Yapa Mahinda Bandara | Edinburgh Napier University (original) (raw)

Everything in your plate has been transported by Yapa Mahinda Bandara

The current paper demonstrates how interaction between ports in a network can be analysed in two ... more The current paper demonstrates how interaction between ports in a network can be analysed in two steps. The first step is econometric analysis to estimate ports’ tariff response functions and examine how ports set their tariffs given other ports’ tariff decision. The second step is graphical analysis that involves the identifying of the network relationship based on the result obtained from the first step. The procedure is applied to analyse the network relationship between ports in three regions in Australia, namely Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, and Western Australia. The result provides an insight into strategic interaction in the port network not previously seen in the literature. Especially, it has been found that while some ports appear to strategically interact with each other in tariffs setting, other ports prefer to set their own tariffs independently of each other.
Moreover, strategic pricing can be asymmetric rather than symmetric. The result of analysis provides implications for port management and policy makers. For example, while the existence of ‘complementary’ strategic pricing may not be seen as evidence of price leadership, it indicates that port users may not be able to look around for an alternative port if the existing port increases its tariff.

This paper examines the infrastructure charges of sea-ports and port pricing policies in Australi... more This paper examines the infrastructure charges of sea-ports and port pricing policies in Australia and New Zealand. The analysis covers 40 sea-ports and takes into account their administrative roles as well as geographical factors. Analysis of the effectiveness of ports’ pricing policies is also conducted and related to port reform. The analysis finds the existence of disparities in the growth rates of port infrastructure tariff across ports in both countries. There is a considerable increase in port infrastructure tariffs but at different rates. Moreover, port pricing policies vary substantially across states, territories and regions of the two countries, notwithstanding the fact that ports having different traffic volumes. Infrastructure pricing practices have been affected by port reforms and the port administrative regime. While port corporatisation tends to maintain a high level of infrastructure charges with higher growth rates, commercialization and privatisation tend to a relatively low level of infrastructure tariffs and annual growth rates. Based on the results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis, implications for port management and
governments at both the state and national levels are discussed. Given the exploratory nature of the research, limitations of the research and implications for future research are also discussed.

The main aim of this paper is to examine the factors influential to the practical process of seap... more The main aim of this paper is to examine the factors influential to the practical process of seaport infrastructure tariff design and practice. The analysis is based on survey data of 67 seaports representing Australasian, East Asian, European, North American and South American regions. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is firstly carried out to identify the factors influential to the
selection of the tariff design model, tariff level and revision process. Subsequently, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is used to confirm the relationship between the variables. It has been found that demand, pricing knowledge, dynamics of the port and shipping sectors (including competition and ship size), tariff objectives and financial factors are influential factors in infrastructure tariff design. Most ports use a mix of pricing approaches including price discrimination, cost-based pricing, and market-based pricing. Ports are aware of the basic pricing approaches but have limited knowledge of their application. The study has also found that tariff policy, regulatory control, stakeholder participation and transparency are factors influencing infrastructure tariff practices. Based on the results of analysis, implications for port management on the design and practices of port infrastructure tariffs are discussed, and given the exploratory nature of the study, the limitations and implications for future research are also presented.

Papers by Yapa Mahinda Bandara

Journal of south asian logistics and transport, Sep 24, 2021

The accurate and timely decision making of drivers is vital to ensuring public safety and reachin... more The accurate and timely decision making of drivers is vital to ensuring public safety and reaching the destination in time. This paper presents a detailed comparison of the expectation of regulatory bodies in implementing flashing amber lights and explores the actual driver responses to flashing amber lights at a signalised Tintersection by taking speed variation as a proxy for their decision making. A survey was conducted at a signalised T-intersection during the operation of flashing amber lights to measure the speed variation. Time-distance and speed gun techniques were used to collect speed data of motor cars. Results reflect those drivers show only a marginal response to flashing amber lights. Therefore, the intention of regulatory bodies that vehicles maintaining lower speed at a T-intersection with flashing amber lights was not satisfactorily fulfilled. The marginal response of drivers to flashing amber lights can be a leading cause of accidents occurring in signalised T-intersections at odd (night) hours.

