Search Results (53)

Halifax Harbour, a major seaport in Nova Scotia that is approximately 100 km southeast of the Bay of Fundy, comprises a deep inner region called Bedford Basin, connected to the adjacent ocean by a shallow channel called The Narrows. A study of sea level and currents reveals the presence of episodic oscillations in The Narrows, with a period of approximately 2 h. The oscillation strength varies from day to day and, to some extent, through the seasons. The median amplitude of the associated sea level variation is $18\%$ that of the de-tided signal, rising to $32\%$ at the 95-th percentile. Values this large may be of concern for the transit of deep-draft vessels through shallow parts of the harbour and for the clearance of tall vessels under the two bridges that span The Narrows. Another concerning issue is the matter of oscillations being superimposed on storm surges. In addition to such direct effects of sea level variation, shear associated with the oscillations may increase the turbulent mixing in the region, affecting the overall state of this estuarine system. We explore the nature of the oscillations as a first step towards the improvement of prediction schemes for sea level and currents in the region. This involves an analysis of the oscillations in the context of seiche and Helmholtz resonance theories and the use of a 2D numerical model to handle realistic bathymetric conditions and other complications that the simpler theories cannot address. We conclude that the predictions of Helmholtz resonance theory are in reasonable agreement with both the observations and the predictions of the numerical model. Full article

Maritime trade in Bangladesh is growing significantly, as observed by UNCTAD, which reported 3.20 mTEUs throughput in 2022. Additionally, the principal seaport, Chattogram Port, reported a port throughput of 3.27 mTEUs in 2024, the historical record for any port in Bangladesh. More than 50% of imports and exports, including empty containers, were handled in 2024 through 19 nos close dry ports in Chattogram City by applying small-scale intermodal systems, where the performance of pure intermodal from/to mid-range dry ports (3 Nos) to Chattogram Port is 2.53%. By 2030, the government wants all import and export operations to be conducted through dry ports. Furthermore, the current volume of international goods freight cannot be handled by the dry ports that are currently in place. This research applied mixed methods to explore the opportunities to set more dry ports and the application of intermodal systems for increasing the seaport’s efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness. The Focus Group Discussion (FGD) method was used to know the dry port location, investment, and policy in creating the opportunity to set up more dry ports in Bangladesh. In the findings, 82.50% of participants agreed that existing facilities are not enough and need to establish more dry ports to handle current and future volumes of containers. Moreover, the responses reveal a division of opinion on establishing a dry port outside of Chattogram, with a notable inclination towards opposition. According to 62% of respondents, dry ports outside Chattogram are necessary. To enhance intermodal connectivity and facilitate easier cargo transfers between ports and hinterland regions, integrated infrastructure development would be in line with national economic objectives. The research aims to investigate the possibilities for establishing additional dry ports across the country to boost seaport productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness by utilizing intermodal freight transportation systems to cut costs and time while also considering environmental factors like CO₂ emissions. Full article

The maritime transport industry contributes around 3% to worldwide CO₂ emissions, with 2023 emissions projected to be approximately 58 billion tons. Consequently, to attain decarbonization objectives, the implementation of effective reduction measures in maritime operations, especially at seaports as significant contributors, is essential. On the other hand, seaport operations are categorized into two main areas: land logistics, encompassing cargo handling, storage, customs processing, and inland transportation, and maritime logistics, which includes vessel traffic management, berth allocation, cargo loading and unloading, and fuel and maintenance services. While land logistics’ decarbonization has been extensively studied, maritime logistics operations, accounting for about 60% of port CO₂ emissions, remain underexplored. Their progress relies on regulations, cleaner fuels, and digital solutions; yet high costs and slow adoption pose significant challenges. As a result, this study employed PRISMA-ScR methodology to select relevant research resources and validate global reports from international organizations, enhancing transparency and providing practitioners and experts with a comprehensive analysis of seaport maritime emissions, as well as decarbonization initiatives. This study analyzes the future trajectory of the initiative based on current data, evaluating its potential benefits and systematically reviewing recent literature. It explores decarbonization strategies in maritime operations, emphasizing regulations, cleaner fuels, and digital solutions while highlighting challenges such as high costs and slow adoption. Key issues examined include maritime border delineation, infrastructure constraints, technological advancements, regulatory barriers, and the opportunities that decarbonized seaports offer to ports and their surrounding regions. Full article

