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The Department had following peer-reviewed journal publications issued the latest months:

-      Vanelslander Thierry, Chomat Gilles, Roumboutsos Athena, Bonnet Géraldine.- Cross-sectoral comparison of concessions in transport : urban, road and port pre-fuzzy assessment , Built environment project and asset management - ISSN 2044-124X - 4:1(2014), p. 22-39

-      Onghena Evy, Meersman Hilde, Van de Voorde Eddy. A translog cost function of the integrated air freight business : the case of FedEx and UPS, Transportation research: part A: policy and practice-issn 0965-8564-62(2014),p. 81-97

-      Vanelslander Thierry, Heaver Trevor.- Editorial special issue on forecasting, capacity, pricing and sustainability issues in shipping and ports, International journal of shipping and transport logistics - ISSN 1756-6517 - 6:2(2014), p. 109-111

-      Zijlstra Toon, Vanoutrive Thomas (2014) De bloedsomloop van onze economie. Agora 30 (2), p.13-16

The Department recently had following new books published by its members:

-      Hilde Meersman, Eddy Van de Voorde, Thierry Vanelslander had a book published on Port Infrastructure Finance (to be released on 6 June 2014). This book provides an expert analysis of alternative investments routes and the investment strategies available to the major port players, and is a much-needed guide to expanding the investor base for private debt funding of projects from loan providers to bond investors. Port Infrastructure Finance is an invaluable book for all parties involved in the port and maritime business, as well as investment companies, banks and other financial institutions involved in infrastructure investment.

-      Shun Chen, Hilde Meersman, Eddy Van de Voorde and Koos Frouws had a book published on Modelling and Forecasting in Dry Bulk Shipping (to be released on 30 April 2014). This book models price behaviour and forecasts prices in the dry bulk shipping market, a major component of the world shipping industry. This book will be extremely useful for shipbuilders, owners and charterers, as well as shipping analysts and policymakers. It will also be of great interest to academics and researchers concerned with the economics of the shipping industry

-      Thomas Vanoutrive and Kobe Boussauw just had a book published on ‘het mobielste land ter wereld, een dialoog over duurzame mobiliteit’. The book introduces advantages and drawbacks of mobility problems experienced and solutions provided.

Furthermore, following ‘classic’ book publications from the Department are still available:

-      TPR members Thomas Vanoutrive and Ann Verhetsel edited a book in the NECTAR series on Transportation and Communications Networks Research: ‘Smart Transport Networks - Market Structure, Sustainability and Decision Making’. Three of the key factors that underpin the relationship between transport and society are analysed in detail from a variety of perspectives, each with an empirical focus: market structure and the allocation mechanisms at work; sustainability, encompassing the characteristics of the physical environment, the availability of natural resources and the effects of transport activities; and decision making, detailing transport policy and attempts to change transport systems. Practical guidelines on how to effectively deal with complex transport issues are also presented.

-      Hilde Meersman and Eddy Van de Voorde, together with Moshe Ben Akiva (MIT), edited a new book on Freight Transport Modelling. The book is complementary to Recent Developments in Transport Modelling - Lessons for the Freight Sector (2008), and provides fully new insights. It addresses the need to develop new freight transport models and scientific tools to counter internal and external economic impacts, and delivers theoretical and empirical input on three levels: global, regional and local (urban). The book presents insightful contributions from respected international experts in transport economics and freight modeling.

-      The new and fifth edition of the Handbook on ‘Transport Economics’ by Gust Blauwens and Eddy Van de Voorde, together with Peter De Baere, is now available for purchase. The book contains updated applications of industrial-economic transport management techniques, aggregate demand and supply analysis and transport policy foundations and measures. More information on content and online purchasing are available through the book’s web page.

The Department also had a number of policy-supporting papers and book contributions released:

-      Bringmann Katja, Vanoutrive Thomas, Verhetsel Ann, Reynaerts Jo. Verankering van financiële en geografische clusters: de case van de biotech in België, Beleidsrapport STORE-B-13-005--Leuven, Steunpunt Ondernemen en Regionale Economie(2014)

-      Bringmann Katja, Vanoutrive Thomas, Verhetsel Ann. Identificatie van ruimtelijke agglomeratie in high-tech sectoren in België : methodologische bespreking van het detecteren en analyseren van ruimtelijk-economische clusters in het kader van het slimme specialisatiebeleid, Beleidsrapport STORE-B-13-006--Leuven, Steunpunt Ondernemen en Regionale Economie(2014)

-      Vanoutrive Thomas, Verhetsel Ann. Logistiek en locatie 1 : verkennende ruimtelijke analyse van de cluster logistiek en transport, Beleidsrapport STORE-B-12-014--Leuven, Steunpunt Ondernemen en Regionale Economie(2014)

-      Vanoutrive Thomas, Verhetsel Ann, Vanelslander Thierry. (2014) Logistiek en locatie 2 : enkele relevante elementen voor een ruimtelijk economisch beleid met betrekking tot de logistiek. Beleidsrapport STORE-B-13-011--Leuven.

