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The purpose of this study is to compare the competition and productivity of the US freight rail transportation industry for the past 41 years (1980 ∼ 2020), which consists of the two periods, before and after the abolishment of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1995.

This study investigates any relationships between the market concentration index values and labor productivity values in the separate two periods, and how the existence of a regulatory body in the freight transportation market impacted the productivity of the freight rail transportation industry by using a Cobb–Douglas production function on annual financial statement data from the US stock exchange market.

This study found that, after the abolishment of the ICC: (1) the rail industry became less competitive, (2) even if the rail industry had an increasing labor productivity trend, there was a strong negative correlation between the market concentration index and labor productivity and (3) the rail industry’s total factor productivity was decreased.

This study is to find empirical evidence of the effect of the ICC abolishment on the competition and productivity levels in the US freight rail transportation industry using a continuous data set of 41-year financial statements, which is unique compared to previous studies.

The first purpose is to assess the quality of containerized multimodal export and the second is to develop and demonstrate the design of a service network with quality approach.

The article used the structural equation model to develop a model to measure the quality of multimodal transportation for containerized exports and finalized the model with an alternative approach. The evolutionary algorithm had been used to design a service network based on quality.

Provided factors affecting quality of multimodal transportation and reverse to one hypothesis, the construct variation in cost, time shape and quantity did not affect the quality of multimodal transportation for containerized exports. The model without variation construct was finalized by exploring causality.

This research had scope till container loading onto the vessel and assessed the quality for containerized cargo only, and second research purpose is limited by assumed values of fitness function and the limited number of nodes, in service network design demonstration.

This research provided a tool to measure the quality of multimodal transportation for containerized exports and demonstrated the field application of the model developed in service network design. This approach included all factors applicable across the container movement. The integrated approach of the article provided an organized method to design a service network for containerized exports.

This work provided the tool to assess the quality of multimodal transportation for containerized exports and developed an approach to design a service network of multimodal transportation based on quality. This approach has considered the factors of multimodal transportation comprehensively in contrast to the optimization approaches based on operation research techniques.

Economic ties and formation of trade blocks escalates the movement of goods among the participants and bring different economic and structural changes. Therefore, the current research emphasises on the distribution of market structure and industrial value added among the participant countries of China–Pakistan economic corridor project while focussing on pre and post FTA status.

This study utilises the footloose capital model for analysing whether China or Pakistan is more suitable for attracting factors of production to increase their share of industrial value added. For econometric analyses the current research utilises data from 1995 to 2018 and maximum likelihood effect method to assess factors that affect regional value-added distribution.

Results show that both countries owe different level of economic developments. Effect of capital is, comparatively, similar for both countries while Pakistan supports trade openness which points towards the fact of positive utilisation of abundant labour resources in Pakistan by establishing industrial structure either through domestic capital formation or foreign investment. Whereas, share of labour and trade openness of China positively affect value added production of China.

This is one of the unique studies that studies the regional economic treaties usefulness for any developing country across Asia. Where this study uses the footloose capital model and maximum likelihood method for its analysis which is not previously done, while for detailed analyses the study further divides the timeframe into two parts as pre-FTA ranges from 1995 to 2006, post-FTA from 2007 to 2018 while overall results consist of whole-time frame.

Container liner shipping companies started expanding their business by investing in container port terminals in the late 1990s. This market entry results in an extensive presence of vertically integrated liners and terminals. This study aims to explore the competition effects of this vertical integration trend based on a regional (European) analysis. In particular, it extracts lessons from the European Commission (EC) cases on the competition effects of vertical integration. The critical analysis of the cases examined at the institutional level intends to reach conclusions on whether liner–terminal vertical integration harmed or advanced competition in the relevant markets and/or the extent that there is a need to revise the current policy practices.

This study critically assesses the EC’s decisional practices in port container terminal vertical mergers in the last 25 years (1997–2021). Based on a literature review comparing maritime and competition economists' perspectives, it reviews the types of mergers examined, the methodology followed for relevant market definition and calculation of market shares and the estimated competition effects. The Hamburg–Le Havre area is the port range used as a case study for comparing the decisional practice with actual market developments. These container ports serve the greatest consuming market of final and intermediate goods in Europe and are gateways to Central and Eastern Europe.

