Maritime Policy

The Greek case provides a unique paradigm of maritime transport and is among those worthy of a closer examination. Surprisingly, a systematic review of the various facets of Greek maritime transport has been unavailable in the international literature aiming to fill some of the gaps in the international literature of maritime transport studies as regards this unique paradigm.

O presente livro – O Mar no Futuro de Portugal: Ciência e Visão Estratégica – é um
dos resultados do projecto de investigação “A Extensão da Plataforma Continental
Portuguesa: Implicações Estratégicas para a Tomada de Decisão”, realizado no quadro do
Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas do Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e
Políticas da Universidade de Lisboa, em parceria com a Marinha Portuguesa e a Esri-
Portugal, Sistemas de Informação Geográfica, S.A., financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência
e Tecnologia.

O Mar configurou Portugal. Na nossa História manteve presença constante como factor
de desenvolvimento nacional, como via de acesso a novas terras, novas gentes, novos produtos, novos negócios. Há quarenta anos, o 25 de Abril causou uma mudança estrutural na
posição geopolítica de Portugal e consequentemente no nosso conceito estratégico nacional.
Este conceito, desestruturado e indefinido durante cerca de uma geração, tem vindo a reconfigurar-se desde os anos 90 do século passado no sentido de uma reorientação nacional para o Mar, tendo a Expo 98 sido um marco desse movimento.

Hoje há ainda muito mais discurso que acção, mais palavras que realizações. Mas
estamos a ser convocados, desafiados para uma resposta digna da nossa História de nove
séculos e do nosso extraordinário feito dos Descobrimentos.

O processo de extensão da plataforma continental portuguesa, submetido formalmente
em 11 de Maio de 2009 à Comissão de Limites da Plataforma Continental das Nações
Unidas, veio de certo modo agitar a consciência marítima dos portugueses, e a Universidade
não deixou de ser alvo dessa agitação na interacção quotidiana que congrega professores e
estudantes preocupados com o presente e futuro de Portugal.

O Mar no Futuro de Portugal: Ciência e Visão Estratégica é pois um trabalho multidisciplinar
em que se cruzam história, economia, geografia, ecologia, biologia, gestão, relações internacionais, intelligence, prospectiva, sistemas de informação geográfica, cibersegurança, estudos estratégicos e robótica subaquática, numa composição de tempo tríbio: o
futuro de Portugal vislumbrado e projectado no presente em função do passado e da conjuntura.

The dominant approach to counter-piracy strategy off Somalia is astonishingly narrow minded. Deterrence, surveillance and military operations do not provide a sustainable or efficient solution. Better strategic alternatives must drawing on the lessons of 21st century peace operations. This perspective leads to an understanding of counter-piracy as a problem of peacebuilding. This allows restructuring and re-framing the problem to permit a much wider repertoire of policy solutions than currently conceived. This repertoire may include development and security assistance programmes as well as state-building programmes. The approach also permits integration of lessons learned in the frame of international peacebuilding operations, including avoiding technocratic solutions, focusing on power constellations, integrating local knowledge and incrementalism. If the international community takes piracy seriously and tries to respond to its complexity, it is well advised to adopt a policy in which such alternatives are considered.

The objective of this paper is to examine how users evaluate port effectiveness and identify those constructs relevant to that evaluation. The three user groups studied are carriers, cargo interests, and suppliers of services at the port. The study team developed an on-line survey instrument and delivered it to Canadian port users with the assistance of eight industry organizations. The findings of the research are based on the contributions of 57 decision-makers with port usage experience, many of whom fit into more than one group of users. The study concludes that the evaluation criteria influencing users' perceptions of satisfaction, competitiveness and service delivery effectiveness are different, and so while the determinants of these constructs have considerable overlap, they are different constructs. This paper also illustrates how independent (or third-party) evaluation of port performance might be used by a port to strategically improve its service to users, and therefore have value from a port perspective in its strategic planning.

At  every  financial  period  CFOs  are  requested  by  shareholdersto  present  the financial  results not only just as formal financial statements but also as useful information in relation to their competi-tors  or  the  market.  Despite  the  best  services  provided,  it  is  due  to  the  existing  trade  cycles  [1]  of  the shipping  market  that  shipping  companies  have  trouble  delivering  strong  long-term  growth  unless their management ensures that all business aspects operate efficiently and effectively. Efficiencycan either  be  expressed  through  an  operating  ratio  or  through  a  simple  percentage  of  budgets  versus  a specific time frame. As much as effectiveness is concerned and according to up today literature, man-agement effectiveness ratios compare the financial statements measures to evaluate management per-formance. What has beendescribed is industry’sstandard, however measurement of the management force to vessel’s operation should be evaluated also for industry’s most feasible Holistically Operat-ing Cost “HOC”equivalent to Overall Operational Effectiveness. It’s a force which can measure how a firm can use the total of its existing capabilities and competencies for the best vessel’s operation. In shipping economy itrefers to combined actions of both "Shipscraft”and vessel's operation