A study on the assessment of risk management performance in maritime start-ups: evidence from China

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the international shipping market has been highly volatile, posing a serious threat to the survival and development of many maritime start-ups. With the development of the digital economy, digital transformation is affecting the evolution and upgrading of many traditional enterprises, including maritime enterprises. In the post-COVID-19 era, start-up small and medium-sized enterprises will need to consider the importance of enterprise risk management to achieve transformation and upgrading. The purpose of this study is to provide guidance for the establishment and upgrading of risk management systems for start-ups based on the identification of risk management strategies of maritime enterprises and the evaluation of their performance. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and importance-performance analysis methods were used to rank the operational risk, financial risk, market risk, innovation risk, and disaster risk according to sub-items and screen out the risk management schemes for priority improvements. Through empirical research, it was found that the financial risk and market risk response schemes have the lowest performance and need to be prioritised for improvement. This study argues that start-ups can appropriately challenge their risk management strategies to meet potential risk management needs based on their own circumstances.

Port strategy and performance: empirical evidence from major container ports and implications for role of data analytics

Container ports operate in more challenging and volatile environments at present times. Events such as US-China trade tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic severely affect numerous container ports at various levels. Strategies pursued by container ports are key to port development and management amidst these challenges. Drawing on configuration theory, this research employs Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to investigate the relation between port strategies and container throughput. The research contributes to the literature by proposing an approach to account for complexity of the port sector and offers insights into strategies adopted by major container ports. The research further identifies 10 port strategies and proposed indicators that can represent the essence of these strategies. Being able to represent strategies in a quantitative format is important for strategy analysis and performance evaluation. Results reveal that major container ports employ a combination of strategies which address both the supply and demand-side aspects of the port business. Growing digitalization and digitization coupled with advancements in information capture, diagnostics capabilities and predictive abilities means a greater role for data analytics to influence container port strategy and performance. Implications for port managers, policy makers and researchers from the perspective of port policy and management are proposed.

Optimal selection of cruise ship waste disposal ports

As cruise ships call at many ports and passengers come from all over the world, it is very easy to carry viruses on cruise ships. Under the control of the epidemic situation on board, the solid waste generated by them should be scientifically treated to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 pneumonia. Therefore, Reasonable selection of waste disposal ports and formulation of unloading plans are directly related to the resumption of cruise operations. This study considers the cost and risk of waste disposal, uses robust optimization to deal with waste volume, increases the scenarios of port service interruption due to epidemics and other reasons, and proposes a variety of emergency strategies. Finally, the relevant strategies are selected according to the decision-maker's preference for cost and risk;By solving the relevant examples, the optimal choice of the cruise ship waste disposal port under the epidemic situation is given, which verifies the validity and feasibility of the model. The research helps to improve the management of cruise waste during the post-epidemic period, and has practical value and guiding significance for the normal operation and development of the global cruise market. © 2023 SPIE.

Managing disruptions in the maritime industry – a systematic literature review

PurposeThis paper presents a systematic review of the literature in the domain of maritime disruption management, upon which future research framework and agenda are proposed. Two review questions, i.e. the measures that are employed to manage disruptions and how these contribute to resilience performance, were pursued.Design/methodology/approachThe systematic literature review procedure was strictly followed, including identification and planning, execution, selection and synthesis and analysis. A review protocol was developed, including scope, databases and criteria guiding the review. Following this, 47 articles were eventually extracted for the systematic review to identify themes for not only addressing the review questions but also highlighting future research opportunities.FindingsIt was found that earlier studies mainly focused on measures, which are designed using mathematical models, management frameworks and other technical support systems, to analyse and evaluate risks, and their impacts on maritime players at the levels of organisation, transport system and region in which the organisation is embedded. There is, however, a lack of research that empirically examines how these measures would contribute to enhancing the resilience performance of maritime firms and their organisational performance as a whole. Subsequently, a Digitally Embedded and Technically Support Maritime Disruption Management (DEST-MDM) model is proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThis review is constrained by studies recorded by the Web of Science only. Nevertheless, the proposed research model would expectedly contribute to enhancing knowledge building in the specific domain of maritime disruption management and supply chain management overall while providing meaningful managerial implications to policymakers and managers in the maritime industry.Originality/valueThis research is perhaps one of the first studies which presents a systematic review of literature in maritime disruption management and proposes a future research framework that establishes the link between disruption management and resilience and organisational performance for empirical validation.