Efficient logistics is a key factor in the competitiveness of seaports, especially in regions such as the Baltic Sea, where ports play important roles as hubs in the European Union’s Trans-European transport network (TEN-T). However, there are a lack of comprehensive studies focusing on the logistics efficiency of Baltic Sea ports, especially those integrating technical and technological factors. This study aimed to assess changes in the logistics efficiency of 15 major ports in the Baltic Sea region between 2019 and 2023, taking into account the technological and infrastructure-related elements that influence port performance. The model developed by the authors integrates the nearest neighbour method for cluster identification, data envelopment analysis using the Banker, Charnes, and Cooper (DEA-BCC) model to assess the overall technical, pure technical, and scale logistics efficiency, and spatial autocorrelation analysis to explore spatial interactions. For the DEA-BCC model, constraints were defined for each port based on inputs (number and length of berths) and outputs (cargo and container volumes for 2019–2023). The spatial autocorrelation analysis examined the relationships among the Baltic Sea ports, container volumes, and logistic efficiency values derived from the DEA model. Recognizing the sensitivity of the weight matrix in previous studies, this paper introduced an enhanced two-factor weighting matrix that incorporated geographical distance and the port connectivity index, calculated by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The statistical reliability of the results was validated using z-scores and p-values. The results showed that the overall technical efficiency of the ports analysed during the period considered was 47.2%, the pure technical efficiency was 61.0%, and the average scale efficiency was around 76%, indicating that diminishing returns to scale dominated. The spatial analysis showed a strong correlation between port connectivity and efficiency, indicating that well-connected ports, such as Gdańsk and Gdynia, had a higher efficiency. The findings make a significant contribution to the understanding of the logistics efficiency of Baltic Sea ports and highlights the importance of regional cooperation, infrastructure improvements, and better connectivity strategies to improve the overall efficiency of seaports in the region. Full article

Estimating origin-destination (OD) demand is integral to urban, regional, and national freight transportation planning and modeling systems. However, in developing countries, existing studies reveal significant inconsistencies between OD estimates for domestic and import/export commodities derived from interregional input-output (IO) tables and those from regional IO tables. These discrepancies create a significant challenge for properly forecasting the freight demand of regional/interregional multimodal transportation networks. To this end, this study proposes a novel integrated framework for estimating regional and international (import/export) OD freight flows for a set of key commodities that dominate long-distance transportation. The framework leverages multisource data and follows a three-step process. First, a spatial economic model, PECAS activity allocation, is developed to estimate freight OD demand within a specific region. Second, the international (import and export) freight OD is estimated from different zones to foreign countries, including major import and export nodes such as international seaports, using a gravity model with the zone-pair friction obtained from a multimodal transportation model. Third, the OD matrices are converted from monetary value to tonnage and assigned to the multimodal transportation super network using the incremental freight assignment method. The model is calibrated using traffic counts of the highways, railways, and port throughput data. The proposed framework is tested through a case study of the Province of Jiangxi, which is crucial for forecasting freight demand before the planning, design, and operation of the Ganyue Canal. The predictive analytics of the proposed framework demonstrated high validity, where the goodness-of-fit (R²) between the observed and estimated freight flows on specific links for each of the three transport modes was higher than 0.9. This indirectly confirms the efficacy of the model in predicting freight OD demands. The proposed framework is adaptable to other regions and aids practitioners in providing a comprehensive tool for informed decision-making in freight demand modeling. Full article

The high availability of solar energy in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) makes it the most attractive source of energy in this region, especially due to the global shift toward eco-friendly systems. A significant increase in the implementation of solar PV projects has been noticed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). For this reason, this study conducted a multi-criteria decision-making process to compare four locations for building a solar PV park in the UAE, namely, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain. Various criteria were taken into account, including the solar radiation, wind speed, distance from the electricity grid, distance from seaports, and land cost. A hybrid AHP-TOPSIS model was employed to evaluate the criteria weights and alternatives’ scores, which were also compared with the no priority-TOPSIS to check the effects of the criteria weights on the overall ranking. According to the findings, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were ranked first and second, with final scores of 0.7108 and 0.4427, respectively, when using the AHP-TOPSIS model. Furthermore, Umm Al Quwain scored slightly less than that of second place, with a value of 0.4252. The top two ranked alternatives were consistent between the two compared models, as Dubai also performed the best among all locations, which confirmed the reliability of the proposed approach and verified the obtained results and rankings. Full article

