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Strategic alliances in the container shipping sector, and requirements imposed by consolidated hinterland modalities such as trains and barges, have resulted in container terminals facing increasing pressures to cooperate to handle increasingly intertwined container flows. However, concession agreements and market conditions often also pressure terminals to compete. This paper aims to help understand how pressures for competition and cooperation conflict, what problems this causes, what drives these tensions, and how these can be resolved. The drivers of port competitiveness are generally conceptualized as straightforward criteria related to costs, efficiency, location, and infrastructure. Because of the focus on these 'hard', quantifiable factors, the qualitative relational underpinnings of port performance are often overlooked. This paper explores how inter-organizational relations function as a major underpinning of port performance and competitiveness. Interviews with a representative selection of stakeholders in the Port of Rotterdam reveal the problems that can occur when cooperation between terminals is under pressure. These problems relate to deficiencies in inter-organizational relationships, which do not tend to arise spontaneously in a competitive context. This paper provides a framework that helps understand how firms can simultaneously balance pressures for competition and imperatives for cross-firm integration and cooperation. Several technical and organizational solutions are suggested, but effective implementation depends on various tacit factors - including trust, shared values, and a sense of community - that determine stakeholders' willingness to commit and cooperate.

Reefers are refrigerated containers commonly used for transporting perishable goods such as meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. Nowadays, reefers are responsible for 40% of the total energy consumption of container terminals, when connected to the electricity grid on shore. Every time when a large number of reefers is plugged-in after arrival, peaks in energy consumption occur. As container terminals purchase energy using a demand-based fee, exceeding the reserved capacity during peak times increases the energy costs of the terminal significantly. So far the literature has not dealt with the root causes of peak energy consumption of reefers, or ways to reduce these peaks. The aim of this paper is to identify the root causes and to quantify their importance. We use data of energy consumption of reefers at a large container terminal, over the period of 1 year. In order to identify the importance of factors, we apply a sequential multiple regression analysis approach with backwards feature selection. Variations in energy demand are explained for 77% by the arrival pattern of containers, for about 5% by dwell time and for 2% by other factors, such as container temperature at plug-in. Promising approaches to reduce peak energy consumption of reefers includes dynamic pricing, energy management and specific peak shaving strategies.

The growth in container volumes over the last decades means an increase in container handling at terminals around the world. Notwithstanding the economic benefits, container handling causes additional pressure on the surrounding infrastructure and the environment. This is happening precisely at a time when environmental issues, in particular CO2 emissions, are the main concern of the energy and climate change debate. Although not specialized in the field of energy consumption, many policymakers and managers need to make decisions about reducing CO2 emission. This paper provides a six-step approach to make energy consumption (and hence CO2 emissions) easily transparent. The approach is illustrated using the energy consumption of yard lighting. It can be concluded that our first attempt to understand the energy consumption of yard lightning gives promising results that can contribute to an improved benchmark for the CEN EN 16258 standard.

At present there is increasing pressure on governments and industries to come forward with initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions. This is particularly relevant for the transport sector, as the share of transportation is still increasing, while other sectors are reducing their CO2 footprints. The main purpose of this paper is to present a methodology to analyze the CO2 emissions from container terminals and gain a better understanding of the CO2 emissions by container terminals in port areas. With a better understanding of the CO2 emissions, more effective solutions to reduce CO2 emissions by container terminals can be identifi ed. The study provides insight into the processes of container handling and transshipment at the terminals and calculates the contribution of these processes to the CO2 emissions (or carbon footprint) of the container terminals. The model was validated by application on 95% of all sea and inland container terminals in the Netherlands.

