ABSTRACT
African aviation has witnessed steady growth pre-COVID and as result of increased demand for air travel, there is an urgent need to improve the air transport infrastructure. This chapter examines the underlining complexities and challenges that are undermining the African region's propensity to exploit its growth trajectory. The chapter explores multiple differences in regional airport infrastructure. Infrastructure is considered a key component of the investment climate, reducing costs of doing business and enabling people to access markets. In general, Africa, by every measure of infrastructure coverage, lags behind their peers in other parts of the developing world. Poor infrastructure of most African airports is seen as a principal reason why the region continues to struggle to fulfil its undoubtedly economic potential. These infrastructure problems can hardly be solved due to limited financial resources and will therefore consequently lead to retaining infrastructure problems. The chapter proposes a series of blueprint measures in order to galvanize Africa's growth potential within air transport development. This calls for speeding up privatization and allowing more private equity investments to support air infrastructure improvements. The most desired option to finance airport infrastructure would be the Public–Private Partnership (PP). However, on the local level, banks have relative weak capital coffers, which also limit access to infrastructure capital loans. Investors see some underlining risks in financing airport projects in Africa, namely uncertainty related to forecasts of passenger growth numbers. Other risks are embedded in currency markets, whereby most domestic airport infrastructure with project revenues is generated in local currencies, but servicing foreign debt and equity involves payment in foreign currency. The chapter finally examines the impact of COVID-19 on airport operations. From 2019 to 2021, airports were severely affected by the global pandemic causing massive loss of revenues for both airport operators and airlines. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The article examines the current state and prospects for the development of transport and the transport system in Ukraine. The study of the state of development of transport and the transport system of Ukraine in recent years shows unstable dynamics, which is mainly related to the economic and geopolitical crisis in the country, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The level of transport service for the population of Ukraine is significantly inferior to the indicators of developed countries of the world. A necessary condition for effective development and overcoming the consequences of crisis phenomena in the transport industry, in particular those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, is the development and modernization of Ukraine's transport infrastructure in accordance with modern technological requirements. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Roads pose a major, and growing, challenge for the conservation of endangered species. However, very little is known about how endangered species behaviorally respond to roads and what that means for road mitigation strategies. We used the nation-wide lockdown in Nepal during the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment to investigate how dramatic reductions in traffic volume along the national highway affected movements of two GPS-collared tigers (Panthera tigris)-a globally endangered species. This work is the first systematic research on tigers in Nepal using radiotelemetry or GPS tracking data since the 1980s. We found that the highway more strongly constrained the space use and habitat selection of the male in Parsa National Park than the female in Bardia National Park. Over the entire study period, the female on average crossed 10 times more often per week than the male, and when he was near the highway, he was over 11 times more probable to not cross it than to cross during the day. However, we also found that the cessation of traffic during the pandemic lockdown relaxed tiger avoidance of roads and made the highway more permeable for both animals. They were 2-3 times more probable to cross the highway during the lockdown than before the lockdown. In the month following the lockdown, the space use area of the male tiger tripled in size (160-550 km2), whereas the female's shrunk to half its previous size (33-15 km2). These divergent patterns likely reflect differences between the two parks in their highway traffic volumes and regulations as well as ecological conditions. Our results provide clear evidence that vehicle traffic on major roads impede tiger movements, but also that tigers can respond quickly to reductions in human pressures. We conclude by identifying various actions to mitigate road impacts on tigers and other endangered species.
ABSTRACT
There are problems generated by urban mobility of the city of Portoviejo through the public transportation system, which focuses on the determination of infrastructure and public service signs. This situation leads us to reflect upon three major aspects of transportation in the city of Portoviejo, which are the focus points in this article, such as road infrastructure, service quality and the demands of urban social life with the possible effects that may be caused regarding the pandemic of COVID-19. This research aims to determine the levels of public service and the current state of the infrastructure regarding transportation in different areas. The interest to qualify and quantify these parameters is to encourage the use of urban public transport and to create the space accessibility this service requires. Based on the results obtained in the research, the use of public transport is determined as an optimal option that allows mobilization of people and goods.
ABSTRACT
Modern passenger ports and terminals (main transport hubs) require the development of new models and methods for effective work planning and accurate forecasting of infrastructure development today. Such key transport infrastructure point as development of sea passenger ports, their modernization, and changes in route cruise and ferry networks are especially relevant in conditions of passenger traffic recovery after gradual lifting of Covid-19 restrictions. In an effort to achieve pre-crisis levels of cruise ship and passenger traffic, it is necessary to incorporate stochastic processes into port management models. It is necessary to make an assessment not only based on the existing schedule of ship arrivals, but also to evaluate various options based on modeling with regard to probabilistic processes. In view of increase in size of cruise and ferry vessels, many ports face the task of modernization of berths. The Baltic Sea region was chosen as an object of research. The flow of cruise and ferry vessels of the sea passenger port "Passenger port St. Petersburg "Sea Facade"(St. Petersburg) was chosen as an object of research. As a result, of the research a new stochastic model was presented and the results were compared with known distribution laws. Based on the obtained data a reliable decision-making area on cruise lines intensity and the necessity of infrastructure modernization is defined. Then the obtained data are used for optimization experiments in the software environment AnyLogic for modeling the annual situation for the purpose of complex assessment of the seaport operation and making decisions on modernization of berths. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Sustainability of large transport infrastructure projects is directly linked with the working conditions and procedures in construction and maintenance. Furthermore, safety is one of the most crucial performance indicators for transport infrastructure operators, dealing with management priorities, policies and measures closely related to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). This issue is extremely important especially for public private partnerships (PPP), extensively adopted in transport sector in many regions, where detailed contacts and OHS provisions should be considered. By a systemic analysis, this research identifies the key management factors influence safety performance in the PPP/concession projects and the management comprehensives over those factors. The survey analysis framework for the evaluation of OHS management performance for large transport operators are breakdown, promoting the structure and the expected outcomes toward sustainable management of transport infrastructure. The application is the Greek motorways concessions projects that implemented in the last decade. The research outputs provide key messages to planners, managers, decision makers, and stakeholders over large transport infrastructure sustainable development, promoting OHS performance aspects should be taken into consideration in operation management contacts and highlighting the link between OHS, level of safety, and sustainability. The case study structure and outputs are valuable for comparisons with similar cases, provide the framework for using in other places and/or cases and stimulate the interest for further research.
