An Empirical Study on the Modal Shift from the Lorry Based Transportation to the Environmental Intimate Coastal Shipping

Since WW II, major US shipbuilders have been unable to compete in price with shipyards in other parts of the world, and often the quality from US yards has been inferior to world standards. Furthermore, the mistaken US government assumption that shipyards and ship owners have a common interest has led to laws to protect American yards from competition. It has also caused commercial shipping to lose out to alternative forms of transportation such as trains, trucks, pipelines, and tug/barge rigs from more efficient smaller yards and crews. The "US built" requirement of the 1920 Jones Act for domestic cargo has been a prime reason for this modal shift. Tragically for coastal shipping, most large US shipyards have failed to adopt the efficient manufacturing lessons of pioneers such as Admiral "Jerry" Land and Henry Kaiser that led to the "WW II shipbuilding miracle," that built nearly 6,000 merchant ships in 5 years, a feat that Winston Churchill said "saved Europe." After WW II, while foreign yards adopted these efficiency measures, that did not happen here, and our yards suffered from few repeat orders because of their high prices. Drawing heavily on SNAME's Journal of Ship Production pioneered by Professors Bunch, Storch, and Lamb, this paper describes not only the history and "secrets" of many successful yards abroad, but also many of the failures in US shipyards during the same Post WW II period. As a result of their failures, and despite "US Friendly" laws, big US yards seldom got multiple repeat orders which they rightly believe might solve their problems. The paper concludes that because of the very serious congestion now occurring on our near-coastal highways, together with major environmental and economic incentives to take cargo "off the roads and rails" should give US shipbuilders a new golden opportunity. Efficient yards should be able to get major repeat orders for a new fleet of fast roll-on/roll-offs (Ro/Ros) and feeder container ships, however, only if they will finally after nearly 60 years adopt the "lean production" principles pioneered in WW II and then exported to Asia and Europe.

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Analysing the modal shift from road-based to coastal shipping-based distribution – a case study of outbound automotive logistics in India

Maritime Policy & Management ◽

10.1080/03088839.2019.1707313 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 47 (2) ◽

pp. 273-286 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Saurabh Chandra ◽

Marielle Christiansen ◽

Kjetil Fagerholt

Keyword(s):

Modal Shift ◽

Coastal Shipping

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ASSESSING PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS PUBLIC BUS SERVICE AMONG THE CAR USERS IN ISKANDAR MALAYSIA

International Journal of Built Environment and Sustainability ◽

10.11113/ijbes.v6.n1-2.379 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 6 (1-2) ◽

pp. 23-30

Author(s):

Jia Chyi Pung ◽

Safizahanin Mokhtar

Keyword(s):

Empirical Study ◽

Generalized Linear Model ◽

Modal Shift ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

Traffic Condition ◽

Car Use ◽

Bus Stop ◽

Affective Variables ◽

Network Costs ◽

Bus Service

Encouraging car users to bus use has been a central topic to control the deteriorating traffic condition. In this light, Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) has deployed extensive investments in order to improve public bus service on its connectivity, service time and etc. Nevertheless, low bus ridership remains and car use is the main contributor of vehicular activity. Under this premise, various scholars have highlighted distorted perceptions towards bus use as a barrier to promote modal shift from car to bus use. An empirical study is necessary to examine the factors that shape distorted perceptions towards bus use among the car users in Iskandar Malaysia. Therefore, this research aims to assessing perceptions towards public bus service among the car users in Iskandar Malaysia. In order to assess car users’ perceptions, online questionnaire survey was conducted with sample size of 102. Car users who reside in residential neighbourhoods within 910 meters radius and nearby bus stops along Trans Iskandar BeXTRA Route BET3 were targeted as key respondents. Generalized Linear Model (GLM) is utilized in order to identify significant perceived variables that influence bus use among the car users. Results from GLM show the significant perceived variables in relation to bus use are twofold: affective i.e. safety (from crimes) and instrumental i.e. bus network, costs and bus stop facilities. Results of this research prove that perceptions in relation to instrumental and affective variables are influential to promote modal shift from car to bus use. Therefore, understanding car users’ perceptions may assist in modal shift to bus use.

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