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and lung infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa are major features of cystic fibrosis (CF). This monogenic disease is caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. 267 children and adolescents with CF who were regularly seen at the same centre were assessed for an association of the CFTR mutation genotype with exocrine pancreatic function and the age of onset of chronic colonisation with P aeruginosa.The major mutation ΔF508 accounted for 74% of CF alleles; 33 further CFTR mutations had been detected on the CF chromosomes of the study population by June, 1992. With the exception of ΔF508/R347P compound heterozygotes, patients of the same mutation genotype were either pancreas insufficient (PI) or pancreas sufficient (PS). The age-specific colonisation rates with P aeruginosawere significantly lower in PS than in PI patients. The missense and splice site mutations that are \"mild\" CF alleles with respect to exocrine pancreatic function were also \"low risk\" alleles for the acquisition of P aeruginosa. On the other hand, the proportion of P aeruginosa-positive patients increased most rapidly in the PI ΔF508 compound heterozygotes who were carrying a termination mutation in the nucleotide binding fold-encoding exons. Pancreatic status and the risk of chronic airways' colonisation with P aeruginosa are predisposed by the CFTR mutation genotype and can be differentiated by the type and location of the mutations in the CFTR gene.

The use of yeast as a host for heterologous expression of proteins that are normally derived from animal tissue is a promising way to ensure defined products that are devoid of potential harmful animal side products. Here we report on the production and secretion of a custom-designed gelatin, Hu3-His8, by the yeast Hansenula polymorpha. We observed that Hu3-His8 was poorly secreted by the heterologous Saccharomyces cerevisiae invertase secretion signal. In contrast, the S. cerevisiae mating factor α prepro sequence efficiently directed secretion into the culture medium. However, at higher copy numbers, intracellular accumulation of Hu3-His8 precursors occurred. Overproduction of Erv29p, a protein required for packaging of the glycosylated pro-α factor into COPII vesicles, did not improve gelatin secretion in the multicopy strain. Previously, H. polymorpha was reported to hydroxylate proline residues in gelatinous sequences. In contrast, we were unable to detect hydroxyprolines in the secreted Hu3-His8. Also, we failed to identify a gene encoding prolyl-4-hydroxylase in the H. polymorpha genome.

The cell-associated vaccine strain CVI 988, which is the active component of several commercial Marek's disease vaccines, normally is frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen. In order to ascertain good efficacy of the vaccine, it is crucial that the right procedures are followed for thawing and diluting of the virus. In the study presented here, ampoules containing the frozen product were taken from storage in liquid nitrogen and were thawed in a water bath at 27 C, which is similar to a lukewarm bath, and in a water bath at 37 C, with and without agitation. The effect of the thawing procedure on the live virus titer of the vaccine was investigated. Samples of thawed vaccine were diluted in diluent with different temperatures, and live virus titers were determined directly after dilution and after incubation of the diluted vaccine at different temperatures. The results show that directly after thawing in the water baths at 27 C and 37 C, with or without agitation, the live virus titers for CVI 988 were all in the same range. After incubation of the thawed virus at both temperatures for 15 min, the live virus titers were still in the same range. Decreases in live virus titers were observed after incubation for 4 hr. Live virus titration of the vaccine in diluent in different temperatures revealed that the highest titers were found with diluent at a temperature of 30 C to 37 C and the lowest titers in diluent at a temperature of 5 C. In addition, a combination product containing cell-associated CVI 988 and cell-associated herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT) was tested. For this combination product, the titers for HVT also were highest in diluent with a high temperature (i.e., 37 C), whereas the titers for CVI were highest in diluent at a temperature of 22 C. Both strains had relatively low titers in diluent at 5 C. After incubation of the diluted vaccine at the various temperatures for several hours, again, live virus titrations were done. Live virus titers were most stable with diluent at temperatures of 22 C. Vaccine virus diluted in diluent at 37 C could be stabilized by placing the diluted vaccine at 5 C directly after diluting. After evaluation of these data, the following is recommended. For thawing of the vaccine, a water bath at approximately 27 C, which is similar to a lukewarm bath, is preferred. For diluting the vaccine, diluent should be used at a temperature of 22 C or higher. If diluted in diluent at temperatures higher than 22 C, the diluted vaccine should be stored under cooling in order to avoid titer losses.

This paper positions transport at the edge of localization and globalization forces. Drastic changes in industrial organization, transportation systems, trade patterns and environmental quality conditions make the transport and communication sector an internally contrasting and disputed activity with many pros and cons, which are reflected in serious dilemmas and policy uncertainties, at different levels of governance. In order to cope with long-range uncertainties the use of scenarios analysis is advocated. The paper then develops three scenarios and analyses them by using the recently developed spider model. The paper is concluded with some policy lessons.