Editorial: Post-COVID-19 global trade and business environment and maritime supply chain

Since January 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread impacts on virtually every sector of the global economy, including world trade and global supply chains. [...]it has been argued that the existing globalised economies might require to be restructured in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic when governments and firms start to re-strategize their critical supply chains through various disruption and resilience management strategies. [...]other shipping intermediaries, i.e. freight forwarders and logistics service providers, who play crucial roles in connecting demand and supply of maritime supply chains also suffered due to reduced business transactions. [...]the focus of this special issue is on understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various players in the maritime supply chain, as well as possible trends of global trade and maritime supply chains and strategies and policies in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Revisiting the marketing approach between seaports and dry ports in Malaysia: current trend and strategy for improvement

Purpose This paper aims to explore the comparative analysis of marketing strategies between seaports and dry ports. Second, this paper proposes a recommendation to improve marketing approaches in both nodes.Design/methodology/approach This research analyzes current marketing approaches to improve the freight volume and enhance interrelation between them for a comprehensive collaboration in the freight supply chain. This research employed semi-structured interviews via an e-interview questionnaire.Findings The result shows that dry port and seaport practice a mixed marketing strategy. Some marketing elements that a seaport applies are also applied by a dry port, like focusing on the target customer, joining exhibitions and face-to-face meetings. Customized service to clients, frequent discussion on the effective marketing plans and increasing the facilities at the seaport and dry ports can improve the marketing strategies in dry port and seaports.Originality/value Seaports are the critical components in esteem-driven context, which add to supply chains by creating value-added services in the transport chain. Nonetheless, research between dry ports and seaports has increasingly drawn the attention of scholars during the last decade. Having said like that, there have not been any pragmatic studies undertaken in the Malaysian context that mainly discusses the marketing prospect of the dry ports and seaports especially during COVID-19 outbreak.

Investigation of Risk Factors Influencing the Safety of Maritime Containers Supply Chain: In the Period of the Pandemic

Maritime security is facing many challenges due to war conflicts, geopolitics, sanctions, and pandemics. The supply chain for maritime containers has faced considerable obstacles as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous factors, such as port closures, travel restrictions, and a decreased workforce, have impacted the supply chain. The risk of cargo theft, piracy, and other security events has increased as a result of these difficulties. Therefore, it is essential to look at the risk variables that may affect the security of the marine container supply chain during the pandemic. This research paper highlights those risks through the following three indexes: the likelihood index (LI), severity index (SI), and average risk index (ARI) by analyzing 64 risk factors that were prepared and designed by incorporating the Delphi expert survey technique to prepare a systematic questionnaire. The article addresses worries over the COVID-19 pandemic's effects on international supply networks. The causes of the most recent global shipping industry disruptions and their impact on supply chains have been thoroughly examined. In order to reduce the number of disruptions in global supply chains and lower the direct and indirect costs for consumers, the authors have also mentioned the necessary actions that must be implemented. The results concluded after the analysis pointed to "management activities,” such as human resources or the working environment as having the highest possibility of going wrong, whereas "operation activities” were judged to likely be the fatal ones if the security of maritime containers was ever compromised. The main objective of the study is to evaluate how the COVID-19 epidemic may affect international shipping, particularly container shipping, which is currently the most important link in the world's multimodal land–sea supply chains.