Maritime transport plays a pivotal role in the global economy, facilitating the majority of international trade and serving as a cornerstone for efficient and expansive logistics networks. The proliferation of economic globalisation has resulted in a significant upsurge in intercontinental transactions, thereby fostering the utilisation of ports and shipping enterprises as cost-effective and expeditious means of accessing a wide range of destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. The objective of this study is to evaluate the significance of five exogenous variables, namely, GDP per capita, water depth, commodity-type diversification, management model, and European directional division, in relation to the performance of seaports. Measuring the impact of exogenous variables in seaport performance is crucial for understanding how external factors influence efficiency, enabling informed decision-making, and facilitating the development of targeted policies for sustainable and effective port operations. This assessment will be conducted using robust benchmarking analysis methods, specifically the nonparametric order-α model. Several findings suggest that there is a negative relationship between GDP per capita and the performance of seaports when GDP per capita reaches very high levels. However, seaports located in regions with lower GDP per capita tend to exhibit superior performance. The inefficiency of southern seaports is evident, whereas seaports located in Central/Eastern Europe exhibit superior performance, irrespective of their model orientation. These findings underscore the importance of considering economic context and regional factors in understanding seaport performance and highlight potential areas for improvement in southern seaports. Full article

Green development is a primary path for ports and cities to achieve a low-carbon transition under the Sustainable Development Goals and a powerful driving force to elevate regional port–city relations to a high level of coordination. In this paper, twenty port cities in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) were selected and port environmental efficiency (PEE) was calculated through the window SBM model, while the EW-TOPSIS model was used to evaluate high-quality urban economic development (HED). The coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, the kernel density model, GIS spatial analysis, and the grey prediction model were used to further explore the spatial–temporal dynamic evolution and prediction of the CCD between PEE and HED. The results suggested that: (1) PEE fluctuation in the YRD is increasing, with a trend of seaports achieving higher PEE than river ports; (2) HED in the YRD shows upward trends, and the polarization of individual cities is obvious; (3) Temporally, the CCD in the YRD has risen from 0.438 to 0.518. Shanghai consistently maintains intermediate coordination, and Jiangsu has experienced the most significant increase in CCD. Spatially, CCD is led by Lianyungang, Suzhou, Shanghai, and Ningbo-Zhoushan, displaying a decreasing distribution pattern from east to west. The projection for 2026 suggests that all port cities within the YRD will have transitioned to a phase of orderly development. To enhance the coordination level in the YRD, policymakers should consider the YRD as a whole to position the ports functionally and manage them hierarchically, utilize the ports to break down resource boundaries to promote the synergistic division of labor among cities, and then tilt the resources towards Anhui. Full article

Seaports are perceived as multimodal hubs of the logistics supply chain where various transport modes intersect to exchange goods shipped by vessels. Increasing trade and capacity constraints are making this area a major contributor to GHG emissions. National and regional decision-makers perceive port sustainability as a concern while planning GHG mitigation projects. However, to plan and conduct successful GHG management programs, it is critical to first develop an appropriate assessment approach that fits well with the operating and geographical context of the given port. For heavy-duty trucking activities taking place within such ports, several models and methodologies for assessing GHG emissions are available, but their generalization is challenging for many reasons, notably because of the specific features of traffic within the port. Therefore, this paper presents an assessment model for heavy-duty trucking emissions within a non-containerized port based on an in-depth study of the traffic per port zone and on parameters drawn from several real data sources. The GHG model based on road traffic profiles by zone is implemented in a simulation model for emission evaluation and prediction. The output shows the pattern of GHG emissions by zone and provides an outlook on how decision-makers could achieve a GHG reduction plan. Full article

