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

海运业是全球贸易链中至关重要的一环，约90%的国际贸易通过海运进行。海运物流的研究越来越受到工业界和学术界的关注。现代物流业务在本质上是复杂的。例如，使用集装箱的典型门到门旅程将涉及大约25个不同参与者的交互，生成30-40个文档，使用2-3种不同的模式，并在多达12-15个物理位置进行处理。2010年上海世博会是一个引人注目的盛会，预计将吸引全球7000万游客。上海和利物浦这两座姊妹城市有着数百年的深厚关系，特别是在海运业方面有着许多相似之处。鉴于上述情况，拟于2009年8月在2010年上海世博会园区内的利物浦馆举办为期两天的海事物流研讨会。研讨会的范围涵盖了从基础研究到实际应用的广泛的海运物流领域。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。本次研讨会将有两个专题讨论，分别是金融海啸后的海运物流发展趋势和气候变化对航运的影响。本次研讨会为英国大学和企业提供了与中国机构合作的巨大机会。本次研讨会的主题是致力于建立一个综合的海上物流系统。本次研讨会不仅是一个支持发展和分享各种海上物流阶段的想法，最佳实践和专业知识的特殊论坛，而且也是远东（特别是中国）和英国学者和工业家在一般海上物流研究领域建立广泛合作的独特机会。研讨会结束后，该项目的四名研究人员被安排在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港口运作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，研究如何有效地解决集装箱供应链中的风险和安全问题，以及如何在高水平的分析数据的不确定性是为了合理决策。这些研究访问的可能成果包括收集数据以供在英国进一步研究，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，并制定联合建议以寻求外部资金。

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.