-      Vanthillo Ties, Verhetsel Ann, Vanelslander Thierry. Subregionaal speerpuntbeleid in Vlaanderen, Beleidsrapport STORE-B-13-012--Leuven, Steunpunt Ondernemen en Regionale Economie(2014)

-      Vanelslander, T., Vanthillo, T. & Verhetsel, A. (2014). Brabant en Vlaanderen op weg naar 2040. In Van De Donk, W. (ed.) Het Nieuwste Brabant (pp. 213-235). Eindhoven: Lecturis Uitgeverij.

For other book publications from the Department, please visit the book publication web page.

For other publications by Department members, please check the Department’s academic bibliography. For an overview of the research projects currently going on at the Department, and for upcoming deliverables, please have a look at the Department’s research project pages.

Following lectures and conference presentations have recently been given by Department members:

- On 24 April 2014: Christa Sys presented at Befema Annual Meeting, Zeebruges

- On 14-17 April 2014: ‘Introduction of the TransporNET Marie Curie program: objectives, structure and achievements’ by Thierry Vanelslander at Transport Research Arena 2014 – Invited session TransportNET Marie Curie program, and session moderatorship by Thierry Vanelslander at Transport Research Arena 2014 – Invited session COST Action TU1001, Paris

- On 31 March 2014: ‘Concurrentiekracht, Economie en Welvaart: Uitdagingen op het vlak van mobiliteit en logistiek’ by Eddy Van de Voorde and Thierry Vanelslander at Symposium 75 jaar Albertkanaal, Vroenhoven – view pictures and presentation

- On 28 March 2014: ‘De verborgen last mile kosten van een e-commerce bestelling’ by Roel Gevaers at Value Chain Supply Innovations Conference, Antwerp

- On 27 March 2014: ‘Smart and Intelligent Supply Chains – Industry 4.0 and Logistics’ by Thierry Vanelslander at 2. Wirtschaftskonferenz Flandern - Nordrhein-Westfalen

- On 24 March 2014: Christa Sys moderated the panel debate at AIESEC Havenweek, Antwerp

- On 20 March 2014: ‘Important Developments in the European Port Industry and Consequences: Focus on the Antwerp Port’ by Christa Sys at the BDM Transport Insurance Event 2014, Antwerp – view pictures and presentation

- On 27 February 2014: ‘Enkele aspecten van concurrentie in de containervaart: gevalstudie Europa – Indisch Subcontinent’ by Christa Sys at the Section of Technical Sciences of the Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences, Brussels

- On 4 February 2014: ‘De binnenvaartpool’ by Edwin van Hassel at Binnenvaart Logistiek Nederland event

- On 15 January 2014: Ann Verhetsel participated to the Expert panel 'Urban planning, mobility dynamics en logistics' within Vlaamse Raad voor Wetenschap en Innovatie Toekomstverkenningen 2025, Brussels

- On 23-25 January 2014: ‘Towards a more 'place-based' industrial policy in Flanders (Belgium)’ by Ties Vanthillo, Thomas Vanoutrive and Ann Verhetsel at Geography of Innovation, Utrecht

- From 10 January 2014 till 14 February 2014, Christa Sys taught the shipping module ‘Liner shipping and ports’ in the program ‘Master of Science in Shipping Management and MBA in Shipping’ at the Alba Graduate Business School, Athens, Greece

Further details on the own conferences of the Department are available on the Department’s website. Requests for copies of the various presentations should be addressed to the organizers, as publishers of the respective proceedings.

Department members have given a series of press interviews during the latest months. Full details, and related textual, audio and video material is available through the Department’s media page.

BNP Paribas Fortis and a consortium of universities across the world, led by the Department, have teamed up in search for a better and deeper understanding of the possibilities and upcoming trends in port-related innovation that make the transport supply more efficient including their respective industrial-economic impact. The objective is to understand patterns and characteristics in port innovation, as well as success and failure factors. This implies an analysis of developed innovation initiatives. In return, participating companies get feedback on how to improve their own innovation initiatives and processes.

