Condensation inside marine containers occurs during voyages owing to weather changes. In this study, we define the condensation probability along one of the major routes for container ships between Asia and Europe. First, the inside and outside air conditions were measured on land in Japan, and a correlation analysis was conducted to derive their relationship. Second, onboard measurements were conducted for 20,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) ships to determine the variation in outside air conditions. Complicated patterns of weather change were observed with changes in latitude, sea area, and season. Third, condensation probability was estimated based on a multi-regression analysis with land and onboard measured data. The maximum condensation probability in westbound or eastbound voyages in winter was found to be approximately 50%. The condensation probability estimation method established in this study can contribute to the quantification of cargo damage risks for the planning of marine container transportation voyages.

Weed management in container crops is primarily accomplished through frequent PRE herbicide applications and supplemental hand weeding. However, many ornamental species are sensitive to herbicides, and a significant number of tropical plants, ornamental grasses, and foliage crops have not been screened for herbicide tolerance. As nursery crops are produced in inert substrates that are largely composed of bark or peat, strategic fertilizer placement has the potential to significantly reduce weed growth in container-grown ornamentals. Growth and reproduction of three common container nursery weed species, eclipta [Eclipta prostrata (L.) L.], large crabgrass [Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop.], and spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata L.), were evaluated following fertilization via alternative methods, including subdressing or dibbling in comparison with industry standard practices of topdressing or incorporating a controlled-release fertilizer (17-5-11 [8 to 9 mo.]) to each 3.8-L container at 36.5 g per container. Fertilizer placement had little to no effect on germination of Eclipta prostrata or D. sanguinalis, but incorporation increased E. maculata germination by 77% to 183% compared with other placements or a nonfertilized control. Subdressing reduced seed production by 94%, 63%, and 92% for Eclipta prostrata, D. sanguinalis, and E. maculata, respectively, compared with the average number of seeds produced in the conventional placement methods (average of incorporation and topdressing). Dibbling fertilizer resulted in similar decreases in the case of D. sanguinalis and E. maculata, while Eclipta prostrata produced no seeds when fertilizer was dibbled. Similar to reductions observed in reproduction, subdressing fertilizer resulted in biomass decreases of 90%, 81%, and 85% compared with the average biomass of the incorporation and topdressed placements. Results suggest alternative fertilizer placements could be implemented as part of an integrated weed management program in container production to reduce weed growth.

The container liner shipping industry has stepped into an era of international strategic alliances. Important to these liner alliances is the sharing and allocation of container slots between its member carriers. This paper optimises planning of container ship capacity sharing and co-allocation under a co-charting agreement. First, we explain the concept of this business agreement and its implications on maritime operations. Then, we identify key influencing factors that may affect the decisions of cooperative slot co-allocation. The slot co-allocation problem is modelled as an Integer Programming problem and solved using data from two routes between the United States and Asia. The model determines the optimal slot co-allocation strategies between shipping alliance carriers along allied shipping routes. Computational results indicate that the proposed method is effective in obtaining optimal, cooperative slot sharing strategies that can maximise the total system revenue.

An M/G/1 service system with finite waiting room is studied. A customer is served by one server in phases, during some of which a place in the waiting room is occupied. The busy period length distribution is obtained from a system of integral equations leading to a linear system in Laplace-Stieltjes transforms. An asymptotic expression, for large intensity of arrival, for the expectation of this length is given. An efficiency measure giving the long run customer loss ratio is obtained. The model is shown to apply to an inventory and a container traffic problem.