Sri Lanka Journal of Economic Research, 2021

Growing of the automobile industry and the demand for personal car use and chronic financial defi... more Growing of the automobile industry and the demand for personal car use and chronic financial deficits in the balance sheets of rail operators have significantly affected the rail industry deterioration since 1970. However, gradual rail reforms were carried out by many countries to eliminate financial and operational issues and to develop their rail transportation systems. Sri Lanka has more than 150 years of history in railway operations, yet it is still in a weak position in terms of the operational efficiency and the financial position. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the key issues and root causes for the operational and financial deficiencies of Sri Lanka Railways and identify the best reform model in the light of world rail reform experiences and rail industry experts’ opinion. A semi-structured questionnaire was employed to interview twelve railway industry experts. Content analysis, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Method, and Policy Delphi Method were the main...

Sri Lanka Journal of Economic Research

2017 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2017

The main concern of this research is to examines traffic congestion costs related with the road p... more The main concern of this research is to examines traffic congestion costs related with the road passenger transportation. With the rapid urbanization, it is evident that commercial and socio economic activity tending to centralize only in few major cities in a country. This has led to increase in the number of the commuters daily traveling to the cities. Also the economy grows and real income of household & vehicle population also increasing. Those things are creating a major issue of congestion, especially within urban cities. Road traffic congestion interrupts and reduces productivity level and it is a symbol of economic depression. This research presents the complete methodological process from data collection to analysis of main two cost factors of road traffic congestion. Those cost factors are workforce productivity time loss & excess fuel energy consumption/operating cost. The most important aspect of this study is that it provides a measure of the real monetary cost of congestion to local or regional economies.

2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2018

Concession has been acknowledged as an important tool for port authorities to retain control of p... more Concession has been acknowledged as an important tool for port authorities to retain control of ports by contracts out the management and operation to the private sector for a specific time period [1]. This study focuses on developing a model to measure the concessionaire impact on port performance and efficiency using the pre and post privatization data. Parameters such as Crane rate, Elapsed rate, Total TEU and Ships handled were used as variable for the assessment and the secondary data were collected from a website of Australian government. The statistical report called ‘Waterline’ provides the latest data available on stevedoring productivity and landside performance of five Australian major port terminals for the period of 1990 to 2007. The samples were drawn as panel data by indicating 90 observations to test the model. The collected data was analyzed using Multiple Regression analysis and “Minitab 16” as the analytical software. Analysis revealed a continuous improvement in the developed model and the findings of the research indicated that crane rate of ports with the concessionaire are higher than that of ports without concessionaire while that value of Elapsed rate was lower than that. From observation in this study, a decision can be made that the increased trend in transferring government port operations and asset to the private sector suggests that public ports can benefit from greater private sector participation than fully privatization.

Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs

Maritime Business Review

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons for the stagnant behaviour of se... more PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons for the stagnant behaviour of seaports contributing towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Design/methodology/approachGlobal seaport sustainability practices that correspond with SDGs were identified through an extensive literature review. In total, five focus interviews were carried out with port managers in Sri Lanka to identify the existing knowledge about seaport sustainability, and the reasons for disparities between the global standards and country-level port sustainability practices. Data collected from a questionnaire survey of 55 seaport terminal managers in Sri Lanka were analysed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and thematic analysis.FindingsDeficient collaborative policies, structural and managerial constraints, market constraints and the absence of a well-established SDG-driven global port framework were identified as significant barriers for seaports to contribute towards SDGs.Social implicat...

2020 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2020

Agricultural sector in Sri Lanka produces more than 80 varieties of fruits and vegetables, and th... more Agricultural sector in Sri Lanka produces more than 80 varieties of fruits and vegetables, and the development of the sector along with the improvement of quality and efficiency can provide significant benefits to the economy through domestic and export marketing. The majority of the farmers involved in the fruits and vegetable sector are small scale farmers and the supply chain is majorly controlled by the intermediaries. Malpractices committed by farmers as well as intermediaries throughout different stages of the vegetable supply have been the primary causes of post-harvest losses. This paper examines the role of intermediaries along the vegetable supply chain and identifies factors contributing to the post-harvest losses. The results are based on an in-depth personal interview with 7 industry personnel. The results revealed improper packaging, malpractices during transportation, careless handling, and unsuitable harvesting practices as major causes of post-harvest losses. The re...