Big terminal operators, interesting inland terminals, innovative carriers,… are already participating in this research by sharing and discussing with us innovation cases developed by their companies and/or in which they were involved. Currently, we are looking for small and medium-sized companies to analysis their (past/current) innovations developed. Interested? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..Take a look here for more information.

The Departement is proud to announce the date for its next Air Transport Colloquium which will be taking place on Thursday 4 December 2014. This year you can expect many interesting contributions from academics as well as the Air Transport sector on the topic “The European Aviation Business in 2014 and beyond: how to turn challenges into opportunities?” This year we will for the first time also include some interesting and interactive workshops in the program. So save the date and hope to see you at the Air Transport Colloquium 2014!

USI summer school CityLAB II, hosted by the Institute for Urban Studies at the University of Antwerp, will explore both the empirical diversity of suburbs and their increasing internal differentiation from an interdisciplinary perspective. It will examine the complexity of suburban phenomena from insights deriving from sociology, history, economic geography, political sciences, architecture and urban planning. TPR members prof. Ann Verhetsel and Thomas Vanoutrive will give a lecture. More information: https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/rg/csg/events/citylab-2/

On 5-6 February, 2014, Christa Sys participated at the 8th RETROFITGeneral Assembly (GA8) meeting in Wageningen (The Netherlands). The GA8 was held at MARIN (Maritime Research Institute Netherlands). After intensive work, the first results of the assessment developed by UA were discussed. The assessment compares the nine selected retrofit technologies based on a set of pre-defined criteria, viz. criteria in the areas of economic, emission and energy performance. This is done based on analysis of modelled scenarios and enables interpretation of the simulation results from the model.

On 25 April 2014, Wouter Dewulf successfully defended his PhD on the topic of ‘The Strategy of Air Cargo Operators - About Carpet Sellers and Cargo Stars’, under promotorship of Eddy Van de Voorde, and with commission members Anne Graham, Rosário Macário, Rudy Martens, Ann Verhetsel, Hilde Meersman and Thierry Vanelslander. This Ph.D. research aimed to gain an enhanced insight into the strategies of air cargo carriers. The scope of this research is limited to the full freighter and combination carriers, while integrators are excluded from the scope.

On 16 January 2014, Ann Verhetsel was member of the PhD jury of Laurent Van Malderen, on the topic of ‘On the effectiveness of employer transport plans: which mobility measures influence the commuting choices of employees?’, under supervision of Isabelle Thomas and Bart Jourquin.

The Department hosted following guest lectures:

-   On 22 Aril 2014: Marc Pirenne on ‘Strategy of a logistics service company’

-   On 4 April 2014: Rudi de Meyer (Alfaport) on ‘Rol van havens voor transport, handel en productie’

-      On 2 April 2014: Mr. Sjel Wijngaards (Director Operations Jan de Rijk Logistics) on ‘Werking en strategie van een logistieke speler in snel veranderende tijden’

-   On 31 March 2014: Martin Schröder (Martinair) on ‘Het opstarten en managen van een luchtvaartmaatschappij’

-   On 14 March 201: Koos Frouws (TUDelft) on ‘Naval architecture for non-naval architects’.

-   On 3 March 2014: Prof. Costas Grammenos at the City Campus, on the topic of ‘Important issues in maritime finance’. Costas Grammenos founded the International Centre for Shipping, Trade and Finance in 1983 (renamed the Costas Grammenos Centre for Shipping, Trade and Finance in April 2007). He has been head of the Centre since its inception and responsibile for its design.

-      On 25 February 2014: Filip Merckx (PSA Antwerp) on ‘Container Terminal Management’

-   On 20 February 2014: Prof. dr. Michael Ball (Professor of Urban and Property Economics, University of Reading) on ‘Global cities still face national and local pressures Paradoxes in London’s contemporary housing market’.

-      On 18 February 2014: Steven Quintijn (Jan De Nul) on ‘Baggertechnologieën’

Students of the course ‘Maritime and Port Economics’ paid a visit to Delft University of Technology, IHC Merwede and Port of Rotterdam on 25 April 2014, where they got presentations and field visits on the topic of shipbuilding.

On 28 February 2014, students of the seminar ‘Maritime Technology’ paid a visit to DP World Antwerp. On 25 March 2014, they paid a visit to Zuidnatie.

As part of the courses on ‘Economic geography and reals estate markets’, Department students paid an excursion to Paris on 23 April 2014, guided by Ann Verhetsel. View picture.

