analyzed and compared for the first time. This review showed that two of the models that appear more frequently are MOVES and COPERT, and both of them are considered appropriate for use in case on in-port operations. However, analysis also showed that these models do not include parameters that are considered crucial in cases of truck operations in port terminals, such as the effect of frequent stop and go motions due to traffic congestion resulting from waiting queues in port gates and drop-off/pick up points. Thus in order for either model to be used successfully in port truck operations, modifications are needed.

Application of Road Safety Audits in Japan —Organizational Culture and Absorptive Capacity Perspectives

Road safety audits (RSAs) have been applied in many developing and developed countries as a way to enhance the safety of road infrastructure since they were first introduced in the late 1980s in the United Kingdom. RSAs have proven to be an effective tool to enhance the design of both new and existing roads from an overall safety perspective. In the early 2000s, the Government of Japan (GOJ) reviewed RSAs as well as new public management (NPM) (both viewed as good practices in the United Kingdom and other countries) and now promotes RSAs in developing countries through its bilateral and multilateral official development assistance. However, although NPM has been applied within Japan, RSAs have not been applied on Japan’s domestic road projects. This article reviews factors that may explain why the GOJ has not applied RSAs from the organizational culture perspective of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT), which administers the Japanese road transport subsector. The article also reviews an RSA pilot project started in 2013 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan and a nation-wide pilot program started in 2015. Factors that may influence how the GOJ can apply RSAs successfully are discussed in line with the MLIT’s absorptive capacity.

Statistical Analysis of Transport Performance: Case Study for Hungary

Transport subsectors are competing for the limited financial sources therefore analyzing of transport performance could reveal the connection and competition between subsystems of transport sector. Author statistically analyzed the time series of transport performances in Hungary. The major results can be concluded that not only the subsectors (road vs rail) competing with each other as it was assumed previously but with the enlarged scope it was turned out that passenger transport also competing with goods transport by using same infrastructure. These findings are useful and important to rightly priorities between transport policies.

Analysis of Vessel-Based Marine Accidents and the Economic Risks to Nigeria

The aim of the study is to evaluate the economic loss of vessel-based marine accidents to Nigeria and the impact on marine transport sub-sector output and/or performance. Time series data of 30 years were gathered from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin, the Nigeria insurance digest, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) annual statistical report. The contribution of marine transport to the Gross Domestic Product (Y), shipping accident economic loss (X₁), economic losses of offshore oil and gas (O&G) drilling accidents (X₂), and marine oil spill accidents economic losses (X₃) were obtained and used as the explanatory (independent) variables. The data was analyzed using multiple regression method with Y as the dependent variable. The hypotheses were tested using t-test. The findings of the study indicates that shipping accidents economic losses and economic losses of offshore oil and gas drilling accidents shows significant impact on the output of the marine transport sub-sector over the period covered by the study. The model expressing the quantitative relationship between GDP_{marine transport} (Y), shipping accidents economic loss (X₁), economic loss of offshore oil and gas drilling accidents (X₂) and marine oil spill accidents loss (X₃) is: Y = 332156363.1 + 0.167X₁ + 0.837X₂ + 0.203X₃ + e. it was recommended that investment in safety policies and standards be improved with greater focus in reducing accidents induced economic losses in shipping and offshore O&G drilling maritime operations.

Environmental efficiency of land transportation in China: A parallel slack-based measure for regional and temporal analysis

As the second largest economic entity in the world, China plays an important role in controlling global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The land transportation sector (including railway transportation and road transportation) has been the most important source of emissions in China and the average CO2 emissions of land transportation were 529.31 million tons during the period 2009–2012. In this study, a parallel Slack-Based Measure Data Envelopment Analysis model is proposed, which is used for evaluating the overall efficiency of the land transportation sector and individual efficiencies of the railway transportation and highway transportation subsectors at the same time, considering CO2 emissions. The empirical results lead to three conclusions: (a) only Anhui province is efficient each year during 2009–2012. (b) The environmental efficiency of the Eastern area in China is the best, followed by the Central area, with the Western area being the worst. (c) The performance of railway transportation is better than that of highway transportation. These three conclusions lead to policy suggestions to promote highway transportation technological innovation and narrow the regional imbalances in land transportation. This paper makes two main contributions: the model advances improvements to methods used in the Data Envelopment Analysis technique, and also provides governments with a practical and yet easy-to-adopt perspective to implement land transportation performance measurement that aids in decision making.