In the era of globalization, the seaport sector plays a pivotal role in promoting international t... more In the era of globalization, the seaport sector plays a pivotal role in promoting international trade and economic development. Thus investment in the sector is necessary to accommodate increasing demand that is driven by international trade and ports becoming the logistics role in production and distribution. On the other hand, port operations are highly capital intensive with limited financing options especially for the developing countries. Port investment in developing countries is even more critical given a relatively low level of infrastructure development but higher growth rate of international trade and production and consumption expansion. Sri Lanka is no exception as an island country depending on the maritime sector for its exports and imports and coastal trade; the country has the average GDP growth rate of 7% for the 2008-14 periods, along with a 3% growth of maritime throughput with 3667 vessels arrivals in 2014. This paper presents a review of the current strategic is...

This study examines how national shipping can be affected by various factors such as external tra... more This study examines how national shipping can be affected by various factors such as external trade, ship registration, shipbuilding capacity, shipping history, shipping policy, overall level of economic and technological development, oil exports and the development of the financial system. The study also covers both the national fleet and beneficial fleet as the two main dimension of national shipping using cross sectional data pertinent to two time frames, 2005 and 2014. The analysis results show that international trade, ship registration, shipbuilding capacity, oil export, shipping history, financial sector development and shipping policy continue to play a significant role in explaining the variations in tonnage owned by shipping nations, while the effects of other factors have different level of significance. Moreover, the effects of many variables on national shipping have also changed over the last decade. The overall level of economic development represented by income per c...

Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs, 2015

ABSTRACT This paper examines the infrastructure charges of sea-ports and port pricing policies in... more ABSTRACT This paper examines the infrastructure charges of sea-ports and port pricing policies in Australia and New Zealand. The analysis covers 40 sea-ports and takes into account their administrative roles as well as geographical factors. Analysis of the effectiveness of ports’ pricing policies is also conducted and related to port reform. The analysis finds the existence of disparities in the growth rates of port infrastructure tariff across ports in both countries. There is a considerable increase in port infrastructure tariffs but at different rates. Moreover, port pricing policies vary substantially across states, territories and regions of the two countries, notwithstanding the fact that ports having different traffic volumes. Infrastructure pricing practices have been affected by port reforms and the port administrative regime. While port corporatisation tends to maintain a high level of infrastructure charges with higher growth rates, commercialization and privatisation tend to a relatively low level of infrastructure tariffs and annual growth rates. Based on the results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis, implications for port management and governments at both the state and national levels are discussed. Given the exploratory nature of the research, limitations of the research and implications for future research are also discussed.

The current paper demonstrates how interaction between ports in a network can be analysed in two ... more The current paper demonstrates how interaction between ports in a network can be analysed in two steps. The first step is econometric analysis to estimate ports’ tariff response functions and examine how ports set their tariffs given other ports’ tariff decision. The second step is graphical analysis that involves the identifying of the network relationship based on the result obtained from the first step. The procedure is applied to analyse the network relationship between ports in three regions in Australia, namely Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, and Western Australia. The result provides an insight into strategic interaction in the port network not previously seen in the literature. Especially, it has been found that while some ports appear to strategically interact with each other in tariffs setting, other ports prefer to set their own tariffs independently of each other. Moreover, strategic pricing can be asymmetric rather than symmetric. The result of analysis provid...

Research in Transportation Economics, 2010

Despite many theories on port pricing have been discussed in literature, e.g. cost-based, market ... more Despite many theories on port pricing have been discussed in literature, e.g. cost-based, market based and cost-benefit theories, empirical research on this topic remains very limited. Especially, no study has been found to investigate the determinants of port infrastructure charges. This paper seeks to empirically analyse port infrastructure charges using the data of 159 worldwide ports across different geographic regions. The result of simultaneous equation regression with channel dues and berth occupancy charges as the (dependent) variables representing port infrastructure charges indicates that the pricing of seaport infrastructure is primarily cost-based but other factors also relevant to the port pricing models are actually used by the ports. Among those factors, in particular, demand and the port management and governance model have been found to significantly impact port infrastructure charges. Given the explanatory nature of its research, the paper also discusses the limita...