ABSTRACT
The article analyzes problems arising in the development of enterprises in the economy of China, the experience of its pre-COVID development, and examples of usage of the «Smart town» system in the formation of logistics oping several variants of the transport-information cluster, namely, regional, resource, crowdsourcing, crowdlending and crowdfunding business models involving small and medium enterprises, a possibility of presenting the considered business models of transport-information cluster modifications as a system of multi-level and variously filled transport matrices justified. In addition, the authors consider quality characteristics of rail services with the example of state standards for quality in the rail service industry of the People’s Republic of China. An attempt is made to develop and propose for practical implementation a system of qualitative and quantitative criteria as the first stage in creating the service model based on consumer satisfaction and transport service quality assessment models aimed at increasing in the total volume of rail freight in China and the quality level of transport services provided for cargo owners. In order to improve the methodological approach to the process of improving the effectiveness of innovation forms in the transport industry, the article briefly reviewed the risks characteristic of the specified process, namely: the regulatory risk that regional authorities formally fit the process of creating innovation in clusters in the transport sector;Institutional risk of instability of the regulatory framework or inaccessibility of public services;The market risk of the fact that due to the low level of competition, the low marketing activity of counterparties, an innovative cluster development strategy in the transport industry will not be implemented. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
International trade is an important industry for the national economy of any country. Effective logistics chains are required to implement it. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the unwillingness of countries and international organizations to take coordinated measures to ensure the smooth movement of goods among countries and their efficient distribution. The lack of research on the transport of goods and their distribution, the operation of transport and the state of the supply chain in a pandemic explained by time constraints and insufficient information. The paper studies the trends in the development of international trade and international transport. The foreign experience in organizing freight transportation and their impact on international trade summarized. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the logistics of distribution of goods and measures to improve them assessed. An assessment was made of the efficiency of logistics and factors affecting the development of international trade and freight transport of the EAEU countries, since these countries are an important trade and logistics intermediary in international trade between Europe and Southeast Asia. According to the results of the study, ways to improve the efficiency of logistics proposed. Logistics factors affect economic growth in different ways in each country. Considering the role of transport and logistics and their contribution to the national economy, it is necessary to take into account the mutual influence of modes of transport on the country's economy, especially in the long term. We have identified a causal relationship between modes of transport, transport infrastructure and economic growth according to the Granger test, which allows us to different developed recommendations when developing short- and long-term transport policies. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the development of logistics and trade in the commodity distribution system in the regions of Kazakhstan using the DEA-analysis method made it possible to classify and rank macroregions, and large urban agglomerations depending on the conditions for the development of logistics systems, the state of transport infrastructure and wholesale trade, freight traffic, investments in logistics, geographical location of regions. The development strategy of these objects determined by the prospects for the development and functioning of logistics and their influence on the spatial location and the efficiency of the functioning of existing logistics distribution centers. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there has been increased reliance on new infrastructure projects to counter economic fallout and underpin employment security. Urban and inter-urban transportation projects, such as major road, rail and port facilities, are popular choices for national and state governments in Australia as they provide broad fiscal support across all sectors of the economy. The problem with stimulus is making sure that the quality of the new infrastructure provides collective utility to a community or region. Whether the benefits will be worthwhile and represent best use of resource inputs requires financial, social, ethical and environmental consequences to be evaluated in a comparable format. The aim in this paper is to analyse the Gold Coast Light Rail (GCLR) Stage 1&2 project using a method that is capable of merging tangible and intangible criteria using an ordinal ranking algorithm. While the GCLR case study is undertaken with the benefit of hindsight, normally these types of evaluations are performed in real time as a project progresses from initiation (design) to implementation (deliver) and influence (delight). The method adopted in this study represents a modern form of multi-criteria decision-making, which enables successful projects to be distinguished from unsuccessful ones using a time period from commencement until one full year of operation has occurred. The i3d3 model, developed by a team from Bond University, has the unique benefit of ranking projects from best to worst across an organisational portfolio, geographic region or industry sector. It also supports past project performance to inform new design through application of a continuous improvement process of recording lessons learned. The GCLR case study calculated 100% of the critical success factors in the model to be positive and produced an overall success ranking of 23 (on a scale of -100 to +100). This paper presents the approach taken to evaluate GCLR's level of success and the calculations that took place to reach this finding. This is the first time i3d3 has been used on an Australian project.