Improving the behavioral realism of global integrated assessment models: An application to consumers’ vehicle choices

A large body of transport sector-focused research recognizes the complexity of human behavior in relation to mobility. Yet, global integrated assessment models (IAMs), which are widely used to evaluate the costs, potentials, and consequences of different greenhouse gas emission trajectories over the medium-to-long term, typically represent behavior and the end use of energy as a simple rational choice between available alternatives, even though abundant empirical evidence shows that real-world decision making is more complex and less routinely rational. This paper demonstrates the value of incorporating certain features of consumer behavior in IAMs, focusing on light-duty vehicle (LDV) purchase decisions. An innovative model formulation is developed to represent heterogeneous consumer groups with varying preferences for vehicle novelty, range, refueling/recharging availability, and variety. The formulation is then implemented in the transport module of MESSAGE-Transport, a global IAM, although it also has the generic flexibility to be applied in energy-economy models with varying set-ups. Comparison of conventional and ‘behaviorally-realistic’ model runs with respect to vehicle purchase decisions shows that consumer preferences may slow down the transition to alternative fuel (low-carbon) vehicles. Consequently, stronger price-based incentives and/or non-price based measures may be needed to transform the global fleet of passenger vehicles, at least in the initial market phases of novel alternatives. Otherwise, the mitigation burden borne by other transport sub-sectors and other energy sectors could be higher than previously estimated. More generally, capturing behavioral features of energy consumers in global IAMs increases their usefulness to policy makers by allowing a more realistic assessment of a more diverse suite of policies.

Transport pollution in China – Evidence from Beijing

China’s rapid economic growth has resulted in serious environmental issues especially on the urban air pollution, which has caused serious harm to the health of residents and large economic losses. It is widely accepted that the road transport sector is one of the major emitters in China. However, it remains unclear who is more responsible for severe air pollution between the freight and passenger transport subsectors, especially in urban areas of China. In this paper, we divided the road transport sector into the freight and passenger subsectors and investigated the following important issues: (a) Are there any causal relationships between air pollution and the foresaid subsectors? (b) How do we identify the impacts of the changes in the two subsectors on the air pollution in urban China areas? (c) What are the contributions of the two subsectors to the air pollution in urban areas of China? Alternatively, who is to blame more for the current situation, freight or passenger subsectors? Our empirical findings could help the policy makers and researchers had better understand the status of air pollution in China by distinguishing the different proportions of the emissions from the subsectors. Therefore, some pertinent policies could be implemented to mitigate the emissions from China’s road transport sector.

Ulaşım Hizmetlerinin Ekonomik Kalkınma Üzerine Etkisi

Transportation is a service sector which has one of the most important places at the economic development of a country. The externalities which it generates, its costs and pricing policies increase the regulatory function of the state in the sector in terms of especially social state and public utility. Transportation has five sub-sectors. These sub-sectors consist of road transport, railroad transport, sea transport (icluding inland water transport), air transport and pipeline transport. Every transportation sub-system has efficiency areas. Transportation policies has been examined by taking into account the technical features of transportation in terms of developed countries and Turkey. Keywords: Transportation Sub-Sectors, Pricing, Externalities, Economic Development, Transportation Planning and State.

The strategic relevance of logistics: new perspectives

We measure the strategic relevance of logistics in multinational corporations (MNCs) using two proxies: 1) the communication of logistics endeavours in annual reports; 2) the employment of logistics competencies on the top management level. We define logistics competencies as the employment of executive board members who are assigned to logistics tasks. We examine 360 MNCs and their annual reports of the years 2000, 2004 and 2008 using content analysis. We show that there are considerable differences in the communication efforts amongst the geographical regions and the associated industries using the standard industrial classification (SIC) scheme. We present evidence that corporations originating in Asia are more likely to employ logistics competencies at the top level than their North American and European counterparts. On the other hand, Asian corporations are much more taciturn in their corporate disclosure policy. On an industrial level the transportation and chemicals subsectors are more likely to employ logistics competencies in their executive boards than other subsectors. Additionally, using partial point-biserial correlations, we demonstrate that the employment of logistics competencies is related to higher financial performance, further substantiating the strategic relevance of logistics for MNCs.

Evaluating Energy and Exergy Efficiencies in Transportation Sector of Iran

Considering the increasing energy demands, energy has gained an important role in planning and policies of many countries. This study presented the status of overall energy consumption in the transportation sector of Iran. According to most of the recently issued statistics, the annual transportation energy consumption of Iran is more than 296×106 barrels of oil equivalent, which is about 25% of Iran’s total annual energy consumption. So, it is logical to analyze energy consumption in transportation sector for the purpose of better planning. Statistics of energy consumption in Iran’s transportation sector was presented for a period of 24 years (1988 to 2011) in this paper. Different transportation sub-sectors (highways, airways, railways, and waterways) and different energy forms were considered separately in the presented statistics. Using these data, energy and exergy efficiencies of the transportation sector were derived. Analyzing the efficiency values in the mentioned 24 year period resulted in concluding some considerable points, which could be used in Iran’s transportation principle policies in the future.

