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1 – 8 of 8Jing Wang, Nathan N. Huynh and Edsel Pena
This paper evaluates an alternative queuing concept for marine container terminals that utilize a truck appointment system (TAS). Instead of having all lanes providing service to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper evaluates an alternative queuing concept for marine container terminals that utilize a truck appointment system (TAS). Instead of having all lanes providing service to trucks with appointments, this study considers the case where walk-in lanes are provided to serve those trucks with no appointments or trucks with appointments but arrived late due to traffic congestion.
Design/methodology/approach
To enable the analysis of the proposed alternative queuing strategy, the queuing system is shown mathematically to be stationary. Due to the complexity of the model, a discrete event simulation (DES) model is used to obtain the average waiting number of trucks per lane for both types of service lanes: TAS-lanes and walk-in lanes.
Findings
The numerical experiment results indicated that the considered queuing strategy is most beneficial when the utilization of the TAS lanes is expected to be much higher than that of the walk-in lanes.
Originality/value
The novelty of this study is that it examines the scenario where trucks with appointments switch to the walk-in lanes upon arrival if the TAS-lane server is occupied and the walk-in lane server is not occupied. This queuing strategy/policy could reduce the average waiting time of trucks at marine container terminals. Approximation equations are provided to assist practitioners calculate the average truck queue length and the average truck queuing time for this type of queuing system.
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David J. Bentolila, Ronit Kastro Ziedenveber, Yehuda Hayuth and Theo Notteboom
Avoiding truck congestion and peaks in landside activity is one of the challenges to container terminal managers. The spreading of truck arrivals at terminals can be facilitated…
Abstract
Purpose
Avoiding truck congestion and peaks in landside activity is one of the challenges to container terminal managers. The spreading of truck arrivals at terminals can be facilitated by widening the opening hours of terminals at the landside. Israel’s Ministry of Transport has instituted the “Good Night Program”, involving monetary incentives for importers and exporters who deliver containers to ports at night.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper aims to quantitatively examine the market utility resulting from shifting traffic from daytime to nighttime, and analyzes customer considerations regarding nighttime transportation.
Findings
The external utility found in the traffic-economics model is quite similar to the economic incentive given to customers. Therefore, a significant increase of the incentive is not feasible.
Originality/value
Furthermore, it seems that an incentive method by itself is not effective enough, and does not motivate customers to act and find creative solutions to the obstacles they face. To achieve a considerable change in nighttime transport to Israeli ports, more effective methods should be examined.
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Muhammad Syafiq Essi, Yingsi Chen, Hui Shan Loh and Yimiao Gu
Ship chandlers’ trucks are now facing challenges owing to their job characteristics, which will lead to low productivity of trucks, congestions and pollutions at the port. The aim…
Abstract
Purpose
Ship chandlers’ trucks are now facing challenges owing to their job characteristics, which will lead to low productivity of trucks, congestions and pollutions at the port. The aim of this paper is to identify important causes and the effects of low truck productivity at the port under the demand of sustainable development.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the literature review, potential causes and relevant analysis are developed and carried out by using a systematic approach, incorporating in-depth interviews with experts, cause analysis and risk management process.
Findings
Results from the research framework showed that a lack of communication with the port, late arrival of ships, truck congestion and fragmented deliveries are the most important factors that led to low truck productivity at the port. A solution that combines an integrated system that shares real-time information with the port, a consolidation hub and a truck-pooling platform is proposed to comply with green port concepts, together with factors considerations.
Originality/value
Although the operation of ship chandlers’ trucks is a derived business in overall port operations, it is an indispensable element at the port. The findings present a new insight to the relationship between ship chandlers’ trucks productivity and port operation efficiency for industry practitioners and port policymakers.
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Ziboud Van Veldhoven and Jan Vanthienen
This paper aims that digital transformation (DT) is crucial for companies to stay competitive. While research on DT has quickly gained great popularity, the intersection of trade…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims that digital transformation (DT) is crucial for companies to stay competitive. While research on DT has quickly gained great popularity, the intersection of trade associations (TAs) and their role in the DT of their members is not yet researched.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors conducted 20 interviews with Belgian TAs to investigate the role of a TAs in the DT of its members, and how they drive the DT of its members. In addition, the authors investigate the core tasks of TAs, the need of the different industries to digitalize, and the digital projects the different industries are working on.
