This includes multi-modal and combined transport, road pricing, safety, short sea shipping, choice of modes, valuation of time in freight transport, and environmental aspects of transport. Research in this area includes the fiscal treatment of shipping, choice of flag, balance of payments effects, the impact of the shipping sector on the economy, manpower issues and the impact of skill shortages, and the economic regulation of international shipping services. Modelling and simulation of supply chains. This involves the development and integration of hard and soft systems tools and operations management. For full details see the work of the Logistics Systems Dynamics Group.
Information flows in supply chains.
This includes the integration of information technology, e-commerce and transport. See also the work of the Electronic Commerce Innovation Centre. Research in this area deals with working practices and pricing in ports, the role of distribution centres, the efficiency of transport, interchange techniques, interoperability, and trade offs between the different elements of the supply chain. This focuses on marine insurance and the carriage of goods by sea. Recent research grants have come from the European Commission under the Fourth and Fifth Framework Programmes to study, inter alia, factors affecting the choice of flag, the economic impact of shipping in Europe, the cost structure of the main Trans-European ports, maritime education and training, work organization in ports, and the value added processes in logistics supply chains.