Investigating the CO2 emission differences among China’s transport sectors and their influencing factors

China’s transport industry is a priority area for energy conservation and CO2 emission reduction due to its great carbon emissions. Based on the data of 1980–2012, this study first analyzes the CO2 emission differences among China’s four transport sub-sectors, i.e., road, waterway, aviation and railway, using the σ-convergence and β-convergence methods. Subsequently, it explores the influencing factors for CO2 emissions in China’s four transport sub-sectors, respectively, with the logarithmic mean Divisia index method. The following results are obtained. First, road and waterway are the major sources for China’s transport CO2 emissions, and the road sector acts as the relatively largest CO2 emitter. In 2012, the CO2 emissions of road, waterway, aviation and railway accounted for 65.21, 29.07, 3.61 and 2.11 % of the total, respectively. Second, the CO2 emission differences among China’s transport sectors gradually shrank during the period 1980–1996, while gradually widened during 1996–2012. Third, the economic growth served as one of the most important factors, driving China’s transport CO2 emission growth over the period 1980–2012. In this period, the CO2 emissions of road, waterway, aviation and railway sectors increased by 561.71, 265.27, 54.07 and 28.28 Mt, respectively.

Factoring: Una alternativa de financiamiento no tradicional como herramienta de apoyo a las empresas de transporte de carga terrestre en Bogotá

The road freight transport sub-sector has a major influence on the competitiveness of exports and the country?s overall movement of goods. Accordingly, this research evaluates the financial viability of factoring inthe subsector by comparing scenarios that simulate the use of this tool over the 2008-2012 period. The results indicate that the use of factoring offersadvantages in terms of reducing turnover, increasing cash flow and creatingvalue for the companies studied, as well as adding value to the sub-sector.

Economic and environmental impacts of energy subsidy reform and oil price shock on the Malaysian transport sector

This study employs a multi-sector computable general equilibrium model to investigate the long-run impacts of three scenarios, namely high prices of petroleum products, energy subsidy reform and the combine of both, on the Malaysian transport sector. The long-run simulation results suggest that all shocks are beneficial for the entire economy because of the increase in real GDP and investment. The shocks encourage the reallocation of resources and therefore induce disparities in sectoral adjustments. All transport sectors, except water transport, gain from high petroleum prices due to the increase in their domestic output, domestic sales and exports, while they lose from the energy subsidy reform and the combined scenario. The shocks lead to significant changes in travel behaviour of all household types through a change in their use of transport sub-sectors. The combined scenario followed by the high petroleum price shock greatly reduces energy consumption and emissions of all air pollutants in the transport sectors. These findings enhance our understanding of the transport impact of oil price shocks and energy subsidy reform and should be of much interest to scholars, corporate executives, travel agencies, regulators, and policy makers.

Marine Education and Research Development in Malaysia

The development of local capabilities and research and development is one of the most challenges of the shipbuilding and offshore industries in Malaysia. The Industrial Master Plan has proposed five strategies thrusts for the long term viability of the marine transport sub-sector to overcome the challenges.As the shilbuilding and offshore industries in Malaysia rapidly grow, the characteristics of higher education and institution has changed in field and expertise, upgrading curriculum and cocuricullum, accreditation system, to responded the industrial need. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia as the only one university run in ship and offshore engineering has runned several programmes to meet the demand such Global Outreach Programme, Student Tranning Programme, Shipyard Visit, and research collaboration with shipyards and other international universities around the world.

Biofuels, sustainability and the transport sector in Lithuania

This review paper sets the stage for a look at the Lithuanian (hereinafter LT) transport sector and its transition towards sustainable mobility through the use of biofuels and implementation of the necessary policies to deliver the renewable energy targets. The assessment begins with a brief and reasonably balanced situational analysis of the transport subsectors—road (including ex-fleet vehicle market), off-road, railway, marine, and air—in Lithuania, and their direct relations to the biofuel sector. The paper also aims to examine the dynamics of GHG emissions (N 2 O, CH 4 , CO 2 ), air and soil pollution (NO 2 , SO 2 , NMWOC, NH 3 , PM, CO, heavy metals), and related indicators in the whole LT transport sector during the economic transition period (1990–1995), economy growth period (1996–2007) and the first-world debt crisis period (2007–2010). The national biofuels industry has seen plenty of ups and downs over the past decade but have generally good growth prospects. The study found that the CO 2 emission is growing recently in Lithuania and this growth could be attributed to almost all transport subsectors. One of the main problems responsible for this situation is the patchy nature of the regulation (there is no governmental decision indicated on setting of national fuel economy/GHG standard), from which most other problems arise. Transport activity has been a key facilitator and driver of economic prosperity in Lithuania and it is likely to continue to grow. It can produce both positive and negative effects on the environment and the quality of life depending on measures at all levels to promote its sustainable development.