Findings
The findings indicate that TAs can be in a prime position to steer the DT of their members, especially for industries comprised of smaller players. Their roles can range from informing roles to true leaders of DT by creating novel products, such as online platforms and driving the entire sector forwards.
Research limitations/implications
These findings call for more research into TAs and how their role can be optimized for steering DT of their members.
Originality/value
This is the first study to extensively study the role of TAs on the DT of their members.
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Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way…
Abstract
Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.
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Sandra Adabere, Kwame Owusu Kwateng, Esther Dzidzah and Francis Tetteh Kamewor
The introduction of information technology (IT) in port operations has been a tremendous contributor to transformation in world trade. This study was carried out to examine the…
Abstract
Purpose
The introduction of information technology (IT) in port operations has been a tremendous contributor to transformation in world trade. This study was carried out to examine the influence of IT on the efficiency of seaport operations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is quantitative in nature, and it relied on a closed-ended self-administered questionnaire to collect primary data. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the theoretical model and hypothesis.
Findings
The results indicate that IT has a positive direct effect on port operational efficiency (OE) and an indirect effect on port OE through organizational culture (OC). The mediating role of OC is statistically insignificant.
Originality/value
This is among the first few attempts in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that provides researchers with a contemporary view of IT and seaport operations.
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TO say that the Twenty‐fourth S.B.A.C. Show was an unqualified success is perhaps to gild the lily. True there were disappointments— the delay which kept the TSR‐2 on the ground…
Abstract
TO say that the Twenty‐fourth S.B.A.C. Show was an unqualified success is perhaps to gild the lily. True there were disappointments— the delay which kept the TSR‐2 on the ground until well after the Show being one—but on the whole the British industry was well pleased with Farnborough week and if future sales could be related to the number of visitors then the order books would be full for many years to come. The total attendance at the Show was well over 400,000—this figure including just under 300,000 members of the public who paid to enter on the last three days of the Show. Those who argued in favour of allowing a two‐year interval between the 1962 Show and this one seem to be fully vindicated, for these attendance figures are an all‐time record. This augurs well for the future for it would appear that potential customers from overseas are still anxious to attend the Farnborough Show, while the public attendance figures indicate that Britain is still air‐minded to a very healthy degree. It is difficult to pick out any one feature or even one aircraft as being really outstanding at Farnborough, but certainly the range of rear‐engined civil jets (HS. 125, BAC One‐Eleven, Trident and VCIQ) served as a re‐minder that British aeronautical engineering prowess is without parallel, while the number of rotorcraft to be seen in the flying display empha‐sized the growing importance of the helicopter in both civil and military operations. As far as the value of Farnborough is concerned, it is certainly a most useful shop window for British aerospace products, and if few new orders are actually received at Farnborough, a very large number are announced— as our ’Orders and Contracts' column on page 332 bears witness. It is not possible to cover every exhibit displayed at the Farnborough Show but the following report describes a wide cross‐section beginning with the exhibits of the major airframe and engine companies.
Finance, entrepreneurship, general management.
Abstract
Subject area
Finance, entrepreneurship, general management.
Study level/applicability
MBA/Postgraduate.
Case overview
This case is about Precision Air Services, a small profitable airline in Tanzania, which is in the middle of a changing airline industry. In less than ten years, Mr Michael Ngaleku Shirima, the founder and then holding two-thirds of the shares together with an option to buy the remaining one-third, had seen the airline grow to a major player in the domestic market. His plans to expand to regional routes were still on the drawing board when he received a US$2 million cash offer from Kenya Airways, a much larger airline, for a 49 percent equity stake. At the same time, South African Airways – another heavyweight in the African airline industry, was in the process of acquiring a controlling stake in the state-owned Air Tanzania Corporation. To Mr Shirima, giving up a significant stake in an airline he created from scratch was a dilemma. But if that was to be, he was also interested to see that he is getting the right price for his efforts.
Expected learning outcomes
This case can be used to teach elements of merger and acquisition, business valuation, negotiation, strategy (corporate, international, growth), strategic scoping and planning.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes.
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