1、 1 外文翻译 Port-centric logistics Material Source:Emerald 期刊 Author:John Mangan Chandra Lalwani Brian Fynes 1. Ports and supply chains Ports and maritime transport have existed for some thousands of years and have developed in line with the evolution of international trade which has been inherent in sh
2、aping the modern world. Some 6 billion tonnes of freight moves by maritime transport each year and is estimated to comprise 45 per cent liquid bulks, 23 per cent dry bulks and 32 per cent general cargo. Total freight movements vary according to region, commodity and freight origin/destination. In th
3、e European Union (EU), for example, the ports sector handles more than 90 per cent of the unions trade with third countries and approximately 30 per cent of intra-EU trade, as well as over 200 million passengers every year. According to the World Bank (2001), there are more than 2,000 ports around t
4、he world, from single berth locations handling a few hundred tonnes a year to some of the worlds largest ports such as Shanghai, Singapore and Rotterdam, which individually handle multiples of this (in the case of Shanghai, for example, the 2005 estimate is 443 million metric tonnes American Associa
5、tion of Port Authorities, 2005). Ports and maritime transport thus play an important role today in global commerce. It is important to first define exactly what is meant by the term “port”. According to Stopford (1997),a port is “a geographical area where ships are brought alongside land to load and
6、 discharge cargo usually a sheltered deep water area such as a bay of river mouth”. Often ports comprise multiple terminals,a terminal being “a section of the port consisting of one or more berths devoted to a particular type of cargo handling” (Stopford, 1997). Ports handle various different catego
7、ries of freight. Maritime freight is typically classified as:liquid bulk (the most significant sub-category here is oil),dry bulk (such as coal and some agricultural products), unitised freight (which comprises both lift-on/lift-off containers, i.e. Lo-Lo and roll-on/roll-off units, i.e. Ro-Ro),and
8、other general freight.Some ports handle all categories of freight, while others focus on particular categories；different types of handling equipment at ports are usually required for these different categories of 2 freight. 2. Trends in maritime freight transport and shipping The increased emphasis
9、on the role and efficiency of ports needs to be viewed in the context of the considerable growth that has occurred in recent years in world trade in general and in maritime transport in particular. Today, many of the worlds economies are becoming increasingly interrelated as a result of increasing t
10、rade and the growing trend towards globalisation of production.Over the past half-century, most countries have seen an increase in exports as a share of GDP, with the vast bulk of these exports transported by sea.A number of trends affecting the maritime sector have been central to efficiency and pr
11、oductivity gains.These include better, faster and larger vessels, and improvements in cargo handling at ports. Globalisation of shipping and trade is resulting in increasing pressure on ports to reduce container terminal costs and improve operational efficiency. Mega shippers of freight are generall
12、y seeking single supplier contracts looking for carriers that can provide efficient and cost effective services. In turn, the carriers are seeking cost reductions and efficiency gains at the ports they utilise, with single sourcing across ports in terms of port terminal operations becoming more comm
13、on. In response to this and to the need for integration in international supply chains a number of GPOs have emerged who manage an increasing number of the worlds ports. This has been helped by port deregulation and changes in ownership in many countries. Notteboomand Winkelmans (2001) noted that in
14、ter-port competition has intensified, even among more distant ports, and point out that for example the competition between European ports situated in different port ranges has increased considerably in recent years. Such inter-port competition challenges the traditional assumption where each countr
15、y has to have its own port(s). Delays in new container port development in Britain for example have led some commentators to note thatBritain could “find itself in danger of becoming little more than an appendage to the major North European continental ports” (Asteris and Collins, 2007) (the implica
16、tion being that Britains international traffic would transit to and fromdeepsea routes via ports such asRotterdamandAntwerp). Of course, it should be added that ports can cooperate as well as compete! the example of the merger of the European ports of Copenhagen andMalmo being a case in point. Flemi
17、ng and Baird (1999) noted that there have beenmany recent remarks and written comments that the real future competition will not be between ports and individual transport 3 carriers per se, but between a handful of “total logistics chains”. Indeed, Goss (1990), drawing upon Verhoeff (1981), discusse
18、d five different forms of competition which ports are subject to, namely competition between whole ranges of ports or coastlines； competition between ports in different countries； competition between individual ports in the same country； competition between the operators or providers of facilities w
19、ithin the same port； and competition between different modes of transport. InAsia, asmajor ports inChina such as Shanghai and Shenzhen develop, neighbouring ports such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Busan in South Korea are feeling the effects of competition (Sang-Hun, 2006； Wright, 2007). Up to now,ma
20、ny ports in China struggled to keep up with growing traffic volumes. Now however as more capacity comes on stream, they are looking to attract other traffic, especially transshipment traffic, which passes through ports in neighbouring countries. These ports outside of China are pursuing a variety of
21、 strategies, such as developing tax free zones and developing facilities for value-adding activities within the port area, in order to retain their traffic from the onslaught of competition fromports inChina.HongKong port is anxious that burdensome cross-border trucking rules concerning traffic betw
22、een Hong Kong and mainland China be relaxed so that it can compete more effectively. Similarly, it is worried that its differential advantage in terms of the efficiency of customs clearance at Hong Kongwill be eradicated if Chinas customs services are made more efficient. 3. Ports and economic growt
23、h Increasingly, ports are recognised as key components in determining the overall competitiveness of national economies. Cullinane and Song (2002) point out that ports constitute a critical link in the supply chain and that their level of efficiency and performance influences, to a large extent, a c
24、ountrys competitiveness. Similarly, Sanchez et al. (2003) in the context of a number of Latin American countries, showed that port efficiency is a relevant determinant of a countrys competitiveness and interestingly they add that, unlike most other relevant variables, port efficiency can be influenc
25、ed by public policies. Bryan et al. (2006) provide a comprehensive review of the literature generally on ports and regional economic development and, taking the case of ABPs port activities in SouthWales, they quantify the economic significance of that set of ports activities on the region.These issues then have generated the drive today to improve port efficiency, lower cargo handling costs and integrate port services with other components of the global distribution network.
