Search Results (11)

Background: The Port of Santa Marta, located on Colombia’s northern Caribbean coast, plays a vital role in the country’s maritime trade, particularly in the export of agricultural and perishable goods. This raises the question: how competitive is Santa Marta’s container terminal compared to national and regional ports, and what strategic factors shape its performance within the Colombia and Latin American maritime logistics system? Methods: This study evaluates the port’s competitiveness by applying Porter’s Extended Diamond Model. A mixed-methods ap-proach was employed, combining structured surveys and interviews with port stakeholders and operational data analysis. A competitiveness matrix was developed and examined using standardized residuals and L1 regression to identify critical performance gaps and strengths. Results: The analysis reveals several competitive advantages, including the port’s strategic location, natural deep-water access, and advanced infrastructure for refrigerated cargo. It also benefits from skilled labour and proximity to global shipping routes, such as the Panama Canal. Nonetheless, challenges remain in storage capacity, limited road connectivity, and insufficient public investment in hinterland infrastructure. Conclusions: While the Port of Santa Marta shows strong maritime capabilities and spe-cialized services, addressing its land-side and institutional constraints is essential for positioning it as a resilient, competitive logistics hub in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Full article

Interorganizational risk management (IRM) in Canadian ports faces significant challenges due to the interconnected nature of operations and the interdependence of safety, security, environmental, organizational, and technological risks. Existing siloed risk management frameworks often fail to capture these dynamic interrelations, underscoring the need for a more integrated, systemic approach. This study introduces a Port Risk Control Structure (PRCS) designed specifically for Canadian Port Authorities (CPAs), based on the Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP). The PRCS maps control actions, feedback loops, and stakeholder roles across international, national, and local levels to better reflect the layered nature of port governance. The model aims to clarify the roles of key actors, such as the International Maritime Organization, Transport Canada, and local port stakeholders, and is designed to facilitate more structured risk identification, communication, and coordination across organizational levels. Although the model has not yet been empirically validated, its design suggests strong potential for scalability and adaptability across diverse port contexts. This research contributes to IRM literature by illustrating how STAMP principles can be operationalized within port systems. Future research will focus on integrating a taxonomy of IRM challenges to refine control structures and feedback mechanisms in response to evolving risks. Full article

The development of marine new quality productive forces and the enhancement of marine economic resilience are critical strategies for cultivating new drivers and advantages for high-quality and sustainable development in the marine sector. In order to deeply explore the relationship between these two constructs, this study selected panel data from 11 coastal provinces from 2007 to 2021 to construct an indicator system for MNQPFs and marine economic resilience, conducted scientific calculations and analysis, and, finally, used a two-way fixed effect model for empirical analysis and the instrumental variable method for robustness testing. The key findings are as follows: (1) The level of marine new quality productive forces (MNQPFs) in coastal areas demonstrates considerable spatial variability. The spatial distribution of MNQPF levels in the Bohai Sea and South China Sea regions is similar, whereas the levels in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea region demonstrate better balance. (2) A regional analysis of marine economic resilience indicates that the Bohai Sea region demonstrates a weak development trend and the South China Sea region demonstrates an unbalanced development trend, while the Yellow Sea and East China Sea region demonstrates a favorable development trend. (3) MNQPFs significantly improve marine economic resilience, including both its resistance and evolution abilities; the positive impact of marine new quality productive forces on the marine economic resilience’s recovery ability exhibits a time lag effect. (4) Heterogeneous results demonstrate that the positive impact of MNQPFs on marine economic resilience varies according to the level of marine economic development in different coastal areas, with a more significant promoting effect in less developed areas. Therefore, adaptively accelerating the development of marine new quality productive forces according to local conditions by effectively utilizing the unique resource endowments of each coastal area is essential for continuously strengthening marine economic resilience. This study can enrich research in the field of marine economics and provide references for marine economic development in coastal areas. Full article

