Portcentriclogistics【外文翻译】

外文翻译原文Port-centric logisticsMaterial Source:www.nbdl.gov.cn Author: John Mangan and Chandra Lalwani1

外文翻译 原文 Port-centric logistics Material Source:www.nbdl.gov.cn Author: John Mangan and Chandra Lalwani 1. Ports and supply chains Ports and maritime transport have existed for some thousands of years and have developed in line with the evolution of International trade which has been inherent in shaping the modern world. Some 6billion tones of freight moves by maritime transport each year and is estimated to comprise 45 percent liquid bulks,23 percent dry bulks and 32percent general cargo. Total freight movements vary according to region, commodity and freight origin/destination. According to the World Bank(2001), there are more than 2,000 ports around the world, from single berth locations handling afew hundred tones ayear to some of the world’s largest ports such as Shanghai, Singapore and Rotterdam, which individually handle multiples of this (in the case of Shanghai, for example, the 2005 estimate is 443 million metric tones American Association of Port Authorities, 2005). Ports and maritime transport thus play an important role today in global commerce. It is important to first define exactly what is meant by the term “port”. According to Stopford (1997), aport is “a geographical area where ships are brought alongside land to load and discharge cargo –usually asheltered deep water area such as abay of river mouth”. Often ports comprise multiple terminals, aterminal being “a section of the port consisting of one or more berths devoted to aparticular type of cargo handling”. Ports handle various different categories of freight. Maritime freight is typically classified as: liquid bulk (the most significant sub-category here is oil), dry bulk(such as coal and some agricultural products), unitised freight (which comprises both lift-on/lift-off containers, i.e. Lo-Lo and roll-on/roll-off units, i.e. Ro-Ro), and other general freight. Some ports handle all categories of freight, while others focus on particular categories; different types of handling equipment at ports are usually required for these different categories of freight. Robinson suggests that: the role of ports and the way in which ports position themselves must be defined within aparadigm of ports as elements in value-driven chain systems, not simply as places with particular, if complex, functions. 1