Moshe Ben-Akiva, co-editor of the book on ‘Freight Transport Modelling’ from the Department, will be teaching this summer 2 one-week courses at MIT:

Discrete Choice Analysis, June 16 – 20, 2014

This one-week program undertakes an in-depth study of discrete choice models (logit, nested logit, generalized extreme value, probit, logit mixtures, hybrid choice models), data collection, specification, estimation, statistical testing, forecasting, and application.

Modeling and Simulation of Transportation Networks, July 28 – August 1, 2014

The course studies theories and applications of transportation network demand and supply models and simulation techniques. It provides an in-depth study of the world's most sophisticated traffic simulation models, demand modeling methods, and related analytical techniques, including discrete choice models, and their application

One full-tuition scholarship will be awarded to an outstanding doctoral student in each course. The deadlines to apply for the full scholarship are May 1 and June 15, respectively. Partial (50%) tuition scholarships are also available for junior faculty, postdocs, and doctoral students in both courses.

The Research Centre on Freight and passenger flows published the fifth edition of the Indicator Book Sustainable Freight Transport 2012. Annually, the whole set of indicators provides an overview of the status of transport in terms of economic importance, sub-sector analysis and external effects. Next to the actualisation of the indicators, presented also in the previous versions, this edition contains a set of newly developed indicators. In addition, two new methodologies are presented. Finally, also the overview of scientific and policy relevant research carried out recently within the Research Centre, is new in this edition. The Indicator Book can be downloaded here.

Het Steunpunt Goederen- en Personenvervoer publiceerde de vijfde editie van het Indicatorenboek Duurzaam Goederenvervoer 2012. De hele set van indicatoren wil jaarlijks een overzicht geven van de status van transport in termen van economisch belang, sub-sectorale analyse en externe effecten. Naast de actualisering van de gebruikelijke indicatoren die ook in de vorige edities aan bod kwamen, werd het Indicatorenboek uitgebreid met enkele nieuw ontwikkelde indicatoren. Ook wordt in deze versie de toepassing van twee nieuwe methodologische benaderingen voorgesteld. Ook nieuw ten opzichte van vorige versies is het overzicht van wetenschappelijk en beleidsondersteunend onderzoek dat recent werd verricht binnen het Steunpunt. Het Indicatorenboek kan hier gedownload worden.

The Research Centre furthermore also released two new policy papers. The reports are available in Dutch, but English spin-offs are to be found in the Research Centre’s publication section.

Het Steunpunt Goederen- en Personenvervoer publiceerde ook twee nieuwe beleidspapers. De rapporten zijn beschikbaar in het Nederlands, maar Engelstalige spin-offs zijn te vinden in de publicatiesectie van het Steunpunt.

The first policy-supporting paper that was released is entitled ‘Commuting traffic in Flanders: a search for indicators’ and is written by Ann Verhetsel, Thomas Vanoutrive en Toon Zijlstra. This publication can be considered as a first step in order to publish a first edition of a complete indicator book about commuting traffic. Therefore, the subtitle ‘a search for indicators’ is used. Next to data collection and analysis, this paper also discusses the current policy regarding commuter traffic. Here, the focus lies on the Flemish policy. In addition, an overview of the most important data sources and a definition of commuting traffic is provided. The main part of this publication is structured as follows: it starts from the causes of commuting traffic and ends with its consequences. The paper can be downloaded here.

De eerste vrijgegeven beleidsondersteunende paper, getiteld ‘Het woon-werkverkeer in Vlaanderen: zoektocht naar indicatoren’ is van de hand van Ann Verhetsel, Thomas Vanoutrive en Toon Zijlstra. Deze publicatie is een voorzet voor een eerste indicatorenboek woon-werkverkeer door het Steunpunt Goederen- en Personenvervoer. Vandaar ook de ondertitel: ‘een zoektocht naar indicatoren’. Naast een verzameling en analyse van cijfermateriaal, wordt in de paper ook ingegaan op het beleid ten aanzien van woon-werkverkeer, waarbij het accent ligt op het beleid zoals gevoerd door de Vlaamse overheid. Ook is een overzicht gegeven van de voornaamste databronnen en wordt de definitie van woon-werkverkeer behandeld. Het hoofddeel van de publicatie volgt globaal een lijn van oorsprong van het woon-werkverkeer tot gevolgen. De paper kan hier gedownload worden.

The second policy-supporting paper that was released, is written by Thomas Vanoutrive and is entitled ‘Commuting to gateways: an insight into the commuting behaviour to (air)ports’. Ports and airports are spatial concentrations of jobs outside city centres. Their location and structure lead to specific commuting traffic that differs from the average. An analysis of a number of gateways within Flanders (Belgium) shows that the car and carpooling are used more than in other cases. Public transport has a minor role. The paper can be consulted here.