Exploring the Impact of Covid 19 on the Maritime Transport Sector

In the maritime industry, The unanticipated COVID-19 viral epidemic is an unforeseeable circumstance, and other nations implemented enormous containment measures to stop the Coronavirus epidemic from spreading around the world. Thus, directly affecting the maritime shipping sector. This paper will discuss the current problems facing the shipping industry, taking into account the congestion problems, delays, and uncertainty timeframes, using the Los Angeles port as a case study. These problems and more were addressed directly by increasing the operating hours, workload, and available staff, and indirectly by looking for alternatives for shipping goods, and creating more cargo space, furthermore, this study will use Monte Carlo simulation to predict the effectiveness of these solutions on the congestion at the port.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being of the stranded seafarers

PurposeThis study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the well-being and mental health of the seafarers who had to overstay on ships after their contracts expired, identifies topics that affect their mental distress and recommends measures to overcome these.Design/methodology/approachFour research questions about the impacts on the seafarers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were raised. A literature review and a questionnaire survey were conducted to find answers. Ship officers were asked to assess and fill in the questionnaires for the stranded seafarers onboard in order to collect sufficient samples rapidly for this study.FindingsDespite the guidelines provided by the shipping companies being adequate to protect the seafarers from COVID-19, their mental distress levels have been worsened under the pandemic. The crew change crisis causes anxiety and negatively impacts on their working performance;however, the repatriation expectation of the stranded seafarers is of the highest concern. Three topics were identified as having impacts on the mental health of the stranded seafarers: crew change crisis, low vaccination rate and the lack of key worker recognition. While international stakeholders are advocating for support in these issues, the shipping companies and the seafarers need to do their parts to exacerbate the mental distress, and to survive and thrive beyond the pandemic.Originality/valueThe findings of this study will help the shipping companies to navigate the challenges and the seafarers to overcome issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Financial investments of the dominant cruise companies as a component of the global economic recovery and eventual growth during COVID-19 crisis era

One of the most important sectors of tourism globally is cruise tourism, as is giving a leisure experience to cruisers who are traveling across different destinations. It is also one of the most growing sectors in the tourism industry as is becoming increasingly popular. In this review study, conducted employing thematic analysis and thematic synthesis, the authors aim to approach the COVID-19 crisis era financial investments of dominant cruise companies as a component of global economic growth. Nowadays, the cruise industry operates big cruise ships as is contrary to the cruise industry back in 1960s. This study finds that the biggest cruise companies line up investment plans to renew their cruise fleet with larger, more modern, and environmentally friendly ships, borrowing from favorable financing sources. In other words, the companies are trying to introduce specific strategies to maintain their business growth, by investing in building new vessels with the target of expanding their current fleet with cruise ships with better capacity.

Effects of COVID-19 on passenger shipping activities and emissions: empirical analysis of passenger ships in Danish waters

This paper focuses on the analysis of the COVID-19 effects on passenger shipping in Danish waters as an example and aims to analyse the differences in passenger vessel activities and emissions before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Two sets of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data for the passenger ships sailing in Danish waters associated with the whole year respectively for 2020 and 2019 are used for a comprehensive evaluation of the passenger shipping activities in the region by means of the analysis of variance and bottom-up emission models. A comparison of those results based on the two datasets shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has a major impact on cruise ships, with a significant reduction in the number of ships, average speed, and average draught. In contrast, the pandemic has a smaller impact on ferry-pax only and ferry-ro pax vessels. The effects can also be seen from the fact that, after the COVID-19 outbreak, SOx emissions from cruise ships, ferry-pax only and ferry-ro pax vessels were reduced by 50.71%, 0.51% and 0.82%, respectively. This investigation provides an important reference for policy makers in the marine environment sector.

The Two Emergencies of Migrant-Related Policies in Italy During the First Wave of COVID-19: the Spread of the Virus and the Workforce Shortages.

Italy was the first European country touched by COVID-19 and one of the most severely affected, with a death toll that overtook China's by mid-March 2020. As a result, lockdown measures aiming to mitigate - and eventually interrupt - the spread of COVID-19 proliferated during the first wave of the pandemic. The vast majority of these concerned the resident population, regardless of their status or country of origin, and mainly involved the closure of public offices and proscription of private activities with the aim of reducing mobility and social and physical contacts. Only a few concerned the foreign population and arriving irregular migrants. This article analyses migrant-related policy measures taken by the Italian government during the first wave of the pandemic that aimed to prevent infection and reduce the impact of COVID-19 among the population. These measures addressed two emergencies: the spread of COVID-19 that hit the resident population hard, regardless of origin or nationality, and the workforce shortages in some key economic sectors with a high number of irregular migrant workers. The former aimed at containing the spread of the virus (sections 4 and 5) and targeted foreigners already residing in Italy as well as irregular migrants arriving along the Mediterranean route; the latter aimed at addressing workforce shortages (section 6) as a result of borders that were closed to external seasonal migration. This article is a contribution to the debate on changes to migration and migrant policy, and how these impacted on migration and foreign populations during the pandemic.

