Bringing together an international network of leading scholars, this multidisciplinary book unravels some of the most pressing challenges to shipping, ports, and logistics. Divided into five parts--shipping, the analysis of flows and networks, terminal operations and performance, logistics, and port development and governance--this record is an essential read for practitioners in the maritime and logistics world, postgraduate students, policy makers, and professional organizations. As market players expand and improve their services in line with increased requirements on rates, reliability, environmental footprint, and safety and security, this compendium encourages further systematic thinking.

In this book, the business of international freight forwarding is examined from both a theoretical and empirical point of view with a special emphasis on multimodal transport chains, including sea or air transport operations. In such contexts, the freight forwarder is always considered "The Architect of Transport", but this intermediary role seems to be largely neglected in research to date. Therefore, relevant concepts from economic theory and economic sociology are employed to produce both an intermediary and a network perspective of freight forwarding in order to provide a better understanding of this kind of transportation business. Furthermore, its intermediary role in such inherent network structures is explored by mapping relationship patterns in a stylized model framework applied to a questionnaire-based sample collected among freight forwarders engaged in such multimodal transport chains in Germany (especially from Hamburg, Bremen and Bremerhaven) as well as in Austria in 2003.

Efficient movement of freight within the United States and across its borders is a critical enabler of future U.S. economic growth. The authors provide an overview of the freight-transportation system and the problems it faces, concluding with a discussion of key system-modernization issues, including increasing capacity, making the system less vulnerable to disruption, addressing environmental concerns, and building support for funding.

This book is a collection of chapters on issues we face today in the world of supply chain management. While there are a number of college textbooks related to specific areas within logistics and supply chain issues, there are very few general supply chain management “trends” books. Contemporary Issues in Supply Chain Management and Logistics consists of seven dynamic, current and informative chapters that cover a variety of cutting-edge supply chain topics of use to both graduate students, and professionals working in the field. The book contains new, original research papers written by academics from the fields of engineering, transportation, marketing, and supply chain management and logistics.

On the basis of an analysis conducted in a freight forwarding company, Marta Anna Krajewska identifies two levels of improving logistics performance. First, she demonstrates that on the local level the automated operational transportation planning increases the planning quality and influences mid- and long-term planning issues. Secondly, the results show that on the global level the proposed horizontal collaboration concept among the independent planning units can bring substantial gains.

This report identifies potential improvements in terms of more effective safety and environmental regulation for trucks, backed by better systems of enforcement, and identifies opportunities for greater efficiency and higher productivity.

This book is novel in that it reveals significant issues of economics, management and business fields currently observed in network industries such as public utilities and transportation, and provides empirical evidence of their mechanisms and policy implications from various perspectives. This is a holistic collection of literature on public utilities economics and management, since the industries discussed include a wide range such as electricity, water supply, sewerage, transport, and postal service, which compound social infrastructure as public benefit service, and the issues examined contain not only economics topics such as cost, efficiency, and productivity, but also management topics such as governance, strategy and organizational restructuring. The book also investigates general private companies to derive future implications for policy and governance of public utilities, and covers multiple countries such as Japan, the US, and Vietnam. It demonstrates various empirical approaches and methodologies for public utility analysis through 17 chapters by experts in each field, which contributes to further cultivation of empirical studies in public utilities.

Contemporary practice and scientific innovation consider the logistics aspects of shipping or maritime and seaport operations as one of the most important areas for development of competitive advantages in business and for study and research. This book covers issues having a significant impact on the industry.