As strategies to build a strong maritime nation are widely implemented, the importance of island ports has been increasingly highlighted, and their fire safety issues are also receiving more attention. However, at present, research on the construction of fire protection systems has mostly been focused on the interior of cities, and less research has been carried out on the linear firefighting needs of island ports. In particular, island ports are characterized by firefighting characteristics such as inconsistent mission objectives and coordinated ship-to-shore rescues, when compared to cities. In this study, a model for the siting of harbor fire stations on a cluster of distant, isolated islands is proposed, considering the costs associated with building, maintaining, and rescuing fire stations on the basis of coverage. At the same time, the loss costs associated with the response time are considered to construct an arc segment demand siting model under ship–shore synergy conditions with the objective of minimizing the total cost. The Sea Island Group is taken as an example for the analysis of the constructed site selection model. The firefighting needs and ship–shore cooperative firefighting and rescue scenarios for eight islands in the island group are the main considerations, and the model is solved using a genetic algorithm. It is concluded that the establishment of five island harbor fire stations in the Sea Island Group can balance the cost of rescue with the cost of construction. Thus, the benefits of island fire stations can be improved, satisfying coverage rates while minimizing the associated costs. Full article

Climate and land-use changes have been contributing to the increase in the occurrence of extreme wildfires, shifting fire regimes and driving desertification, particularly in Mediterranean-climate regions. However, few studies have researched the influence of land use/cover on fire regimes and carbon storage at the broad national scale. To address this gap, we used spatially explicit data from annual burned areas in mainland Portugal to build a typology of fire regimes based on the accumulated burned area and its temporal concentration (Gini Index) between 1984 and 2019. This typology was then combined with carbon stock data and different landscapes to explore relationships between landscape types and two important ecosystem services: wildfire reduction and carbon stock. Multivariate analyses were performed on these data and the results revealed a strong relationship between landscapes dominated by maritime pine and eucalypt plantations and highly hazardous fire regimes, which in turn hold the highest carbon stocks. Shrubland and mixed landscapes were associated with low carbon stocks and less hazardous fire regimes. Specialized agricultural landscapes, as well as mixed native forests and mixed agroforestry landscapes, were the least associated with wildfires. In the case of agricultural landscapes, however, this good wildfire performance is achieved at the cost of the poorest carbon stock, whereas native forests and agroforestry landscapes strike the best trade-off between carbon stock and fire regime. Our findings support how nature-based solutions promoting wildfire mitigation and carbon stock ecosystem services may prevent and revert land degradation harming Mediterranean regions. Full article

This article analyses archaeological evidence for jenever (spelled genever in English) in the Dutch Republic during the Age of Sail (1550–1850). Although excessive alcohol consumption among mariners is a stereotype, there has been surprisingly little critical scholarly work on the subject. Genever was used on ships for medicinal purposes during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but no thorough analysis of alcohol consumption broadly in a Dutch (VOC, WIC, Admiralty) maritime context has been done to date. Since the Dutch stored genever in a distinctive bottle, the archaeological record is helpful to examine Dutch ship’s genever consumption. This article theorises that material evidence of genever for personal consumption and as a commodity for export can be used to aid in identifying a shipwreck’s nationality, and that hypothesis is tested through analysis of a sample of European wrecks excavated along the global shipping routes of Dutch commercial and naval sailing vessels. There is a strong correlation between the presence of both case bottles (kelderflessen) and, later in the period, stoneware bottles (jeneverkruiken) with Dutch shipwrecks or maritime archaeology sites and this is strongly suggested to consider for archaeologists faced with a shipwreck of unknown origin. Full article

Environmental organizations have alerted that rapid weather phenomena have intensified in recent years, such as floods, hurricanes, whirlwinds, droughts, fires and storms, caused by the deteriorating condition of the natural environment. Carbon emissions, which are the main cause of the deteriorating environment condition and dramatic climate change, are largely caused by the use of heavy fuel by shipping companies and generate large quantities of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. These compounds exert a strong negative impact on the environment and human health. Care for improving the marine environment and coastal areas has become the subject of interest of many international institutions, such as the International Maritime Organization, Organization of United Nations, European Sea Port Organization, European Commission and others, which introduce restrictive regulations and guidelines on the level of permissible harmful emissions into the environment as a result of ship operations in ports and at sea. In addition, they propose to monitor the level of pollution through the use of indicators, such as the Energy Efficient Design Index (EEDI), Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) and Environmental Ship Index (ESI), among others. The aim of this paper is to assess the Northern Europe seaports’ commitment to monitor the level of pollutants emitted by cruise ships in their ports. This article may constitute a subject of interest for seaport authorities and cruise ship operators. Full article