Ports are vital in the global trading system but are also vulnerable to climate-related threats. This problem has not been widely studied, especially in Egypt. However, there is an urgent need to address climate-related threats to Egyptian ports, which could have significant economic and trade-related consequences. Therefore, exploring the Egyptian port administrations’ and stakeholders’ perceptions regarding climatic hazards is an urgent and essential matter for sustainable and resilient ports, considering their strategic economic importance. Consequently, this article is the first to examine how the port authorities perceive and respond to climate hazards in one of the most important and largest commercial Egyptian ports; it also explores their adaptation strategies and plans, considering the national agenda to develop the coastal ports respecting the sustainable development pillars, and fills the gaps in regional and national studies on seaports and climatic hazards. The paper focuses on the Great Alexandria Port, which includes the Alexandria and El-Dekheila ports. A questionnaire is designed and distributed in different port sectors for gathering relevant data and conducting interviews, discussions, and workshops. The findings declare obvious concern about developing the Egyptian ports under the national projects umbrella. Also, the port authorities are aware of the risks of climate change and believe some adaptation measures are necessary and could be essential soon. They are taking steps to adapt their ports, considering a specific strategy that includes rehabilitating infrastructure (breakwater and berths), functional facilities, and services, improving drainage systems to enhance their port’s resilience, and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Our research findings suggest that there are opportunities for scientists to engage with the port stakeholders to proactively develop plans to alleviate climate change’s effects on their ports. Full article

Effective utilization of tugboats is the key to safe and efficient transport and service in ports. With the growth of maritime traffic, more and more large seaports show a trend toward becoming super-scale, and are divided into multiple specialized terminals. This paper focuses on the problem of large-scale tugboat scheduling. An optimization problem is formulated considering the cross-region constraints and uncertainties during tugboat operation. An improved genetic algorithm is proposed based on the reversal operation (GA-RE) to solve the formulated Tug-SP. A task-triggered strategy is designed for dynamic scheduling and dealing with uncertainties. Taking Zhoushan Port as a representation of multi-terminal seaports, simulation experiments are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Compared with historical scheduling data and the standard GA, the proposed method shows good performance in solving different scale instances (including a large-scale instance of 191 ships) in terms of solution quality and computational time. Full article

This paper is devoted to the negative impact of transport activities. Every type of transport comes with negative effects on the environment, people’s health, and people’s comfort of living. Strategic papers from the European Union’s (EU’s) acts of law on national, regional, and local political levels have found that water transport is the future. The authors hypothesize that the increase in the use of inland waterway transport over the coming decades will provide an opportunity to increase the capacity of transport; however, without appropriate regulations regarding emission standards, the use of outdated water transport units will not allow us to achieve positive environmental effects. The authors, therefore, indicate good practices related to the use of shipping in conjunction with the use of modern types of propulsion. The literature review method was used to verify current knowledge about the impacts of water transport as well as to find possible alternatives. Moreover, a survey was conducted among experts—decision-makers in logistics companies operating in Polish seaports. The condition of ships, especially those used on inland waterways, needs to be improved, mainly in the aspect of emissions. Furthermore, a strategy should be prepared to include inland shipping as an ordinary part of the logistics chain in Poland, which seems to be a necessary and expected action, though it will bring only partial environmental benefits. Full article

This article continues the investigation of my previous paper ‘Wan Ming Qing chu dongnan yanhai gangkou Fosi de biqiuni shenying’ 晚明清初東南沿海港口佛寺的比丘尼身影 (‘The Historic Image of the Bhikkhuni Who Lived at Buddhist Monasteries of Seaport Cities of Southeast China during the Late Ming and Early Qing Period’). While discussing the space of port city Buddhist monasteries and their urban environment, and how they aided or hindered the bhikkhuni monastic community, or individual bhikkhuni in their practice, life, and personal achievements, I also realized that a bhikkhuni’s family background and her connections with local gentry and eminent persons indeed contributed to the rise of her prestige. The publication and distribution of the recorded sayings of several women Chan monastics residing in the Buddhist monasteries of port cities during the late Ming and early Qing periods can be regarded as a commendable breakthrough in the Buddhist history of this period. To further clarify the resource structure that helped support these Chan bhikkhuni, including the multifaceted interplay between their blood ties, dharma connections, and regional connections, I aim here to particularly examine the backgrounds, dharma lineages, activity regions, and ultimate achievements of these women Chan monastics. I will consider how it is that these Chan bhikkhuni were able to use such resources to achieve the distinction of having their deeds recorded, while so many more of their fellow bhikkhuni have been forgotten. While in real life, there were a rather large number of bhikkhuni, only a few have been able to have their names passed down to posterity. Women have always faced greater challenges than men in having their voices known and receiving social recognition, and even for men, this has never been easy without a relevant support system—one’s own personal cultivation, the prestige of one’s family, the power of one’s dharma lineage, the strength of one’s personal connection, the disparity in the resources that one has access to in their urban or rural society, etc.; all these various factors affect one’s achievements and performance. Especially in Chan Buddhist texts, where women are greatly underrepresented, I aim to explore in this paper how a women Chan monastic could be included in the Chan historical record, have her recorded sayings published, and have a place in Buddhism or the dharma lineages of Chan. Full article