The assessment identifies a need for expanding the investigation as a precondition for reaching conclusions on both the anti- and pro-competitive effects. First, only a limited number of transactions have been notified to the EC. Second, the empirical research identified a gap in this process, as there were no decisions (phase I) on vertical mergers between 2008 and 2016. Third, the exante assessment has not applied a phase II in-depth analysis to any case due to the absence of competition concerns. Finally, due to the absence of complaints, there is a lack of any ex post assessment of the effects of vertical integration.

This assessment is important for understanding the current and emerging features of intra-port and inter-port competition and the potential effects that the continuation and expansion of liner companies' vertical integration strategies will have along maritime supply chains. It also contributes to the broader discussion on liner companies' strategies, such as the research and policy-making efforts around the globe to understand the impact of both vertical and horizontal integration.

These discussions are critical for a diversity of businesses that use liner shipping services or provide facilities and services to container shipping lines or ports. They are important for the interests of customers and consumers as they could inform any needed re-visiting of competition policy to protect from the dominance of any market developments that would lead to conditions limiting competition. Expanding analysis on the competition effects of non-notified mergers would help a better understanding of market changes.

Enhancing competition and limiting monopolies is valuable from a consumer's perspective. This is more so in the case of maritime trade that serves the needs of societies. The study contributes by generating a better understanding of how decision-makers have worked towards that direction and what realignments are worthy.

There are no previous comprehensive reviews and analyses of the ways that policy-makers at the regional level have addressed the competition effects of vertical integration strategies of liner shipping companies when enhancing competition is valuable from a consumer perspective. Comparing maritime economists and competition, the study, via its literature review, also offers a comparison of maritime and competition perspectives on these competition effects, allowing positioning of how effective decisional-making practices have been.

The objective of this paper is to evaluate whether the data from consignors, logistics service providers (LSPs) and consignees contribute to the prediction of air transport shipment delays in a machine learning application.

The research database contained 2,244 air freight intercontinental shipments to 4 automotive production plants in Latin America. Different algorithm classes were tested in the knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) process: support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), artificial neural networks (ANN) and k-nearest neighbors (KNN).

Shipper, consignee and LSP data attribute selection achieved 86% accuracy through the RF algorithm in a cross-validation scenario after a combined class balancing procedure.

These findings expand the current literature on machine learning applied to air freight delay management, which has mostly focused on weather, airport structure, flight schedule, ground delay and congestion as explanatory attributes.

The present study is aimed at developing a multi-level framework for assessing circularity in agri-food industries by providing the user with a step-by-step approach and selecting a customized set of indicators capable of accurately assessing the circular economy (CE) level.

The framework is composed of four stages. In the first stage, a CE theoretical model based on operations, product and services, culture, organization and ecosystem criteria has been implemented and adapted to the agri-food sector. In the second stage, users are required to collect a set of indicators capable of measuring each criterion. In the third stage, a weight is assigned to each indicator using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Lastly, a geometric multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model, called axial distance-based aggregated measurement (ADAM) model, is used to normalize, assess and aggregate the results and produce final scores for the different alternatives to be ranked based on their final circularity scores.

The model can be a useful tool to support corporate decisions in the CE, making entrepreneurs aware of their starting level. It indicates the extent to which companies are implementing circular business models across different dimensions and, thus, where they are still lacking.

Beyond the attempts to measure the circularity of corporate performance from a purely environmental perspective, the study adopts a holistic view, considering the complexity and disruption of all the principles of the CE.

Present study aimed to integrate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) in conjunction with multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) to enhance infrastructure investment planning.

This analysis combines GIS databases with BIM simulations for a novel highway project. Around 150 potential alternatives were simulated, narrowed to 25 more effective routes and 3 options underwent in-depth analysis using PROMETHEE method for decision-making, based on environmental, cost and safety criteria, allowing for comprehensive cross-perspective comparisons.

A comprehensive framework proposed was validated through a case study. Demonstrating its adaptability with customizable parameters. It aids decision-making, cost estimation, environmental impact analysis and outcome prediction. Considering these critical factors, this study holds the potential to advance new techniques for assessment and planning railways, power lines, gas and water.