China is a major maritime country with numerous islands, which are rich in natural resources. Island resources exhibit excellent development potential; in this regard, the market demand for uninhabited island development has been strong. The scientific and reasonable utilization of the resources of uninhabited islands can create huge economic value for the region and the country, inject vitality into the national economy, and enhance the stability of the overall sustainable development of the national economy. However, previous research on islands focused on a limited area of economy or ecology, and few studies provide a comprehensive evaluation of uninhabited island development. Such development requires enormous investment and has a profound impact. Therefore, a comprehensive and scientific evaluation system is necessary for uninhabited island development planning. This paper accordingly develops an island planning and evaluation indicator system based on multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), and entropy analysis method, and the approach of Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). A validation analysis was conducted to prove the effectiveness of the evaluation system. The evaluation system comprehensively considers both economic and ecological factors, which makes up for the one-sidedness of the previous evaluation focusing on economy or ecology, and effectively ensures the sustainable development of island development. In this regard, the evaluation system can provide important guidance for the government’s island planning management and the investment decision-making of enterprises. This system can also provide new ideas for the sustainable development of islands. Full article

Accurate information on port shipping activities is critical for monitoring global and local traffic flows and assessing the state of development of the maritime industry. Such information is necessary for managers and analysts to make strategic decisions and monitor the maritime industry in achieving management goals. In this study, we used monthly night light (NTL) images of the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band, between 2012 and 2020, to study the night lights emitted by ships in ports’ anchorage areas, as an indicator for shipping activity in anchorage areas and ports. Using a dataset covering 601 anchorage areas from 97 countries, we found a strong correspondence between NTL data and shipping metrics at the country level (n = 97), such as container port throughput (R_s = 0.84, p < 0.01) and maximum cargo carried by ships (R_s = 0.66, p < 0.01), as well as a strong correlation between the number of anchorage points and the NTL values in anchorage areas across the world (R_s = 0.69, p < 0.01; n = 601). The high correspondence levels of the VIIRS NTL data with various shipping indicators show the potential of using NTL data to analyze the spatio-temporal dynamic changes of the shipping activity in anchorage areas, providing convenient open access and a normalized assessment method for shipping industry parameters that are often lacking. Full article

Beginning in 2003, the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) enabled an open-access network of distributed sensors and linked computer models through the SURA Coastal Ocean Observing and Predicting (SCOOP) program. The goal was to support collaborations among universities, government, and industry to advance integrated observation and modeling systems. SCOOP improved the path to operational real-time data-guided predictions and forecasts of coastal ocean processes. This was critical to the maritime infrastructure of the U.S. and to the well-being of coastal communities. SCOOP integrated and expanded observations from the Gulf of Mexico, the South Atlantic Bight, the Middle Atlantic Bight, and the Chesapeake Bay. From these successes, a Coastal and Ocean Modeling Testbed (COMT) evolved with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funding via the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) to facilitate the transition of key models from research to operations. Since 2010, COMT has been a conduit between the research community and the federal government for sharing and improving models and software tools. SCOOP and COMT have been based on strong partnerships among universities and U.S. agencies that have missions in ocean and coastal environmental prediction. During SURA’s COMT project, which ended September 2018, significant progress was made in evaluating the performance of models that are progressively becoming operational. COMT successes are ongoing. Full article

Background: Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common indolent lymphoma and the 2nd most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for 10%–20% of all lymphomas in the Western world. Epidemiologic and geographic trends of FL in Canada have not been investigated. Our study’s objective was to analyze incidence and mortality rates and the geographic distribution of FL patients in Canada for 1992–2010. Methods: Demographic and geographic patient data for FL cases were obtained using the Canadian Cancer Registry, the Registre québécois du cancer, and the Canadian Vital Statistics database. Incidence and mortality rates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated per year and per geographic area. Rates were plotted using linear regression models to assess trends over time. Overall data were mapped using Microsoft Excel mapping software (Redmond, WA, U.S.A.) to identify case clusters across Canada. Results: Approximately 22,625 patients were diagnosed with FL during 1992–2010. The age-standardized incidence rate of this malignancy in Canada was 38.3 cases per million individuals per year. Geographic analysis demonstrated that a number of Maritime provinces and Manitoba had the highest incidence rates, and that the provinces of Nova Scotia and Quebec had the highest mortality rates in the nation. Regional data demonstrated clustering of FL within cities or regions with high herbicide use, primary mining, and a strong manufacturing presence. Conclusions: Our study provides a comprehensive overview of the FL burden and its geographic distribution in Canada. Regional clustering of this disease in concentrated industrial zones strongly suggests that multiple environmental factors might play a crucial role in the development of this lymphoma. Full article