Aeolesthes sarta or Trirachys sarta is a polyphagous long-horned beetle that has caused severe damage to the Populus alba forests/plantations in its regions of origin. Climate change could accelerate the introduction and spread of invasive pest species, potentially causing ecological damage and economic losses. Furthermore, globalization and increased trade can inadvertently transport pests across borders into regions where they do not already occur. Hence, it is crucial to identify areas where the climate is most suitable for the establishment of A. sarta’s and which areas of the world are suitable for the growth of P. alba under climate change scenarios. This study employed the CLIMEX model to estimate the potential global distribution of A. sarta and its correlation with its dominant host, P. alba, under current climatic conditions and potential future scenarios, namely the A1B and A2 climate change scenarios (CCSs). Under current climatic conditions, the model indicates that the establishment of a climatically suitable habitat for A. sarta extends beyond its current known range. The model estimated that, under the world’s current climatic conditions, 41.06% of the world can provide suitable areas (EI > 0) for the survival of A. sarta. For P. alba, under the current climatic conditions, suitable regions for the growth of P. alba are present in all continents (excluding Antarctica); under the world’s current climatic conditions, 53.52% of the world can provide suitable areas for the growth of P. alba (EI > 0). Climate change will significantly alter the number of suitable habitats for A. sarta development and P. alba growth globally. In future climatic conditions, the number areas capable of supplying suitable habitats (EI > 0) for A. sarta will slightly decrease to 40.14% (under A1B and A2 CCSs), while, for P. alba, the number areas capable of supplying suitable habitats will also marginally decrease to 50.39% (under A1B scenario), and this figure is estimated to drop to 48.41% (under A2 scenario) by the end century (2100). Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania have a high percentage of highly suitable areas for A. sarta development and P. alba growth under current climatic conditions; however, according to estimates of future climatic conditions, by the end century, only Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania will have a high percentage of highly suitable areas for A. sarta development and P. alba growth. The range of highly suitable habitats is likely to increase in the northern hemisphere; however, this range is expected to shrink with regards to the southern hemisphere. The range contraction was higher under the A2 climate change scenario due to a higher warming trend than in the A1B scenario. Due to climate change, the range of A. sarta development shifted, as did the P. alba growth range, which, thanks to the suitable environmental conditions for the growth of P. alba, makes all those regions vulnerable to the introduction and development of A. sarta. Strict monitoring, prevention, and control measures at borders, airports, and seaports before the trade of P. alba and other suitable host species wood (logs/billets) are highly recommended to prevent the spread of A. sarta and ensure biodiversity security. It is expected that the A. sarta and P. alba climate models presented here will be useful for management purposes since both can be adapted to guide decisions about imparting resources to regions where the threat of pest invasion remains and away from regions where climate suitability is predicted to decrease in the future. Full article

Air pollution affects human health and is one of the main problems in the world, including in coastal cities with industrial seaports. In this sense, the city of Gijón (northern Spain) stands out as one of the 20 Spanish cities with the worst air quality. The study aims to identify outliers in air quality observations near the El Musel seaport, resulting from the emissions of six pollutants over an eight-year period (2014–2021). It compares methods based on the functional data analysis (FDA) approach and vector methods to determine the optimal approach for detecting outliers and supporting air quality control. Our approach involves analyzing air pollutant observations as a set of curves rather than vectors. Therefore, in the FDA approach, curves are constructed to provide the best fit to isolated data points, resulting in a collection of continuous functions. These functions capture the behavior of the data in a continuous domain. Two FDA approach methodologies were used here: the functional bagplot and the high-density region (HDR) boxplot. Finally, outlier detection using the FDA approach was found to be more powerful than the vector methods and the functional bagplot method detected more outliers than the HDR boxplot. Full article