With the rise of ‘new’ state capitalisms, control over transport infrastructure has returned to the forefront of competition in the global economy. This article investigates how different state capitalisms interact to enable economic developments in ports. It tracks the relationship between state-owned firms in the shipping and ports sectors through a case study of the port of Valencia in Spain and COSCO shipping group. The article identifies state capitalisms as variegated and relational to analyze the ways in which qualitatively different state capitalist dynamics interact at different scales. The article identifies two state capitalist dynamics which have been dominant in determining relations between Spanish and Chinese state capitalisms: 1) A commercial dynamic of maximizing Spanish ports profits by establishing new relationships with Chinese firms; and 2) an expansionary dynamic of increasing market share of Chinese state-owned firms in European shipping markets. These two dynamics are synergistic and have contributed to the competitiveness of Spanish ports and Chinese shipping firms by providing new capital to the port of Valencia and expanding the port's profile as a hub in the eastern Mediterranean, while also further solidifying COSCO's position in European shipping markets and its internalization and vertical integration strateg
This paper centers local processes for co-creating transitions towards more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient coastal community development. We have conceptualized a path for change processes with phases of transition including 1. Reasons to convene; 2. Governance and participation "rules"; 3. Building knowledge together; 4. Implementation and experimentation; 5. Post-hoc reflections and assessment; 6. Transfer/reproduction of practices. Here, we focus on the first three stepping stones, which form the foundation of the collaborative process, focusing on the challenges and opportunities encountered as a pilot intervention is planned. We use a framework informed by partnership-, co-creation-, transition-, and justice literatures, to analyze data focused on establishing partnerships for ongoing co-creation of knowledge, empowering actors in the local communities, and selecting options for an intervention pilot. Conclusions relate to (a) trust and preexisting relationships, (b) what inclusion means, (c) internal power differentials, (d) preexisting tensions in the community, (e) challenges to co-creation.
Any ecosystem based fisheries management system is necessarily faced with the problem of multiple objectives that trade-off against one another. Typically, objectives such as the maximization of yield, employment or profit or minimizing environmental impacts will be optimized in different parts of the decision space, which is formed of the fishing mortality rates that can be applied to the various species, given the constraints imposed by the mixed species nature of many fishing fleets. Since objectives cannot be simultaneously achieved, managers need to consider how such objectives trade-off against one another in order to choose a balanced strategy. Normally, they also have to consider the views of different groupings of stakeholders, who often favour widely different and conflicting objectives. This is particularly difficult if stakeholders are reluctant to expose their negotiating positions. This article explores two possible approaches to developing a Decision Support Framework for the North Sea. The first is a classic Multi- Criteria Analysis (MCA) approach that was developed in cooperation with North Sea stakeholders. The implementation went smoothly for the definition of suitable scenarios, decision trees and criteria, but failed in facilitating consensus on how to set priorities at the stakeholder level. However, it remains a possible approach for higher level management to adopt. Consequently, to aid effective decision-making a simpler approach was designed to visualise stakeholders concerns both to themselves and to the managers in charge of actual decision-making. Rather than trying to achieve some joint optima of the objectives that stakeholders wish to achieve this approach seeks to avoid the solutions various stakeholder groups resent the most. This ‘N dimensional potato approach’ proposed here treats the decision space as analogous to a partially rotten potato that has to be prepared for the table: each group of stakeholders cut away those parts of the decision space that they consider unacceptable. Ideally, this would leave a decision space where somewhat acceptable compromise solutions exist. But, if no decision space is left after all have made their cuts, this approach will still inform managers about the consequences of different solutions in terms of which group will be disappointed and by how much. Making this approach operational requires both uncovering various stakeholders’ views of the unacceptable areas, and also displaying these areas in a convenient fashion together with areas of stakeholder consent. The article describes the steps taken to address these two tasks by the North Sea case study of the MareFrame research project.
Increasing concerns related to fossil fuels have led to the introducing the concept of emission-free ships (EF-Ships) in marine industry. One of the well-known combinations of green energy resources in EF-Ships is the hybridization of fuel cells (FCs) with energy storage systems (ESSs) and cold-ironing (CI). Due to the high investment cost of FCs and ESSs, the aging factors of these resources should be considered in the energy management of EF-Ships. This article proposes a nonlinear model for optimal energy management of EF-Ships with hybrid FC/ESS/CI as energy resources considering the aging factors of the FCs and ESSs. Total operation costs and aging factors of FCs and ESSs are chosen as problem objectives. Moreover, a stochastic model predictive control method is adapted to the model to consider the uncertainties during the optimization horizon. The proposed model is applied to an actual case test system and the results are discussed.
Different procedures for estimation of the extreme global wave hydroelastic responses in ships are discussed. Firstly, stochastic procedures for application in detailed numerical studies (CFD) are outlined. The use of the First Order Reliability Method (FORM) to generate critical wave episodes of short duration, less than 1 minute, with prescribed probability content is discussed for use in extreme response predictions including hydroelastic behaviour and slamming load events. The possibility of combining FORM results with Monte Carlo simulations is discussed for faster but still very accurate estimation of extreme responses. Secondly, stochastic procedures using measured time series of responses as input are considered. The Peak-over-Threshold procedure and the Weibull fitting are applied and discussed for the extreme value predictions including possible corrections for clustering effects.
