Transport Techniques and Management

Transport Techniques and Management
Transport Techniques and Management

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Transport Techniques and Management

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Discuss the main challenges for container shipping companies today. Potential area to discuss includes competition from other modes, competition between shipping lines, capacity, investment, port access etc.

Discuss each challenge in turn and provide actual examples of how shipping companies are overcoming some of these challenges.

Please use some real life example to support the judgement. Reference have to use any company literature, newspaper articles and academic journal…etc can be used.

Transport techniques and management

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Transport techniques and management

Introduction

International business is a sector that has seen tremendous growth within the last few years. This is because of the effect globalization has had in addition to the increased trade between regions. As such the increased use of the shipping industry to move commodities has intensified. The importance of the shipping industry can therefore not be overlooked as it plays a critical role in the facilitation of international trade and the global economic growth (Lun et al, 2013).

Despite the critical role the shipping companies play in the maintenance of international trade and the subsequent movement of goods from one jurisdiction to another, there are various challenges that these companies face that have impeded their ability to carry out their mandate efficiently.

Some of the challenges include the lack of uniform legal platform to conduct the shipping business, the presence of various regulations as well as the international rules that hinder the smooth running of the shipping sector, the unsecure environment the companies are forced to operate in, competition from the other modes of transportation and other shipping industries, capacity building in the shipping sector, the lack of investment in this industry due to its vulnerability and the access to the various major and minor ports across the globe in addition to other challenges.

These challenges have impeded the growth of the shipping industry globally hence reduced the capacity to efficiently transport both goods and people across jurisdictions, this is despite being in operation for approximately 60 years (Meersman, Van de Voorde and Vanelslander, 2014).

Legal challenges

The specification of the terms of the agreement between the players in the shipping industry is normally spelt out in the shipping contracts. In this case then, the legal frameworks are usually spelt out. Specifically in terms of the legal provisions that would be used in case of disputes. Despite this reprieve, the difference in the legal obligations with regards to transportation varies per jurisdiction and hence brings confusion in the performance of the contract (Tan and Thai, 2014).

The discord that the legal regimes bring to the shipping sector is made worse by the provisions of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law (1985), which despite being enacted to bridge the gap that was created by the domestic law, is not binding to the parties in addition to the call to the parties in that particular contract to adopt the local laws in the resolution of the dispute in article 1. The said law is additionally applicable only in arbitrations. As the main international legal provision for international trade, the lack of binding authority in the application of the same means and the permit and calls to incorporate the domestic laws bring confusion.

The application of the different laws in the shipping industry has caused the lack of stability (Rodemann, Hendrik and Templar, 2014). These legal challenges pose great inhibitions in the growth of the industry as they affect the shipping routes in addition to creating a discord in the relationship between the parties to the shipping contract as to the applicable legal principles (Huang, Lasserre and Alexeeva, 2015).

The use of the Uniform Customs and Practice 600 to try and regulate the financial institutions with regard to international trade is a welcome move. This although only solves part of the problem as commerce forms part of the contract. The resolution of issues such as the period and the place of delivery are still governed by the domestic laws.

It is therefore advisable that in the formation of shipping contracts, all the legal issues be addressed fully, from the mode of payment, place and time of delivery, the duration of the shipping and the laws that will be applicable in case of a dispute this is in addition to the place of resolution of the dispute. This is to reduce the uncertainty as well as the time that may have been used to traverse the various conflicts of laws issues to make the same determination (Johansson and Donner, 2014).

In covering the legal aspects in the shipping contract the legal issues that would have otherwise caused the severance of relations between the parties to the contract would have been saved. In this case, the parties will have their way in making the decision as to the legal regime that would govern their shipping agreement…..

Transport Techniques and Management

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Transportation Facilities Improvement

Transportation Facilities
Transportation Facilities

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Transportation Facilities

Increasing demand for effective travel has prompted transportation projects focused on the improvement of transportation facilities (Cooper, 2012).  The response of the federal government to this demand has been through an enhancement of an ambitious transport program (Bell, 2013). This is because transport usually involves the movement of people and goods from one location to the other, using a variety of modes including road, air, water, rail, air, and pipeline (Alstadt, 2010).

The transportation theory according to its articulation by Cooley (1894) provides an explaination of the contribution of traffic to geographical and mechanical concepts, the relationship between land  and/or waterways and physical situations, as well as the general observations that links transportation to natural conditions. Transportation contribution is also focused on political organization, society organization, economic organization, military organization, the location of cities and town, as well as markets (Tilahun & Levinson, 2010).

The industry of transportation consists of the modes of transportation, physical infrastructure and operations, and plays a crucial role in the facilitation of economic development, particularly through intertrade promotion between regions and persons (Levinson & Huang, 2012).

