Mid-stream operation has had a significant role in Hong Kong’s economic development since the 1960s. Prior to the building of container terminals in Hong Kong, cargo was mainly…
Abstract
Purpose
Mid-stream operation has had a significant role in Hong Kong’s economic development since the 1960s. Prior to the building of container terminals in Hong Kong, cargo was mainly loaded onto and discharged from ocean-going vessels by mid-stream operations and then shipped to Europe and North America. This paper aims to reinforce mid-stream operation is considered a “must” in supporting the substantial growth of maritime industry and strengthening Hong Kong’s role as an entrepôt.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors undertake a historical review of the evolution of Hong Kong’s mid-stream operation over the past half-century and investigate the future of mid-stream operation in light of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s policy of allocating Public Cargo Working Areas through an open auction process. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews are also undertaken in this study.
Findings
The emergence of container terminals generated competition for cargo between container terminals and mid-stream operators. In addition, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s policy of allocating Public Cargo Working Areas to mid-stream operators through an open auction process intensified negative influences on the survival of the mid-stream operation sector.
Originality/value
To date, mid-stream operation has been abandoned nearly everywhere except in Hong Kong. Yet, Hong Kong’s container system has become the most advanced in the world. The authors explain how and why mid-stream operation still plays such a key role in Hong Kong and how to enhance its sustainability. The authors also discuss the academic and managerial implications of their findings.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the medical incident responses from two public hospitals in Hong Kong, namely, Kowloon Hospital and Caritas Medical Centre, in order to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the medical incident responses from two public hospitals in Hong Kong, namely, Kowloon Hospital and Caritas Medical Centre, in order to improve the strategic preparation for crisis management in hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses two medical incidents using Situational Crisis Communication Theory by Coombs (2007). The two case studies presented herein demonstrate the importance of consistency in terms of crisis responses.
Findings
For the first case, the crisis responses from different parties after the incident, including Hospital Authority, the doctor and the nurses from Kowloon Hospital, are contradicting to each other. First, Hospital Authority confirmed that the incident is solely an accident which is a denial response. Second, the doctor passed the responsibility to the nurses which is a scapegoating response. Third, the nurses tend to reduce the responsibility for the death of patient by excusing strategy. As a whole, their responses are inconsistent to each other. For the second case, Caritas had initially denied the responsibilities, but finally had given partial apology under public pressure. That makes people think that Caritas does not really regret.
Originality/value
Rebuilding posture should be used instead of denial and diminishment posture. However, public organization and civil servants are reluctant to use a full apology due to possible legal consequences. The apology ordinance would ease the pressure to express regret and sympathy.
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Sadia Samar Ali, Rajbir Kaur and Jose Antonio Marmolejo Saucedo
Mohsen Anvari, Alireza Anvari and Omid Boyer
This paper aims to examine the integration of lateral transshipment and road vulnerability into the humanitarian relief chain in light of affected area priority to address…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the integration of lateral transshipment and road vulnerability into the humanitarian relief chain in light of affected area priority to address equitable distribution and assess the impact of various parameters on the total average inflated distance traveled per relief item.
Design/methodology/approach
After identifying comprehensive critical criteria and subcriteria, a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making framework was applied to obtain the demand points’ weight and ranking in a real-life earthquake scenario. Direct shipment and lateral transshipment models were then presented and compared. The developed mathematical models are formulated as mixed-integer programming models, considering facility location, inventory prepositioning, road vulnerability and quantity of lateral transshipment.
Findings
The study found that the use of prioritization criteria and subcriteria, in conjunction with lateral transshipment and road vulnerability, resulted in a more equitable distribution of relief items by reducing the total average inflated distance traveled per relief item.
Research limitations/implications
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first research on equity in humanitarian response through prioritization of demand points. It also bridges the gap between two areas that are typically treated separately: multi-criteria decision-making and humanitarian logistics.
Practical implications
This is the first scholarly work in Shiraz focused on the equitable distribution system by prioritization of demand points and assigning relief items to them after the occurrence of a medium-scale earthquake scenario considering lateral transshipment in the upper echelon.
Originality/value
The paper clarifies how to prioritize demand points to promote equity in humanitarian logistics when the authors have faced multiple factors (i.e. location of relief distribution centers, inventory level, distance, lateral transshipment and road vulnerability) simultaneously.
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W.K. Kon, Noorul Shaiful Fitri Abdul Rahman, Rudiah Md Hanafiah and Saharuddin Abdul Hamid
Since the first automated container terminal (ACT) was introduced at Europe Container Terminals Delta Terminal in Port Rotterdam back in the year 1992, a lot of research had been…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the first automated container terminal (ACT) was introduced at Europe Container Terminals Delta Terminal in Port Rotterdam back in the year 1992, a lot of research had been done to improve the management of ACT. However, up until recently, the number of literature available still appeared scarce. Hence, this paper aims to review the collection of literature about ACT to generate an exhaustive summary to answer the formulated review question in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses to narrow down the search parameters of literature retrieved so that only relevant articles were only selected. The systematic literature reviews were applied to analyse the content of the articles retrieved to determine its journal ranking, research findings and timeline of publications.
Findings
The adoption of ACT technology by container terminal operators could increase the terminal efficiency in productivity, cost reduction and environmental sustainability. Owing to global environmental awareness, the research trend of container terminal field and container terminal operator in the terminal design is much more environmentally friendly oriented.
Research limitations/implications
The limited numbers of experts in the management of ACT are causing challenges in data collections.
Practical implications
The analysis of the global ACT trend could help academicians and industrial investors to review the revolution timeline of maritime technology in port and shipping that is happening rapidly.
Originality/value
The analysis of timeline and collective literature leads to the propose of the conceptual framework to determine the relationship between increased productivity, cost reduction and environmentally sustainable.