Thesis (B.S.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Marine Transportation, 1947. / Bibliography: leaf 101. / by Sumner Adam Long. / B.S.

Global liner shipping companies experienced a huge fluctuation of freight rate and lost billions consecutively in recent years and the industry became very volatile and unsustainable. At this critical time, this dissertation aims to evaluate what extent the marketing strategies can optimize the overall sustainable competitive advantage of top ten liner shipping companies and contribute to the recovery and the sustainable development of liner shipping industry in the next five years. This dissertation met this objective through a study of literatures and the application of research. The research was conducted through an interview survey with seventeen executives of eight liner shipping companies and a questionnaire survey with twelve senior executives of logistics companies. This study produced the following key findings. First, six core competencies and two generic competitive advantages of top ten carriers are selected and evaluated. Financial strength is concluded from the interview discussion as the most important core competency to the overall sustainability and competitiveness of carriers, meanwhile, most of carriers concentrate on rate competitiveness rather than service differentiation competitiveness currently. Secondly, three key challenges in the current liner shipping industry are identified and analyzed: weak demand growth and sharp hikes in bunker fuel price which are the major challenges in the macro environment and out of the direct control of carriers’ management, therefore, leading carriers should concentrate on addressing the major challenge in the micro environment –structural oversupply and homogenous service. Thirdly, carriers are impatient to improve their unhealthy financial position by increasing freight rate and reducing costs due to billions financing needs. However, inferior reliability of liner service due to cost-cutting and the consecutive jump of freight rate cause a deeper contradictory relation between carriers and shippers. Lastly, leading carriers have to make their best efforts to be survived currently, but need to find the right ways to attain sustainable competitive advantages in the future. In short term, the main target of leading carriers’ marketing strategies is to ensure sustainable freight rate and rational capacity growth. Because leading carriers are involved in a “prisoner dilemma” situation in major tradelanes, they should be close with each other with the support of financial investors and government regulatory bodies to build a stable and reliable global sea trade infrastructure. Long-term agree-ment with shippers fixed ocean freight rate at sustainable level can contribute the sta-bility of the market and help carriers be capable to offer reliable service. In the long term, the main target of marketing strategies is to find the best balance between better service and lower costs. One important way is to differentiate carriers’ service by offering more value to shippers and to ease the fierce competition on freight rate. It needs carriers to collaborate with logistics partners to improve the cost-efficiency and reliability of global supply chain. Another way is to cooperate with R&D organizations to enhance operational efficiency and offer eco-friendly liner service by advanced and innovative technologies. / published_or_final_version / Transport Policy and Planning / Master / Master of Arts in Transport Policy and Planning

Many workforce-related shortages in the marine transportation industry can be attributed to low birth rates, high levels of upcoming retirements, and evolving occupational complexities of the industry. These challenges may soon place the marine transportation industry in a workforce crisis within some high-demand occupations. This explanatory case study examines how the Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland’s learns and adapts its practices to more effectively attract, recruit, and retain students for a career at sea. The study applies organizational learning theory as a practical lens to better understand the phenomenon of learning at the organizational level, how it occurs, and the processes involved which enable transformation. The study looks at communicative and collaborative processes of members, including collective thinking, reflection on past experiences, and dialogue, which combined, enable changing conventional ways of thinking. The findings describe how the organization constructs solutions, how it learns and reacts to workforce complexities.

Sjöfarten är idag dominerad av förbränningsmotorer som är beroende av fossila drivmedel. Elektrifiering är en av huvudstrategierna för att möjliggöra fossilfri energiförsörjning inom internationell sjöfart. Polymerelektrolytbränslecellen (PEMFC) omvandlar vätgas till elektricitet med hög verkningsgrad och är för närvarande kommersiellt tillgängligt upp till MW-skala för ett fartyg. Vätgas är en utmärkt energibärare för att tillgodose hög energidensitet hos ett fraktfartyg. Rippelströmmar från elkraftskomponenter påstås accelerera åldring av materialen i PEMFC och kan därför skapa negativa effekter över tid som påverkar livslängden av systemet.  De tillgängliga studier som utvärderar rippelströmmars påverkan på åldring i PEMFC är begränsade. Resultaten i dessa studier är tvetydiga och saknar tydliga kopplingar mellan rippelströmmarnas inverkan på åldringsfenomen, som på sikt kan påverka den tekniska livslängden. Målet med examensarbetet var att identifiera effekten av rippelströmmar på åldring av bränslecellen vid typiska körförhållanden för ett fraktfartyg. Tester genomfördes på en PEMFC genom att applicera en sinusformad (70 Hz, 50 % amplitud) rippelström på en dynamisk last som simulerar ett fraktfartyg. En konstant lastcykling vid 0.4 A/cm2 utfördes som ett komplement för att verifiera den dynamiska lastens inverkan på bränslecellen.  Alla tester resulterade i prestandaförluster både under den konstanta och dynamiska lasten, med eller utan rippelström. Men resultaten indikerade att effekten av en sinusformad rippelström inte orsakade någon signifikant åldring varken vid konstant respektive dynamisk lastcykel. / The marine shipping industry is dominated by fossil fuel driven propulsion. Electrification of marine vessels is one of the main strategies to enable emission-free propulsion. Hydrogen is an excellent energy carrier to meet the power demand of a marine vessel. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) is a commercially available alternative for converting hydrogen into electricity. However, durability issues of the PEMFC is a constraint with the technology which limits technical lifetime. Research around ripple currents impact on degradation of PEMFC is scarce and the reported results are ambiguous and lack clear correlation between the effects of the ripple current on the lifetime of a PEMFC. This master thesis evaluates the impact on degradation of a single cell PEMFC by imposing a sinusoidal (70 Hz, 50 % amplitude) AC ripple to a dynamic load cycle. The dynamic load cycle is designed to simulate typical operating conditions of a marine vessel. Constant load cycling at 0.4 A/cm2 with the same ripple characteristics was also conducted to verify the dynamic load cycling impact on the performance losses of the PEMFC. The in-situ characterization showed performance losses both during the dynamic and constant load cycling, for the ripple current and reference tests. To conclude, no significant effects on degradation by the sinusoidal ripple current of 70 Hz and 50% amplitude is found when applied to a single cell PEMFC despite of performance losses for all cases.