The current paper demonstrates how interaction between ports in a network can be analysed in two ... more The current paper demonstrates how interaction between ports in a network can be analysed in two steps. The first step is econometric analysis to estimate ports’ tariff response functions and examine how ports set their tariffs given other ports’ tariff decision. The second step is graphical analysis that involves the identifying of the network relationship based on the result obtained from the first step. The procedure is applied to analyse the network relationship between ports in three regions in Australia, namely Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, and Western Australia. The result provides an insight into strategic interaction in the port network not previously seen in the literature. Especially, it has been found that while some ports appear to strategically interact with each other in tariffs setting, other ports prefer to set their own tariffs independently of each other.
Moreover, strategic pricing can be asymmetric rather than symmetric. The result of analysis provides implications for port management and policy makers. For example, while the existence of ‘complementary’ strategic pricing may not be seen as evidence of price leadership, it indicates that port users may not be able to look around for an alternative port if the existing port increases its tariff.

This paper examines the infrastructure charges of sea-ports and port pricing policies in Australi... more This paper examines the infrastructure charges of sea-ports and port pricing policies in Australia and New Zealand. The analysis covers 40 sea-ports and takes into account their administrative roles as well as geographical factors. Analysis of the effectiveness of ports’ pricing policies is also conducted and related to port reform. The analysis finds the existence of disparities in the growth rates of port infrastructure tariff across ports in both countries. There is a considerable increase in port infrastructure tariffs but at different rates. Moreover, port pricing policies vary substantially across states, territories and regions of the two countries, notwithstanding the fact that ports having different traffic volumes. Infrastructure pricing practices have been affected by port reforms and the port administrative regime. While port corporatisation tends to maintain a high level of infrastructure charges with higher growth rates, commercialization and privatisation tend to a relatively low level of infrastructure tariffs and annual growth rates. Based on the results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis, implications for port management and
governments at both the state and national levels are discussed. Given the exploratory nature of the research, limitations of the research and implications for future research are also discussed.

The main aim of this paper is to examine the factors influential to the practical process of seap... more The main aim of this paper is to examine the factors influential to the practical process of seaport infrastructure tariff design and practice. The analysis is based on survey data of 67 seaports representing Australasian, East Asian, European, North American and South American regions. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is firstly carried out to identify the factors influential to the
selection of the tariff design model, tariff level and revision process. Subsequently, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is used to confirm the relationship between the variables. It has been found that demand, pricing knowledge, dynamics of the port and shipping sectors (including competition and ship size), tariff objectives and financial factors are influential factors in infrastructure tariff design. Most ports use a mix of pricing approaches including price discrimination, cost-based pricing, and market-based pricing. Ports are aware of the basic pricing approaches but have limited knowledge of their application. The study has also found that tariff policy, regulatory control, stakeholder participation and transparency are factors influencing infrastructure tariff practices. Based on the results of analysis, implications for port management on the design and practices of port infrastructure tariffs are discussed, and given the exploratory nature of the study, the limitations and implications for future research are also presented.

Journal of south asian logistics and transport, Sep 24, 2021

The accurate and timely decision making of drivers is vital to ensuring public safety and reachin... more The accurate and timely decision making of drivers is vital to ensuring public safety and reaching the destination in time. This paper presents a detailed comparison of the expectation of regulatory bodies in implementing flashing amber lights and explores the actual driver responses to flashing amber lights at a signalised Tintersection by taking speed variation as a proxy for their decision making. A survey was conducted at a signalised T-intersection during the operation of flashing amber lights to measure the speed variation. Time-distance and speed gun techniques were used to collect speed data of motor cars. Results reflect those drivers show only a marginal response to flashing amber lights. Therefore, the intention of regulatory bodies that vehicles maintaining lower speed at a T-intersection with flashing amber lights was not satisfactorily fulfilled. The marginal response of drivers to flashing amber lights can be a leading cause of accidents occurring in signalised T-intersections at odd (night) hours.