De tweede vrijgegeven beleidsondersteunende paper werd geschreven door Thomas Vanoutrive en is getiteld ‘Pendelen naar Poorten: het pendelgedrag naar (lucht)havens nader bekeken’. Havens en luchthavens zijn ruimtelijke concentraties van jobs buiten stedelijke centra. Hun locatie en structuur leidt er toe dat het pendelgedrag er afwijkt van het gemiddelde. Een analyse van enkele poorten in het Vlaamse Gewest (België) toont aan dat er meer met de auto gependeld wordt en dat carpooling meer voorkomt dan elders. Openbaar vervoer daarentegen speelt een beperkte rol. De paper is hier beschikbaar.

On 27 March 2014 the Research Centre organised a meeting with the Department of Mobility and Public Works of the Flemish administration in order to achieve knowledge exchange. A number of research themes currently investigated within the Research Centre were presented by Thomas Vanoutrive, Dries Meers and Christa Sys. Also the Department of Mobility and Public Works presented a number of current projects.

Op 27 maart 2014 organiseerde het Steunpunt Goederen- en Personenvervoer een overleg met het Departement Mobiliteit en Openbare Werken (MOW) Vlaamse Overheid om te komen tot kennisuitwisseling. Tijdens deze meeting werden een aantal lopende onderzoeksthema’s van het Steunpunt voorgesteld door Thomas Vanoutrive, Dries Meers en Christa Sys. Ook het Departement MOW gaf een voorstelling van lopende projecten.

On 6 January, 27 February and 24 April 2014, Evy Onghena and/or Roel Gevaers of the Research Centre on Freight and passenger flows attended the steering group meetings of the PIEK 2 project. On 12 March 2014, Roel Gevaers participated to the stakeholdersworkshop in Kortrijk. With this project, the Flemish government aims at investigating how the distribution of goods to supermarkets can be organized in a more efficient and sustainable way. Five distributors (Colruyt, Delhaize, Carrefour, Albert Heijn and Lidl) and 58 cities and municipalities are participating in the project. Other partners are Comeos, VVSG, Research Centre Commodity and Passenger Flows, Transport en Logistiek Vlaanderen, Febetra, UPTR, Febiac and UNIZO. During the stakeholdersworkshops taking place in six Flemish cities, the participants are brainstorming about ideas and new concepts for a safer and more sustainable urban distribution. More information about the project can be found on the project website.

Op 6 januari, 27 februari en 24 april 2014 woonden Evy Onghena en/of Roel Gevaers van het Steunpunt Goederen- en Personenvervoer de stuurgroepvergaderingen bij van het PIEK 2-project. Op 12 maart 2014 nam Roel Gevaers ook deel aan de stakeholdersworkshop in Kortrijk. Met dit project binnen Flanders Logistics wil de Vlaamse overheid onderzoeken hoe goederenvervoer naar supermarkten efficiënter en duurzamer kan verlopen. Aan het project nemen 5 distributeurs (Colruyt, Delhaize, Carrefour, Albert Heijn en Lidl) deel en 58 Vlaamse steden en gemeenten. Andere partners zijn Comeos, VVSG, Steunpunt Goederen- en Personenvervoer, Transport en Logistiek Vlaanderen, Febetra, UPTR, Febiac en UNIZO. Tijdens de stakeholdersworkshops die worden georganiseerd in zes Vlaamse steden gaan de deelnemers op zoek naar ideeën voor een veilige en duurzame stedelijke distributie. Voor meer informatie over het project, zie de project-website.

On 16 April 2014, Roel Gevaers presented an extract of his PhD on ‘The hidden last mile costs of an e-commerce order’ at a meeting of Cycling Messengers in the frame of Flanders Land Logistics in Brussels.

On 28 March 2014, Roel Gevaers also presented his PhD at a meeting with the logistics advisors of the Department of Mobility and Public Works of the Flemish administration.

Op 16 april 2014 presenteerde Roel Gevaers een extract uit zijn doctoraat rond ‘De verborgen last mile kosten van een e-commerce bestelling’ bij een bijeenkomst van Fietskoeriers in het kader van Flanders Land Logistics in Brussel.

Op 28 maart 2014 presenteerde Roel Gevaers zijn doctoraat op een bijeenkomst met de logistieke adviseurs van het Departement Mobiliteit en Openbare Werken (MOW) van de Vlaamse Overheid.

Department of Transport and Regional Economics
Faculty of Applied Economics

University of Antwerp

City Campus (CST)
Prinsstraat 13 – 2000 Antwerp
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P +32 3 265 40 44