Cross-sectoral comparison of concessions in transport

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology of comparing concession projects developed in different transport sub-sectors. The methodology is tested in the comparison of three different cases, each of which represent a particular mode of transport: a road development project, a city tramway project and a port lock construction initiative. Design/methodology/approach – A fuzzy logic approach methodology is applied in carrying out the comparison between cases. Granulation is achieved by employing a Contextual (Ws) Risk Analysis Framework, as risks constitute the basis to public private partnership (PPP) structure. Linguistic variables are then used to describe the comparative findings. Findings – The methodology presented allows for the comparison of three cases from different transport sub-sectors. Identification of similarities provides the potential to transfer experience from one sector to the other. With respect to the three cases studied, it was identified that traffic risk seems to be passed on to the private operators in relation to the level of exclusivity. Finally, PPP projects initiated by central government (as opposed to those initiated by local governments) seem to be more finance-driven than service-driven. Research limitations/implications – As the number of cases to be compared increases, quantitative comparative analysis fuzzy set values can be included in order to carry out a full analysis. The present approach should be considered introductory, as fuzzy sets are not generated due to the limited number of surveys (cases) compared (hence the term “pre-fuzzy”). Practical implications – The methodology presented and the cases tested indicate the possibility for knowledge/experience transfer and the transferability of best practices. Originality/value – Cross-sub-sectoral comparisons for transport PPP projects have not been identified in literature.

A thermodynamic performance analysis of the transport sector of Nigeria

In this research, energy consumption data is subjected to the concept of energy and exergy utilisation assessment with application to the transport sector of Nigeria. The energy and exergy flows over the 21-year period (1988–2009) were taken into consideration. The sector comprises four sub-sectors namely the roadway, the seaway, the railway and the airway. Pipeline transport is also an important transport sub-sector in Nigeria but credible energy consumption data was, however, not obtainable and as such the pipeline transport sub-sector is not considered in this research. Results from this research were then compared with the transportation sectors of other countries and were found to be similar with energy and exergy efficiencies of 24.24 and 23.58%, respectively.

DAMPAK PERKEBUNAN KELAPA SAWIT RAKYAT TERHADAP PENDAPATAN WILAYAH DESA DI PROVINSI JAMBI

Smallholder oil palm estate in Jambi Province is growing. Some indicators are land development, production, and employment. Smallholder oil palm estate can be a major driver of the economy so that the country can move other economic sectors, such as trade, transport, electricity and gas, manufacture small industrial and other sectors, which in turn increases the income of the village as a whole. This study aimed to determine (1) the development of oil palm estate seen from land, production, and employment in the province of Jambi (2) Impact of smallholder oil palm estate against Gross Regional Domestic Product Villages in Jambi Province. The research method used in this study is a survey method. This method of research was done deductively, by conducting an analysis of the object. Data were collected from primary sources and secondary sources. The development of oil palm plantations quantitatively analyzed descriptively. To determine whether the development of oil palm plantations had such an impact is determined by the formula LQ (Location Quotient) and the magnitude of the impact made by Formula ME (multiplier effect). To determine the value of LQ and ME the sample villages can be determined that a major driver of the sector (Prime mover sector) in the village economy. These results indicate that oil palm plantations have grown rapidly both views of land, production, and employment. Oil palm plantations have an impact on the income of the people of the village, where 9 of 20 samples villages have values LQ>1 with the average ME value was 1.4107, which means that any increase in palm oil revenue amounted toRp1, -it will be able to increase the income of the region village as a whole amounted to1.4107times. The impact is especially true of the sub-sectors of trade, transport sub-sector, and electricity and gas sub-sector. The impact is small relative to the manufacturing sector.Key words: smallholders oil palm estate, GRDB of villages, LQ, and ME.

Evaluating the Role of Mass Transit and its Effect on Fuel Efficiency in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

The priority of every government is to develop the economy of its country to raise the living standard of the citizenry. Mass transit system plays a vital role in this quest. The energy demand within the transport subsector is immense. Indeed Ghana subsidises petroleum products by GH¢45 million monthly and the government of Ghana is faced with the dilemma of whether or not this subsidy be removed as it is putting pressure on national budget. For this reason the need for energy efficiency management has become imperative. This study assessed the role of mass transit in urban transportation system and how it affects energy demand. Secondary data was used for the study. The study revealed that the use of mass transit would reduce energy demand within the transport sector due to its fuel efficiency potentials. Therefore expanding the intra-city mass transit services within Kumasi Metropolis could offer one of the most effective, efficient and feasible strategy for improving fuel efficiency within the transport sub sector. Therefore policy decision should give attention to metro mass transit services within metropolitan areas.