Bulk cargo

Abstract: According to a range of assessments, there exists a large cost-effective potential to increase energy efficiency in shipping through reduced speed at sea enabled by shorter time in port. This means that the energy needed can be reduced whilst maintaining the same transport service. However, the fact that a large cost-effective potential has been identified that is not being harnessed by decision-makers in practice suggests that there is more to this potential to understand. In this paper, the possibilities for increasing energy efficiency by reducing waiting time in port are explored and problematised through a case study of a short sea bulk shipping company transporting dry bulk goods mainly in the North and Baltic seas. Operational data from two ships in the company’s fleet for one year showed that the ships spent more than 40% of their time in ports and that half of the time in port was not productive. The two most important reasons for the large share of unproductive time were that ports were closed on nights and weekends and that ships arrived too early before the stevedores were ready to load or unload the cargo. Reducing all of the unproductive time may be difficult, but the results also show that even a conservative estimate of one to four hours of reduced time per port call would lead to a reduction in energy use of 2–8%. From in-depth interviews with employees of the shipping company, ports and ship agencies, a complex picture is painted when attempting to understand how this potential arises. Aspects such as a lack of effective ship-shore-port communication, little time for ship operators, an absence of means for accurately predicting energy use of voyages as a function of speed, perceived risk of arriving too late, and relationships with third-party technical management may all play a role.