Sri Lanka Journal of Economic Research, 2021

Growing of the automobile industry and the demand for personal car use and chronic financial defi... more Growing of the automobile industry and the demand for personal car use and chronic financial deficits in the balance sheets of rail operators have significantly affected the rail industry deterioration since 1970. However, gradual rail reforms were carried out by many countries to eliminate financial and operational issues and to develop their rail transportation systems. Sri Lanka has more than 150 years of history in railway operations, yet it is still in a weak position in terms of the operational efficiency and the financial position. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the key issues and root causes for the operational and financial deficiencies of Sri Lanka Railways and identify the best reform model in the light of world rail reform experiences and rail industry experts’ opinion. A semi-structured questionnaire was employed to interview twelve railway industry experts. Content analysis, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Method, and Policy Delphi Method were the main...

Sri Lanka Journal of Economic Research

2017 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2017

The main concern of this research is to examines traffic congestion costs related with the road p... more The main concern of this research is to examines traffic congestion costs related with the road passenger transportation. With the rapid urbanization, it is evident that commercial and socio economic activity tending to centralize only in few major cities in a country. This has led to increase in the number of the commuters daily traveling to the cities. Also the economy grows and real income of household & vehicle population also increasing. Those things are creating a major issue of congestion, especially within urban cities. Road traffic congestion interrupts and reduces productivity level and it is a symbol of economic depression. This research presents the complete methodological process from data collection to analysis of main two cost factors of road traffic congestion. Those cost factors are workforce productivity time loss & excess fuel energy consumption/operating cost. The most important aspect of this study is that it provides a measure of the real monetary cost of congestion to local or regional economies.

2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2018

Concession has been acknowledged as an important tool for port authorities to retain control of p... more Concession has been acknowledged as an important tool for port authorities to retain control of ports by contracts out the management and operation to the private sector for a specific time period [1]. This study focuses on developing a model to measure the concessionaire impact on port performance and efficiency using the pre and post privatization data. Parameters such as Crane rate, Elapsed rate, Total TEU and Ships handled were used as variable for the assessment and the secondary data were collected from a website of Australian government. The statistical report called ‘Waterline’ provides the latest data available on stevedoring productivity and landside performance of five Australian major port terminals for the period of 1990 to 2007. The samples were drawn as panel data by indicating 90 observations to test the model. The collected data was analyzed using Multiple Regression analysis and “Minitab 16” as the analytical software. Analysis revealed a continuous improvement in the developed model and the findings of the research indicated that crane rate of ports with the concessionaire are higher than that of ports without concessionaire while that value of Elapsed rate was lower than that. From observation in this study, a decision can be made that the increased trend in transferring government port operations and asset to the private sector suggests that public ports can benefit from greater private sector participation than fully privatization.

Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs

Maritime Business Review

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons for the stagnant behaviour of se... more PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons for the stagnant behaviour of seaports contributing towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Design/methodology/approachGlobal seaport sustainability practices that correspond with SDGs were identified through an extensive literature review. In total, five focus interviews were carried out with port managers in Sri Lanka to identify the existing knowledge about seaport sustainability, and the reasons for disparities between the global standards and country-level port sustainability practices. Data collected from a questionnaire survey of 55 seaport terminal managers in Sri Lanka were analysed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and thematic analysis.FindingsDeficient collaborative policies, structural and managerial constraints, market constraints and the absence of a well-established SDG-driven global port framework were identified as significant barriers for seaports to contribute towards SDGs.Social implicat...

2020 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2020

Agricultural sector in Sri Lanka produces more than 80 varieties of fruits and vegetables, and th... more Agricultural sector in Sri Lanka produces more than 80 varieties of fruits and vegetables, and the development of the sector along with the improvement of quality and efficiency can provide significant benefits to the economy through domestic and export marketing. The majority of the farmers involved in the fruits and vegetable sector are small scale farmers and the supply chain is majorly controlled by the intermediaries. Malpractices committed by farmers as well as intermediaries throughout different stages of the vegetable supply have been the primary causes of post-harvest losses. This paper examines the role of intermediaries along the vegetable supply chain and identifies factors contributing to the post-harvest losses. The results are based on an in-depth personal interview with 7 industry personnel. The results revealed improper packaging, malpractices during transportation, careless handling, and unsuitable harvesting practices as major causes of post-harvest losses. The re...

