Improving Value Chain Through Efficient Port Logistics

Emerging as a dynamic economy in the South East Asia, Vietnam, the 151 st WTO member has to improve export goods value chain to create sustainable competitive advantage. Nowadays, Vietnam port-logistics sector has been becoming one of the most important service industries that contribute intensively to create value for Vietnam export goods in global market. This paper discusses one of the contemporary challenging issues for Vietnam--how to improve value chain through efficient port logistics. The objective of this research is to review literature issue of value chain, analyse the situation of Vietnam logistics sector, especially in port logistics and provide some recommendations to improve value chain of Vietnam export goods. The surveyed issues of both sides of logistics service providers （LSPs） and beneficial cargo owners （BCOs） will be taken into consideration. Based on the findings result, some actions are suggested to the government and local logistics service providers to make necessary decisions and solutions to improve value chain of Vietnam export goods through efficient port logistics.

Assessing coordination degree of port development and urban environment and its influencing factors

Due to limited resources regarding port development,the contradiction between ports and cities has gradually become prominent.Taking China's coastal ports as an example,this paper measures the degree of coordination between port development and urban environment,and analyzes its influencing factors.We find that this coordination degree is relatively low and needs to be further improved.The regression results of the ordinary panel model show that the scale of port logistics,port infrastructure construction,and the quality of economic development play a significant role in promoting the coordinated development of the port and the urban environment.The regression results of the threshold panel model show that the expansion of the port logistics scale is only conducive to promoting the coordinated development of the port and the urban environment when the levels of port infrastructure are relatively high.In addition,the promotion effect of the port logistics scale on the coordinated development of the port and the urban environment differs depending on the quality of economic development.Therefore,the relevant departments should pay more attention to the construction of port infrastructure and the quality of economic development,making appropriate adjustments to both in order to better promote the coordinated development of the port and city environment.

Evaluation of Key Factors for the Port Logistics Development in Countries Along the Belt and Road

The port logistics capacity of countries along the Belt and Road is of great significance to promoting Chinese overseas comprehensive supporting system. The study combines quality data with numerical data to extract the key factors affecting the port logistics development for countries along the Belt and Road. Based on grey correlation analysis and factor analysis, 17 major ports of these countries are evaluated from 11 key factors. The results show that infrastructure, transportation,and entering and leaving costs are crucial for the development of port logistics. The research provides scientific decision-making basis for the construction of an overseas comprehensive supporting system under the context of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Stacking Sequence of Marine Container Minimizing Space in Container Terminals

Heavier marine containers should be loaded first into ships at container terminals so that ship stability can be maintained during transport. It is helpful for the container terminals if lighter containers arrive earlier than heavier containers, because the latter can be stacked on the former. Therefore, the heavier ones can be loaded into the ships first. Shippers of marine containers do not, however, care for the matters of ships. They follow their own time schedules of supply chains sending marine containers with no relation to container weight. In addition to the conflict explained above, a ship must accommodate numerous containers sent by many shippers. Consequently, marshalling containers at container terminals before loading them into ships is necessary, although it causes inefficiencies of time and cost of cargo handling. This paper presents a proposal of a simple sequence of stacking marine containers at container terminals, adapting to random arrival of the containers irrespective of their weight, but it naturally keeps heavier containers stacked higher together with the stacking space minimized. An algorithm related to this proposal is the following： First, weight-ranked stacking addresses are assigned initially in a block of space at a container terminal; Second, containers are accepted and stacked up in the first block as they arrive at the terminal; Third, a lighter ranked address is sought for the next container if the number of containers on the initially assigned address for the container has already reached the maximum, which depends on the height of cargo handling equipment such as transfer cranes; Fourth, such containers are stacked up on the lighter ranked address. The address is reassigned with the weight rank of the container; Fifth, a heavier ranked address is sought for the next container if no lighter ranked address can be found; Sixth, such containers are stacked up on the heavier ranked address; Seventh, change the block to the next one if either a lighter or heavier ranked address cannot be found; Eighth, repeat the sequence above. This paper demonstrates the algorithm run by a simulation model for which actual arrival records of marine containers to a container terminal of Port of Yokohama are applied. Six ships of different sailing routes are analyzed using the simulation model. All analysis results show that heavier containers are stacked higher with a minimum number of blocks. Therefore, no marshalling of containers is necessary for loading the containers into ships.