The impact of security oversight on air cargo price and demand

This paper examines the effect of security oversight on air cargo price and demand. We exploit variations in security oversight instituted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). We estimate a simultaneous equation model using proprietary operations data from a major airline in South Korea over the period 2009–2013. This study explores the shipping-charge behavior of a service provider through a modeling approach that considers air cargo security. Our findings show that security oversight increases air cargo demand, controlling for the effect of price. Improving security measures increases the air cargo price, but the magnitude of this increase is small. Our results should help policymakers gauge the benefit of improved security and help airlines design an effective model to determine future air cargo shipping charges under high uncertainty to mitigate short- and long-term financial risks.

Cost Advantages of Far East/Europe Trunk Route Deployment with Port Selection in East Asia

To cater to the gradually increasing sizes of ships, several traditional container ports in East Asia built deep-water wharves to attract shipping carriers to berth, a decision that is considered highly reasonable because it allows for shipping carriers to gain a cost advantage. For traditional Far East/Europe (F/E) trunk routes, shipping carriers must deploy vessels that are large enough at hub ports to maintain low transshipment costs. However, for a port to attract shipping carriers, it should be able to first meet the cargo demand of these carriers. The port would also need to improve the loading ratio to enjoy the cost advantage. Simultaneously, the port should leverage the loading and unloading efficiency of the terminal to gain a competitive advantage. Although the port congestion observed at the F/E trunk during COVID-19 was not as serious as that in North American ports, it was sufficient to affect the route deployment and port selection decisions of shipping carriers. Currently, because the size of container carriers is the most critical factor in the reduction of shipping costs, as demonstrated in this study, the upsizing trend of container ships is regarded as a highly relevant aspect in the deployment of trunk routes and the selection of hub ports. © 2023 National Taiwan Ocean University.

Impact of Disruption on Ship Emissions in Port: Case of Pandemic in Long Beach

To achieve environmental sustainability on ships, stakeholders should make efforts to reduce emissions. Port authorities are crucial to attain this goal by introducing new policies. This study takes the Port of Long Beach as an example to assess port-wide ship emissions and explain the significance of shore power policy. Additionally, the study considers the impact of disruptions, such as the COVID pandemic, on ship emissions. The analysis compares data from three years before and after the pandemic to examine the relationship between ship waiting times, quantities, and emissions. The findings indicate that the majority of port-wide ship emissions are generated by berthing or anchoring vessels, from ship auxiliary engines and boilers. Furthermore, ship congestion due to reduced port productivity during the pandemic significantly increased emissions from berthing and anchoring vessels, with the emission proportion increasing from 68% to 86%. Adopting the shore power policy has effectively reduced ship emissions in port areas, and increasing the number of ships utilising shore power will be instrumental in tackling excessive ship emissions.

Severe pneumonia due to legionella and SARS-CoV-2 co-infection necessitating medical evacuation from a cargo ship.

Cargo ships are at risk of disease outbreaks like Legionella and SARS-CoV-2 due to their cramped and shared conditions. A case of medical evacuation due to co-infection of Legionella pneumophila with SARS-CoV-2 highlights the need for international infection control guidelines, information networks, and molecular epidemiological approaches for identifying infection routes.