In the era of globalization, the seaport sector plays a pivotal role in promoting international t... more In the era of globalization, the seaport sector plays a pivotal role in promoting international trade and economic development. Thus investment in the sector is necessary to accommodate increasing demand that is driven by international trade and ports becoming the logistics role in production and distribution. On the other hand, port operations are highly capital intensive with limited financing options especially for the developing countries. Port investment in developing countries is even more critical given a relatively low level of infrastructure development but higher growth rate of international trade and production and consumption expansion. Sri Lanka is no exception as an island country depending on the maritime sector for its exports and imports and coastal trade; the country has the average GDP growth rate of 7% for the 2008-14 periods, along with a 3% growth of maritime throughput with 3667 vessels arrivals in 2014. This paper presents a review of the current strategic is...

This study examines how national shipping can be affected by various factors such as external tra... more This study examines how national shipping can be affected by various factors such as external trade, ship registration, shipbuilding capacity, shipping history, shipping policy, overall level of economic and technological development, oil exports and the development of the financial system. The study also covers both the national fleet and beneficial fleet as the two main dimension of national shipping using cross sectional data pertinent to two time frames, 2005 and 2014. The analysis results show that international trade, ship registration, shipbuilding capacity, oil export, shipping history, financial sector development and shipping policy continue to play a significant role in explaining the variations in tonnage owned by shipping nations, while the effects of other factors have different level of significance. Moreover, the effects of many variables on national shipping have also changed over the last decade. The overall level of economic development represented by income per c...

Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs, 2015

ABSTRACT This paper examines the infrastructure charges of sea-ports and port pricing policies in... more ABSTRACT This paper examines the infrastructure charges of sea-ports and port pricing policies in Australia and New Zealand. The analysis covers 40 sea-ports and takes into account their administrative roles as well as geographical factors. Analysis of the effectiveness of ports’ pricing policies is also conducted and related to port reform. The analysis finds the existence of disparities in the growth rates of port infrastructure tariff across ports in both countries. There is a considerable increase in port infrastructure tariffs but at different rates. Moreover, port pricing policies vary substantially across states, territories and regions of the two countries, notwithstanding the fact that ports having different traffic volumes. Infrastructure pricing practices have been affected by port reforms and the port administrative regime. While port corporatisation tends to maintain a high level of infrastructure charges with higher growth rates, commercialization and privatisation tend to a relatively low level of infrastructure tariffs and annual growth rates. Based on the results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis, implications for port management and governments at both the state and national levels are discussed. Given the exploratory nature of the research, limitations of the research and implications for future research are also discussed.

The current paper demonstrates how interaction between ports in a network can be analysed in two ... more The current paper demonstrates how interaction between ports in a network can be analysed in two steps. The first step is econometric analysis to estimate ports’ tariff response functions and examine how ports set their tariffs given other ports’ tariff decision. The second step is graphical analysis that involves the identifying of the network relationship based on the result obtained from the first step. The procedure is applied to analyse the network relationship between ports in three regions in Australia, namely Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, and Western Australia. The result provides an insight into strategic interaction in the port network not previously seen in the literature. Especially, it has been found that while some ports appear to strategically interact with each other in tariffs setting, other ports prefer to set their own tariffs independently of each other. Moreover, strategic pricing can be asymmetric rather than symmetric. The result of analysis provid...

Research in Transportation Economics, 2010

Despite many theories on port pricing have been discussed in literature, e.g. cost-based, market ... more Despite many theories on port pricing have been discussed in literature, e.g. cost-based, market based and cost-benefit theories, empirical research on this topic remains very limited. Especially, no study has been found to investigate the determinants of port infrastructure charges. This paper seeks to empirically analyse port infrastructure charges using the data of 159 worldwide ports across different geographic regions. The result of simultaneous equation regression with channel dues and berth occupancy charges as the (dependent) variables representing port infrastructure charges indicates that the pricing of seaport infrastructure is primarily cost-based but other factors also relevant to the port pricing models are actually used by the ports. Among those factors, in particular, demand and the port management and governance model have been found to significantly impact port infrastructure charges. Given the explanatory nature of its research, the paper also discusses the limita...