Abstract: I The Liner Shipping Industry.- 1 Characteristics of demand and supply of liner shipping.- 1.1 An aggregate picture of seaborne trade and the world fleet tonnage.- 1.2 The development of the shares of the world fleet: developed countries, flags of convenience and developing countries.- 1.3 Liner shipping, shipping for hire and 'own shipping'.- 1.4 The relative size of the liner shipping industry.- 1.5 Recent development in general cargo shipping.- 1.6 Geographical aspects of liner shipping.- 2 Market organization: the conference system.- 2.1 The scope of the conference system.- 2.2 Conference organization and main activities.- 2.3 Why conferences?.- 2.4 Concluding remarks.- 3 The level and structure of freight rates.- 3.1 The general level of freight rates.- 3.2 The structure of freight rates.- Appendix A: The construction of the CONISCON index (1975-85).- Appendix B: The liner index of the FRG (1976-85).- Appendix C: The construction of an individual line freight rate index.- 4 The art of charging what the traffic can bear.- 4.1 The main form of price discrimination in liner shipping.- 4.2 The role of commodity value for shipping demand elasticity.- 4.3 The role of competition from other sources of goods supply for shipping demand elasticity.- 4.4 Competition from 'outsiders' and other modes of transport.- 4.5 Summary and conclusions.- II Liner Service Optimization.- 5 Ship size and shipping costs.- 5.1 Sizes of ships of different categories: The statistical picture.- 5.2 Plant-size economies in general.- 5.3 The three ship capacities.- 5.4 The model.- 5.5 Estimation of ship size elasticities of handling and hauling capacities and factor costs.- 5.6 Economies of size at sea - diseconomies of size in port.- 5.7 Optimal ship size.- 5.8 Analysis of the effect on optimal ship size of parameter changes in the model.- 5.9 The optimal size of a palletized reefer ship: A case study.- 5.10 Towards a model of ship size growth.- 6 Multi-port calling versus trans-shipment.- 6.1 The general problem: Feeder-transport cost minimization in a given service range.- 6.2 The specific problem: The potential of sea-feeder transport.- 6.3 The very large container carriers and feeder services.- 7 Shippers' costs of sailings infrequency and transit time.- 7.1 Storage costs.- 7.2 Costs of sailings infrequency and transit time for goods which are not stored by importers.- 7.3 Loss of value of perishable goods.- 7.4 How important are shippers' costs?.- Appendix: Optimal ship size when both shipping company costs and the shippers' costs are accounted for.- 8 Port costs and charges and the problem of shipping and port sub-optimizations.- 8.1 'Public' general cargo transport systems versus 'private' bulk cargo transport systems.- 8.2 Bottlenecks in ports.- 8.3 Port charges as a means of coordinating shipping and port operations.- 9 A cost minimization model of a liner trade.- 9.1 A liner trade model -I The Liner Shipping Industry.- 1 Characteristics of demand and supply of liner shipping.- 1.1 An aggregate picture of seaborne trade and the world fleet tonnage.- 1.2 The development of the shares of the world fleet: developed countries, flags of convenience and developing countries.- 1.3 Liner shipping, shipping for hire and 'own shipping'.- 1.4 The relative size of the liner shipping industry.- 1.5 Recent development in general cargo shipping.- 1.6 Geographical aspects of liner shipping.- 2 Market organization: the conference system.- 2.1 The scope of the conference system.- 2.2 Conference organization and main activities.- 2.3 Why conferences?.- 2.4 Concluding remarks.- 3 The level and structure of freight rates.- 3.1 The general level of freight rates.- 3.2 The structure of freight rates.- Appendix A: The construction of the CONISCON index (1975-85).- Appendix B: The liner index of the FRG (1976-85).- Appendix C: The construction of an individual line freight rate index.- 4 The art of charging what the traffic can bear.- 4.1 The main form of price discrimination in liner shipping.- 4.2 The role of commodity value for shipping demand elasticity.- 4.3 The role of competition from other sources of goods supply for shipping demand elasticity.- 4.4 Competition from 'outsiders' and other modes of transport.- 4.5 Summary and conclusions.- II Liner Service Optimization.- 5 Ship size and shipping costs.- 5.1 Sizes of ships of different categories: The statistical picture.- 5.2 Plant-size economies in general.- 5.3 The three ship capacities.- 5.4 The model.- 5.5 Estimation of ship size elasticities of handling and hauling capacities and factor costs.- 5.6 Economies of size at sea - diseconomies of size in port.- 5.7 Optimal ship size.- 5.8 Analysis of the effect on optimal ship size of parameter changes in the model.- 5.9 The optimal size of a palletized reefer ship: A case study.- 5.10 Towards a model of ship size growth.- 6 Multi-port calling versus trans-shipment.- 6.1 The general problem: Feeder-transport cost minimization in a given service range.- 6.2 The specific problem: The potential of sea-feeder transport.- 6.3 The very large container carriers and feeder services.- 7 Shippers' costs of sailings infrequency and transit time.- 7.1 Storage costs.- 7.2 Costs of sailings infrequency and transit time for goods which are not stored by importers.- 7.3 Loss of value of perishable goods.- 7.4 How important are shippers' costs?.- Appendix: Optimal ship size when both shipping company costs and the shippers' costs are accounted for.- 8 Port costs and charges and the problem of shipping and port sub-optimizations.- 8.1 'Public' general cargo transport systems versus 'private' bulk cargo transport systems.- 8.2 Bottlenecks in ports.- 8.3 Port charges as a means of coordinating shipping and port operations.- 9 A cost minimization model of a liner trade.- 9.1 A liner trade model - purpose, scope and assumption.- 9.2 Total producer and user costs.- 9.3 Optimal ship size, multi-port diversion, and frequency of sailings.- 9.4 The minimum total cost per ton.- III Economic Evaluation of the Conference System.- 10 The charging floor reconsidered.- 10.1 Economies of scale?.- 10.2 Common cost and factor indivisibility.- Appendix: Model of profit-maximizing freight rate making.- 11 The freight rate structure is out of line with the marginal cost structure.- 11.1 Principles of marginal cost-based tariffs.- 11.2 Cross-subsidization between commodities.- 11.3 Excessive averaging of freight rates: Some suggestions for reforming the tariff construction.- 11.4 Further aspects of a cost-based freight rate structure.- Appendix: Freight rates and shipping marginal costs of Israeli imports and exports.- 12 Potential cartel profits become social costs.- 12.1 Empirical evidence of low load factors in liner shipping.- 12.2 Model of supply and demand equilibrium in a liner trade.- 12.3 Some evidence of a negative relationship between the load factor and the profit potential.- 12.4 Excessive service competition.- 13 Conclusion: price competition in liner shipping should be encouraged.- 13.1 The two types of ill effects.- 13.2 Allocative inefficiency effects.- 13.3 'Slack' effects.- 13.4 Encourage price competition and service coordination.- 13.5 Recent attempts of reforming liner conference practices.- 13.6 Problems of regulating international liner shipping.- 13.7 Hopes for the future.- References.- Author index.

Abstract: A bulk cargo container is disclosed for storing, transporting or processing solid or liquid bulk materials. The bulk cargo container includes a vessel suitable for containing the bulk material and a supporting frame assembly having a generally horizontally disposed support member attachment. In an exemplary embodiment, the vessel is formed of fiber reinforced plastic material and includes a container portion and a support member. The container portion is formed into at least one hopper having a discharge opening therein suitable for discharging bulk material contained within the vessel. The vessel is supported from the support member attachment via the support member so that the weight of the bulk material is carried in tension by the fiber reinforced plastic material of the vessels shell.