Vessel traffic influences distribution of Aotearoa New Zealand's endemic dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori)

Cetacean tourism and vessel traffic have grown considerably around the world in recent decades. At Akaroa Harbor, Aotearoa New Zealand, recreational vessel traffic, dolphin tourism, and cruise ship presence increased substantially between 2008 and 2020. We examined the relationship between vessel traffic parameters and the presence of Hector's dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori) during the austral summer 2019–2020, using automated vessel tracking and autonomous passive acoustic monitoring. Data were collected between December 2019 and May 2020, including the entirety of the first COVID‐19 nationwide lockdown. Generalized additive models revealed that increasing levels of motor vessel traffic, the presence of cruise ships, and high levels of dolphin tour vessel traffic resulted in decreases in acoustic detections of dolphins. Our findings suggest that Hector's dolphins at Akaroa Harbor were displaced from core habitat in response to each of these vessel traffic parameters. We recommend that managers use immediately actionable tools to reduce the impacts of vessels on these dolphins.

Resilience Regulation Strategy for Container Port Supply Chain under Disruptive Events

There are many inevitable disruptive events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and geopolitical conflicts, during the operation of the container port supply chain (CPSC). These events bring ship delays, port congestion and turnover inefficiency. In order to enhance the resilience of the CPSC, a modified two-stage CPSC system containing a container pretreatment system (CPS) and a container handling system (CHS) is built. A two-dimensional resilience index is designed to measure its affordability and recovery. An adaptive fuzzy double-feedback adjustment (AFDA) strategy is proposed to mitigate the disruptive effects and regulate its dynamicity. The AFDA strategy consists of the first-level fuzzy logic control system and the second-level adaptive fuzzy adjustment system. Simulations show the AFDA strategy outperforms the original system, PID, and two pipelines for improved dynamic response and augmented resilience. This study effectively supports the operations manager in determining the proper control policies and resilience management with respect to indeterminate container waiting delay and allocation delay due to disruptive effects.

Update on Risk Criteria for Crude Oil Tanker Fleet

In recent years, the maritime trade of crude oil has suffered notable perturbations caused by the unbalanced relationship between supply and demand. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a drop in oil consumption in 2019, followed by a reduction in production in 2020. The seaborne transport of oil accounts for approximately 50–60% of all crude oil in world production. The crude oil market is a crucial regulator of the global economy and instabilities in this market have noticeable effects on collective risks. The immediate risks that the society see are the changes in the cost of living, which are followed by political uncertainties. Less visible are the risks that these uncertainties have on shipping companies and the level of management stability they have to maintain in order to keep seagoing safe. This paper presents an update on the overall state of risk management for the crude oil tanker fleet, evidenced by EMSA and other international marine organisations. The previous paper, entitled Safety Assessment of Crude Oil Tankers, which applied the methodology of the Formal Safety Assessment (FSA), was published in 2018 and covered the historical data related to the fleet size, accident reports, amount of oil spilled on sea and the economic value of the crude oil transport business. The particular focus of this paper is on the evolution of the risk acceptance criteria over the years and the difference in the predictions from 2018 to the present day. The effects of the pandemic on crude oil shipping are discussed through the changes in the risks. Three of them are analysed: PLL (potential loss of lives), PLC (potential loss of containment) and PLP (potential loss of property). The representation of the risk applies the F-N curves among the risk acceptance criteria lines observed for different tanker sizes. Among the three risks, the paper exposes the vulnerability of the loss of containment risk, where the strong economic impact of the oil trade outweighs the environmental concerns. In relation to the PLC, the paper proposes the approach of relating the oil spill acceptability with the spill quantity and ship revenue instead of to the cost of cleaning or the cost of environment recovery.

Building social capital in cruise travel via social network sites

The purpose of this study is to investigate what type of Facebook posts help cruise lines build bridging and bonding social capital. The study applies the Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) method to identify which types of posts establish bridging and bonding social capital. The analysis is conducted on an international cruise line's official Facebook posts posted between 1 January 2018 and 1 January 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic. The results highlight that media type, embedding passenger motivation, and a ship image help establish both bridging and bonding social capital, while content type helps establish bridging social capital. The paper is original because it helps understand how cruise lines can improve bonding and bridging social capital via social media. The paper also enhances understanding of social capital theory in the travel industry by investigating the relationship between Facebook post types and social capital in cruise shipping.