The main aim of this paper is to examine the factors influential to the practical process of seap... more The main aim of this paper is to examine the factors influential to the practical process of seaport infrastructure tariff design and practice. The analysis is based on survey data of 67 seaports representing Australasian, East Asian, European, North American and South American regions. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is firstly carried out to identify the factors influential to the selection of the tariff design model, tariff level and revision process. Subsequently, confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is used to confirm the relationship between the variables. It has been found that demand, pricing knowledge, dynamics of the port and shipping sectors (including competition and ship size), tariff objectives and financial factors are influential factors in infrastructure tariff design. Most ports use a mix of pricing approaches including price discrimination, cost-based pricing, and market-based pricing. Ports are aware of the basic pricing approaches but have limited knowledge of t...

2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon), 2018

As rail road multimodal transportation integrates economic, social and environmental advantages, ... more As rail road multimodal transportation integrates economic, social and environmental advantages, rail freight transportation is considered as a vital and effective distribution solution for both bulk and non-bulk cargo in several countries of the world. But all most all of the freight in Sri Lanka is distributed using road transportation modes. Even the minor proportion of freight on rail mostly consist bulk cargo types. As the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) which is a type of non-bulk cargo, is distributed fast to dispersed locations throughout the country, using rail as a main leg of distribution can be a potential opportunity. Unfortunately none of the FMCG companies in Sri Lanka today are using rail freight distribution and the main focus of the research is identifying the impediments that hinder the these companies to shift from road to rail. The research revealed five major impediments; lack of collaboration among government and private sector, cost consciousness, doubts on...

The gains from international supply chains are highly affected by the exchange rate fluctuations ... more The gains from international supply chains are highly affected by the exchange rate fluctuations in the foreign exchange market. Traditional forecasting methods have not been very useful, and as a ...

International Journal of e-Navigation and Maritime Economy, 2015

Malaysia, situated between East and West, is an interface in world maritime trade, playing a cruc... more Malaysia, situated between East and West, is an interface in world maritime trade, playing a crucial role in the business of moving container boxes in Southeastern parts of Asia. The prominent container terminals in Malaysia such as Port Klang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas are positioned among the top twenty ports in terms of volume handled. The annual average growth of throughputs in Malaysian container ports increased more than threefold from the year 2000 to 2010. Within this context, the development of Malaysian seaports has been significantly influenced by three forces: increased use of containerisation, significant growth in domestic economic activities and ever-changing patterns in both supply and demand chains, all of which have led to increased transshipment activities and altered shipping routes. This phenomenon has brought dynamic change to Malaysian container ports, resulting in the establishment of new terminals and adapting emerging technology to enhance the ports' ability to accommodate larger vessels and an increased number of containers. This paper aims to present the development of Malaysian container seaports by addressing changes to acreage size and handling volumes during the last three decades. The results of the analysis suggest that major Malaysian ports are experiencing an exponential growth in container trade with the expansion of port capacity following trade growth and need effective strategies to reduce the operational pressures of Malaysian seaports. The results of this research offer directions for development strategies of seaports by utilising the existing inland freight facilities as an effective strategy for capacity enhancement and develop efficient distribution network to meet future demands.

ERU Symposium 2021 Proceedings

Fruits and vegetables supply chain in Sri Lanka has always been a contemporary topic due to its s... more Fruits and vegetables supply chain in Sri Lanka has always been a contemporary topic due to its significant value to the economy of the country. The existing fruits and vegetables supply chain is already suffering from dilemmas such as high price fluctuations, excess supply and wastage, involvement of large number of intermediaries and lack of infrastructure. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has put a tremendous pressure on already trembling supply chains. Sudden lock downs have led to disruption of existing distribution channels resulting farmers throwing away millions of tons of fresh fruits and vegetables while consumers in urban areas paying extremely high prices for fresh produce. The current situations clearly demonstrate the need for a more responsive and integrated vegetables supply chain for Sri Lanka. This paper attempts to create a conceptual model for the vegetable supply chain ecosystem for Sri Lanka.