Overseas Travel Grant for a Maritime Logistics Symposium and a Research Visit at Shanghai

海运业是全球贸易链中的重要一环，约90%的国际贸易是通过海上进行的。海洋物流研究日益受到业界和学术界的关注。现代物流运作本质上是复杂的。例如，使用集装箱的典型门到门旅程将涉及大约25个不同参与者的互动，生成30-40个文件，使用2-3种不同的模式，并在多达12-15个物理地点进行处理。2010年上海世博会是一场引人注目的盛会，预计将吸引全球7000万游客。上海和利物浦这对孪生城市有着数百年的牢固关系，在航运业方面有着许多相似之处。利用上述优势，为期两天的海上物流研讨会将于2009年8月在上海2010年世博会利物浦馆举行。研讨会的范围涵盖了广泛的海上物流领域，从基础研究到实际应用。研讨会的主题包括海事物流教育、财务管理、物流管理、供应链管理、港口管理、安全及保安管理，以及政策制定等，并将透过特邀讲者作专题介绍。本次研讨会将有两个小组讨论，分别是金融海啸后的海上物流发展趋势和气候变化对航运的影响。此次研讨会为英国大学和公司与中国的机构合作提供了巨大的机会。本次研讨会的主题是建立一个综合的海上物流系统。本次研讨会不仅是一个特别的论坛，支持在广泛的海上物流阶段的发展和分享思想，最佳实践和专业知识，而且是在远东（特别是中国）和英国的一般海上物流研究领域建立广泛合作的学者和实业家之间的独特场合。研讨会结束后，项目的四位研究人员将被安排到上海的两所大学进行研究访问。李博士和伊斯梅尔博士将研究海运港口业务与内陆多式联运物流网络和全球网络的整合和优化问题。王教授和杨博士将与上海海事大学合作，研究如何有效解决集装箱供应链中的风险和安全问题，以及如何处理用于分析的数据中的高度不确定性，以进行理性决策。这种研究访问的可能成果包括收集数据，以便在英国进一步研究，更好地了解中国的物流管理、供应链管理和集装箱运输，以便与中国组织合作，并为外部资助制定联合提案。

The maritime industry forms a vital link in the chain of the global trade with some 90 percent of international trade conducted by sea. Maritime logistics studies are increasingly attracting attention from both the industrial sector and academic community. Modern logistics operations are complex in nature. For example, a typical door-to-door journey using a shipping container will involve the interaction of approximately 25 different participants, generate 30-40 documents, use 2-3 different modes and be handled at as many as 12-15 physical locations. The Shanghai World Expo 2010 is an eye-catching event expected to attract 70m visitors world-wide. The twin cities of Shanghai and Liverpool have a strong relationship going back many hundreds of years, and share many similarities particularly in the maritime industries. Taking the advantage of the above, the proposed Maritime Logistics Symposium of two days is to be held at the Liverpool pavilion within the Shanghai World Expo 2010 site in August 2009. The scope of the Symposium covers a broad spectrum of areas of maritime logistics ranging from fundamental research to real-world applications. In particular, the topic areas covered in the Symposium include maritime logistics education, finance management, logistics management, supply chain management, port management, safety and security management and policy making which will be specifically addressed through invited presentations. There will be two panel discussions on trends in maritime logistics development following the financial Tsunami and impact of the climate change on shipping in this symposium.This symposium provides huge opportunities for UK universities and companies to collaborate with organisations in China. The theme of this symposium is working towards an integrated maritime logistics system . This symposium is not only a special forum for supporting the development and sharing of ideas, best practices and expertise in a wide range of maritime logistics phases but also a unique occasion in terms of establishing wide collaboration between scholars and industrialists in the Far East (particularly China) and the UK in the areas of general maritime logistics studies. Following the Symposium, research visits for the four investigators of this project are arranged at two universities in Shanghai. Dr Li and Dr Ismail will investigate issues of integration and optimisation of maritime port operations with inland multi-modal logistics network and global networks, and impact of carbon emission control in such a context at Shanghai Jiao Tong University while Prof. Wang and Dr Yang will work with Shanghai Maritime University to study how risk and security issues are effectively addressed in a container supply chain and how high level of uncertainties in data for analysis is dealt with for rational decision making. Possible outcomes of such research visits include collected data for further research in the UK, better understanding of logistics management, supply chain management and container transport in China for collaboration with Chinese organisations and development of joint proposals for external funding.