The study acknowledges limitations in GIS data quality, particularly in underdeveloped areas or regions with limited technology access. It also overlooks other pertinent variables, like social, economic, political and cultural issues. Thus, conclusions from these simulations may not entirely represent reality or diverse potential scenarios.

The proposed method automates decision-making, reducing subjectivity, aids in selecting effective alternatives and considers environmental criteria to mitigate negative impacts. Additionally, it minimizes costs and risks while demonstrating adaptability for assessing diverse infrastructures.

By integrating GIS and BIM data to support a MCDM workflow, this study proposes to fill the existing research gap in decision-making prioritization and mitigate subjective biases.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the environmental efficiency level and trend of the transportation sector in the upper–mid–downstream of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the JingJinJi region in China and assess the effectiveness of policies for protecting the low-carbon environment.

This study uses the meta-frontier slack-based measure (SBM) approach to evaluate environmental efficiency, which targets and classifies specific regions into regional groups. First, this study employs the SBM with the undesirable outputs to construct the environmental efficiency measurement models of the four regions under the meta-frontier and group frontiers, respectively. Then, this study uses the technology gap ratio to evaluate the gap between the group frontier and the meta-frontier.

The analysis reveals several key findings: (1) the JingJinJi region and the downstream of the YEB had achieved the overall optimal production technology in transportation than the other two regions; (2) significant technology gaps in environmental efficiency were observed among these four regions in China; and (3) the downstream region of the YEB exhibited the lowest levels of energy consumption and excessive CO₂ emissions.

To evaluate the differences in environmental efficiency resulting from regions and technological gaps in transportation, this study employs the meta-frontier model, which overcomes the limitation of traditional environmental efficiency methods. Furthermore, in the practical, the study provides the advantage of observing the disparities in transportation efficiency performed by the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei regions.

Liner shipping plays a crucial role in facilitating the movement of manufactured goods around the world. While previous literature has shown that liner shipping is an important trade driver, potential differences across trade routes and world regions have not as yet been explored. This paper examines whether the impact of liner shipping on bilateral trade flows differs significantly across world regions, as well as exploring other geographical patterns.

Using state-of-the-art gravity modelling, this paper investigates the impact of the UNCTAD's Liner Shipping Bilateral Connectivity Index on bilateral trade in manufactured goods using a comprehensive database of disaggregated trade data for the period from 2006 to 2019.

The results show that the trade effect of liner shipping is greater in long-distance and interregional bilateral flows. For some regions, such as North America and Oceania, the effect is greater than the world average, while for others, such as Africa and South America, the effect is significantly smaller. The trade effects of liner shipping connectivity on the main east–west routes are average, but clear asymmetry emerges when analysing China's inward and outward trade flows separately.

The results of this paper show that the major east–west routes determine the baseline trade effects of liner shipping, demonstrate that some north–south trades such as those involving Oceania generate larger trade effects and confirm that the trade effects of liner shipping can be improved for some world regions such as South America and Africa.

Road freight transportation companies need to take advantage of information and communication technologies to develop capabilities. This study proposes a framework to guide road freight transportation companies to achieve data visibility in their operations by developing such capabilities. By proposing this framework, this research contributes to literature and practice, highlighting the capabilities and the respective supporting technologies for improved data visibility in road freight transportation.

A mixed-method approach is used to develop the framework, considering three methodological steps. In phase 1, the capabilities are identified in the literature and validated by experts. In phase 2, an empirical assessment of cause–effect relationships between capabilities is performed using a multiple case study and DEMATEL. Lastly, in phase 3, an analysis of the cause model and significant associations is conducted to enable the development of the framework. In addition, the proposed framework was validated by the experts interviewed.

The results provide a framework that explains the link between the technology-enabled data visibility capabilities in road freight transportation operations. In addition, a pathway was established that road freight transportation companies could follow to achieve data visibility in their operations by developing such capabilities.

This work develops the first framework that provides a path for data visibility in road freight transportation operations from adopting certain technologies. The insights are compelling for researchers and practitioners to optimize the decision-making process for adopting technologies and developing capabilities related to data visibility.