The air cargo industry is evolving rapidly, as is its international law regime. The recent entry into force of the Montreal Protocol No. 4 and adoption of the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air signed at Montreal on 28 May 1999 constitutes a new legal framework for air cargo claims. / Rather than offering definite answers, this thesis identifies some current and emerging issues in the law of air cargo claims, particularly those aspects that the claimant must prove. The work traces the development of the Warsaw System by writers and courts, and attempts to identify trends in the application and interpretation of the new legal framework. The evolution towards independence of the law of carriage of goods by air from other similar regimes, and the existing connections among them, are examined. When appropriate, common law and civil law solutions to some legal issues will be introduced. / Finally, the thesis concludes that conflicting decisions in this field could be avoided by adopting uniform rules to solve conflicts of laws and to interpret international carriage conventions.

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A major problem associated with air cargo transport is the assignment and scheduling of aircraft to routes that include several transloading points. This problem is complicated by the fact that shipping quantities vary at each terminal from one day to the next, and there are often wide fluctuations in demand for high priority cargo. Rapid delivery requirements calling for frequent flights to maintain satisfactory service often result in over-assignment and excess capacity. The balancing of capacity and service is a significant problem for air freight carriers. The problem investigated was to develop a means of evaluating various combinations of aircraft and route schedules taking into account the frequency of flights and the stochastic nature of shipping quantities. Key performance and cost variables were identified, and shipping data were analyzed to determine distribution parameters. A computer simulation model called CARGOSIM was developed to represent the air transport system and provide a tool for the evaluation of various alternatives. The simulation model allows for the stochastic behavior of cargo quantities and the detection of shipment delays due to random surges in demand. Accordingly, both the extent to which assigned aircraft can transport available cargo and the level of service at each terminal are determined through simulation. The simulation model is used in conjunction with a heuristic designed to search through aircraft types and flight frequency combinations until a least-cost solution is found. The cost function includes both the cost of operating the air transport system and the cost of service delays, thus a balance is achieved between capacity and service when an efficient solution is obtained. This feature represents a decision framework designed so that successive iterations of the simulation model will lead to a least-cost solution within statistically determined margins of error. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Transport Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Transport Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Transport Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Summary in Chinese. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 123-124.

1. Problem one: Shipment planning in a dynamic environment. The planning of air cargo logistics is a complex endeavor that involves the collaboration of multiple logistics agents to deliver shipments in a timely, safe, and economic manner. Airfreight forwarders coordinate and manage shipments for their clients, and with the development of Internet logistics platforms, airfreight forwarders can now trade jobs and resources with other participants effectively. The incorporation of trading alternatives significantly complicates the shipment planning process. / 2. Problem two: e-services platform design. The need for business logistics starts with a buyer and a seller. It involves arrangements of materials/products moving from the seller to the buyer and payment flows from the buyer and the seller. When the logistics arrangements are not done by the buyer nor the seller but rather by a specialist, we call the specialist a 3rd party logistics (3PL) service providers. A typical logistics service/job involves many agents, for instance, forwarders, truckers, warehouse operators, carriers, etc. In the process, a lot of information will be shared and exchanged among the agents, the buyer and the seller. With the advancement of information technologies, an emerging trend is to have the business dealing, information sharing and even payment arrangement among the logistics agents, buyers and sellers done through e-services on the Internet. In this thesis, we propose a 4th party logistics (4PL) platform, which is an Internet environment to enable and facilitate 3PL providers collaboratively provide services to buyers and sellers. / The proposed platform is called 4PL platform because it facilitates the 3PL agents. To better serve its 3PL clients, the platform should be "neutral", meaning it will not provide logistics services competing with its clients. The 4PL platform will facilitate its clients through e-services. However, existing e-services technology only allows e-services to be provided to individual clients. The idea of providing e-service to collaborating clients is new. We called it the 3rd party e-Service. In this thesis, we have conceptualized and further defined the 3rd party e-Service. To realize the 3rd party e-Service, we have first proposed a 3rd party service-oriented architecture and then developed a set of new elements to the existing e-Service description technology. To prove the concept, the new architecture, and the new description technology, we put into action. Using the shipment planning model as an example, we are able to offer shipment planning e-service to collaborating agents on the Internet. / This dissertation studies two research problems in a 4th party logistics platform. / This study proposes a dynamic decision framework for air cargo shipment planning, within the dynamic environment of bidding and trading. The framework has three phases: estimation, trading, and execution. Planning in the phases proceeds iteratively until an acceptable plan is obtained and shipments are set and fulfilled. The optimization of shipment planning is formulated as a mixed 0-1 LP model from a portfolio point of view. Unlike the models in previous research, this model targets profit maximization and takes into account the decisions of job selection and resource selection, and can be solved using a Tabu-based approach. We also discuss the respective rules and strategies that would aid the decision-making processes in the framework. / Chen Gang. / "February 2006." / Advisers: Waiman Cheung; Chi Kin Leung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4358. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-106). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

There has been very little research in the area of air cargo demand analysis and forecasting. This thesis attempts to investigate the application of gravity models to air cargo. Using international export volumes from Vancouver International Airport in 1998, a gravity model was built. The inclusion of tariffs as an impedance factor allowed testing of the effect of tariffs as predicted by gravity models. The results were consistent with international trade theory that tariffs provide a barrier to international trade. Further, a comparison is made between aggregate and disaggregate models (across commodities). It was found that aggregation eliminates commodity specific characteristics. In using the gravity model, there are two adjustments which need to be made to reduce the bias in the model: firstly, adjustment is necessary to the bias inherent in the constant term of a log-linear model; and a further adjustment is required when forecasting actual levels rather than log levels. Even after adjustments for both types of bias, the gravity model did not produce accurate forecasts. The aggregate model produced better forecasts than the disaggregate model, but both sets of forecasts did not accurately predict the actual volumes transported. This could be as a result of the stable nature of the variables included in the model, which tend to change very slowly over time. Further, it is apparent that other additional explanatory variables should be included in the models to better capture the short-term changes in air cargo.