Commercial small-scale fisheries along the Baltic Sea coasts have declined over the years although these fisheries are viewed as important for coastal development and food security at the local, national, and EU levels. The viability and future of small-scale fisheries are severely challenged by problems caused by grey seals. The conflict, occurring between Baltic Sea coastal fisheries and conservation of the grey seals, has been severe since the mid-1990s and continues despite attempts to find a more balanced situation. Resting on reviews of multiple material, this paper explores the state-of-the-art opportunities for mitigating the seal-fisheries conflict and asks how these are related to social struggles and social justice. Our paper concludes that co-existence of coastal fisheries and the grey seal is possible but necessitates political will and co-designed seal management plans that help implement context-specific measures. Seal deterrents, for instance, give hope as a supplementary conflict mitigation measure – along with seal-proof fishing gear – but provide only partial relief. From the fisheries sector’s position, influencing the size of the seal population is a logical solution. The lifting of the EU trade ban of seal products as a regional derogation would allow sustainable management of seal populations so that they be used as renewable natural resource. Monitoring changes in the seal population is crucial for maintaining a balanced population. Reaching co-existence is timely, because – unlike the seal – the diverse Baltic coastal fishing culture is increasingly endangered.
Short-term variability of ship responses is investigated by cross-spectrum analysis. In a steady state condition, it is well known that a certain length of sampled data is required for stable results of the spectral analysis. However, the phase lag between responses, in terms of the phase angle of the cross-spectra, has not been discussed in detail. Using long stationary time series, the transition of amplitudes and relative phase angles of the cross-spectra has
been investigated by iterative analyzes with a few seconds of time shifting. In the results, the short-term variability of the relative phase angle was observed. In effect, the variability may compromise the accuracy of the wave buoy analogy.
Shore power is an important green technology used by ports to reduce carbon emissions. This paper investigates how to design subsidy strategy for promoting the installation and utilization of shore power. However, while installation subsidies may promote the installation of SPI in ports, resulting in a reduction in ship emissions, utilization subsidies may attract more ship visits, which may increase the total emissions of a port. Therefore, subsidies for shore power utilization and installation should be optimized to minimize the cost to government (comprising the environmental costs of ship emissions, the cost of utilization or installation subsidies, and carbon taxes) and maximize the profit for ports (including profit from original and new ships, utilization and installation subsidies, and carbon taxes). Using the Stackelberg game methodology, we discuss five cases to give a comprehensive analysis of the design of different subsidy policies, including no subsidy, SPI-utilization subsidy undertaken by port, SPI-utilization subsidy undertaken by port and government, carbon emission tax policy considering SPI-utilization subsidy, and SPI-utilization and SPI-installation subsidies undertaken by port and government. Managerial insights are generated according to the theoretical analysis and numerical experiments results, which can give references to the government and port operators.
With growing pressures on marine ecosystems and on marine space, an increasingly needed strategy to optimize the use of marine space is to co-locate synergic marine human uses in close spatial–temporal proximity while separating conflicting marine human uses. The ArcMap toolbox SEANERGY is a new, cross-sectoral spatial decision support tool (DST) that enables maritime spatial planners to consider synergies and conflicts between marine uses to support assessments of co-location options. Cross-sectoral approaches are important to reach more integrative maritime spatial planning (MSP) processes. As this article demonstrates through a Baltic Sea analysis, SEANERGY presents a crosssectoral use catalog for MSP through enabling the tool users to answer important specific questions to spatially and/or numerically weight potential synergies/conflicts between marine uses. The article discusses to what degree such a cross-sectoral perspective can support integrative MSP processes. While MSP integrative challenges still exist, SEANERGY enables MSP processes to move towards developing shared goals and initiate discussions built on best available knowledge regarding potential use-use synergies and use-use conflicts for whole sea basins at once.
With growing pressures on marine ecosystems and on marine space, an increasingly needed strategy to optimize the use of marine space is to co-locate synergic marine human uses in close spatial–temporal proximity while separating conflicting marine human uses. The ArcMap toolbox SEANERGY is a new, cross-sectoral spatial decision support tool (DST) that enables maritime spatial planners to consider synergies and conflicts between marine uses to support assessments of co-location options. Cross-sectoral approaches are important to reach more
integrative maritime spatial planning (MSP) processes. As this article demonstrates through a Baltic Sea analysis, SEANERGY presents a crosssectoral use catalog for MSP through enabling the tool users to answer important specific questions to spatially and/or numerically
weight potential synergies/conflicts between marine uses. The article discusses to what degree such a cross-sectoral perspective can support integrative MSP processes. While MSP integrative challenges still exist, SEANERGY enables MSP processes to move towards developing shared goals and initiate discussions built on best available knowledge regarding potential use-use synergies and use-use conflicts for whole sea basins at once.