Investing in the tanker market, especially in the VLCC sector constitutes a risky undertaking due to the volatility of tanker freight rates. This paper attempts to uncover the benefits of using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) in forecasting VLCC spot freight rates. This is achieved by...

China will soon initiate its strategic oil reserves programme. This programme will be of great significance, politically and economically, in offsetting the risks of the world oil market and in guaranteeing the speedy development of China's economy. In the implementation phase of the programme...

Firstly, we discuss about the participation of transport cost to the total product cost. Secondly, we analyse how the liberalisation of road and rail freight transport in Germany, UK, and the USA is affecting the efficiency market shares, the oligopolistic situations, the safety and the service...

The goal of this paper is to analyse which concession alternative for Callao port, mono- or multi-operator, is more beneficial for the Peruvian society. The author uses the regulation theory, publicly available data, Monte Carlo simulation and real-option theory to analyse the viability of the...

Each sea route is different and will demand a different solution to ensure customer acceptance, commercial viability, effective integration, and compliance with regulatory requirements. In seeking to investigate the feasibility of any fast ship route, a holistic appraisal must therefore...

In 2001, a study on Malaysian seafarers was conducted by the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA). It was discovered that Malaysia relies on the services of foreign seafarers to fulfil about 44% of the manning requirements for its ships. Various reasons were cited for this situation. Among...

According to the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), the use of technical trading rules, where buy and sell decisions are based on past price patterns, should not consistently yield an economically significant excess profit. This paper evaluates the validity of the EMH in the second-hand market...