Transportation infrastructure improvement enhances socio-economic outcomes, especially by increasing earnings arising from opened up consumer goods’ markets and labor markets (Tilahun & Levinson, 2010). Improved transportation infrastructure is associated to socio-economic benefits including increased accessibility of spatial locations and mobility among residents (McDermott, 2010). As a result, transportation is attributed to enhanced quality of life, which ensures there is a link between individuals to occupation, teaching, healthiness, refreshment among other socio-economic activities (Bell, 2013). 

Transportation presents market accessibility by connecting manufactures and consumers to enable transactions.  Without any elaboration, as mentioned in the theory of transportation by Cooley (1894), economic expansion cannot progress in the absence of transport facilities.  In addition, the socio-economic effects are differentially experienced according to demographic parameters such as income level, job level, marital status, and level of education (Gomben et al., 2012). 

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Specifically, with regards to the state of California, the transportation program that exists is not adequate to equate with the predicted economic expansion (Kernohan & Rognlien, 2011; Saunders & Dalziel, 2014). This is because in the State of California the rate of economic expansion has not matched that of transport expansion, necessitating an evaluation of the specific status of the situation which has been affecting commuters (Cooper, 2012).

As such, the literature indicates the need for a more ambitious approach that would involve a far-reaching strategy to develop and improve transport facilities for enhancement of the socio-economic status of California residents (Kernohan & Rognlien, 2011; Levinson & Huang, 2012; Saunders & Dalziel, 2014). The findings of studies by Gonzalez-Guillen (2012) and Bell (2013) showed that transportation influences socio-economic status of a population in various ways including increased connectivity, which enables residents to easily commute from one point to another.

Purpose of the Study    

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study is to examine the relationship between transportation investment and socio-economic well-being of residents in the State of California. The target population for this study is the members of the communities of California and the sample will be archival data on transportation investment measures retrieved from the California State Transportation Agency website and survey data on measures of the population’s socio-economic status satisfaction.

According to Cohen (1992) and Faul et al. (2009) G*Power is the most appropriate method to determine the sample size for a study. The sample size will include 150 participants randomly drawn within the communities in California with an assumption of a response rate of about 70 per cent (Babbie, 2010).  The sample size was determined using 0.95 as the power of test and 0.05 as the alpha, while the study was one-sided. Considering that California is the place of study, the primary data will be gathered using rating scale analysis survey questionnaires as data collection instrument administered on the randomly selected sample size (Wright & Masters, 1982).

The survey questionnaires will rate responses of research participants in a five-point Likert scale that range from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). On basis on the above analysis, it is undoubtedly evident that the field of service quality has be extensively researched (Parasuraman, et. al., 1985, 1988, 1991), and this has led to the development of SERVQUAL, used as a measurement of service, which states that the assessment of service quality in overall by customers is determined by the direction and degree of the gap between their perceptions and expectations of actual performance levels.

As a result, they identified five key variables that are associated to service quality including reliability, tangibles, responsiveness, empathy and assurance. They proposed that the service quality perception could be approximated through calculation of the difference between perceptions and expectations of actual performance of service. Hence, this research instrument can be used to examine the relationship between transport investments and socio-economic status perceptions in California.

The sample will be randomly picked from the target population, particularly within communities across California to ensure each of them is appropriately covered in the data collection and analysis process (Coleman 2010; Williamson, Philbin & Sanderson, 2012). The collected primary data will be cleaned subsequent to processing and coding followed by data analysis using SPSS to enable the hypothesis testing. The analytic plan will include regression and correlation analysis for the determination of the direction and strength of variables’ relationships using Pearson r correlation, Kendall rank correlation and Spearman rank correlation statistics.       

Research Questions 

In this study, specific quantitative research questions will be asked to gather primary information essential for hypotheses testing. The questions must be in tandem with research variables/constructs as far as transport infrastructure investment is concerned and how it relates to on socio-economic status of residents. The research questions will ensure the problem statement is addressed to establish whether there is significant relationship between public transportation investment and socio-economic status satisfaction levels among the residents California State.    

References

Litman, T. (2014). Land use impacts on transport. Considering the impacts, benefits and costs of different land use development patterns. Retrieved from Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Canada, website: http://www.vtpi.org/landuse.pdf

MacKinnon, D., Pine, G. & Gather, M. (2008). Transport and Economic Development. In R. Knowles, J. Shaw and I. Docherty (eds.) Transport Geographies: Mobilities, Flows and Spaces. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 10-28.

McDermott, P. (2010). Transport, connectivity, and regional development. Logistics & Transport New Zealand, 9, p. 8. http://www.cityscopeconsultants.com/uploads/75122/files/Transport_Connectivity_and_Regional_Development_-_Final.pdf

Saunders, C., &Dalziel, P. (2014) Economic development: A review of key themes in the international literature. Retrieved from Ministry of Transport website: http://www.transport.govt.nz/ourwork/keystrategiesandplans/strategic-policyprogramme/economic-development/  

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