Dear Ms,Dear Sir,
| On 27 April 2007, the Department of Transport and Regional Economics of the University of Antwerp has welcomed Mister Minister Kris Peeters, to sign, on behalf of the Flemish Government, the contract for the Policy Research Centre on Commodity Flows (Steunpunt Goederenstromen). Pictures of the signing and of the press conference can be viewed here. Under this project, the Department’s staff members will group their transport-economic as well as infrastructure-related expertise in order to support the Flemish mobility and logistics policy. Research promoters will be Prof. Gust Blauwens, Prof. Hilde Meersman, Prof. Eddy Van de Voorde and Prof. Ann Verhetsel, while Dr. Thierry Vanelslander is the scientific director. A separate announcement will soon be made upon the launching of the Centre’s website. At the same time, the Department also got a stake in the Policy Research Centre on Space and Housing (Steunpunt Ruimte en Wonen). Junior as well as senior Department members will provide their expertise for supporting the Flemish regional and spatial policies. |    |
| TRANSPORTNET, the Transport University network to which the Department belongs, has held a successful course on Transport Modelling and Forecasting from 7 till 11 May 2007 at the University of the Aegean in Chios. Department members Prof. Hilde Meersman and Dr. Thierry Vanelslander lectured on respectively ‘Transport Forecasting’ and ‘Regional Economic Modelling’. Linked to the course, The University of the Aegean, supported by the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers, has held a conference on Competitiveness and Complementarity of Transport Modes – Perspectives for the Development of Intermodal Transport, to which some 80 participants registered. Prof. Hilde Meersman and Prof. Eddy Van de Voorde from the Department acted as members of the Scientific Committee. Registration for the upcoming courses is still possible through TRANSPORTNET’s courses page. |   |
| Two research reports from the Department have been put online and are available for downloading:- Supply Chain Management: de logistiek-infrastructurele invalshoek (part of ‘Supply Chain Management meervoudig beschouwd’), project principal: Adviesdienst Verkeer en Vervoer – Nederland- Onderzoek naar de relatie tussen locatiebeleid en duurzame mobiliteit voor woonwerkverplaatsingen, project principal: Mobiel Vlaanderen Other key research publications recently released by Department members are:- ‘Measuring urban polycentrism: a European case study and its implications’, in Journal of Economic Geography - ‘Competition and ownership: transferability of experiences from maritime transport to land-based modes’, in Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport- ‘Fighting for money, investments and capacity: port governance and devolution in Belgium’, in Devolution, Port Governance and Port Performance- ‘Bijdrage tot de economische analyse van het full-freighter luchtvrachtvervoer’, in Tijdschrift Vervoerswetenschap 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, please have a look at the Department’s research project pages. |
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| Three Department alumni have each won a research prize:- Kevin Van de Velde won the VEA – Freyman and Van Loo prize with his Master thesis on ‘De vrachtstrategie van luchtvaartmaatschappijen’, under promotorship of Prof. Eddy Van de Voorde- Steve Sel won the Prijs Suykens from the Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences with his Master thesis on ‘Maritieme Wereldsteden: vanuit welke grootsteden wordt de maritieme sector gestuurd?’, under promotorship of Prof. Ann Verhetsel- Dries Lyna won the Prijs De Aardrijkskunde from the Vereniging Leraars Aardrijkskunde with his Master thesis on ‘Stadswallen als grens tussen stad en platteland? De interne sociale differentiatie van Hasselt en de relatie met haar hinterland in de jaren 1840’, under promotorship of Prof. Ann Verhetsel |     |
| Following lectures and conference presentations have recently been given by Department members:- On 12 and 13 March 2007: Draft Protocol concerning navigation on the Mekong River, negotiations facilitated by Prof. Eric Van Hooydonk between Cambodian and Vietnamese delegations, Phnom Penh - On 23 March 2007 : ‘Workshop Mobiliteitsaspecten’ by Dr. Thierry Vanelslander during Symposium ‘100 years Bovenschelde’, Ghent- On 3 April 2007: ‘Economies of scale in sea-port container handling: up to what level?’ by Dr. Thierry Vanelslander and ‘Commuting behaviour in and around Brussels and the Belgian metropolises’ by Prof. Ann Verhetsel, Prof. Isabelle Thomas and Drs. Marjan Beelen during BIVEC-GIBET Transport Research Day 2007, Rotterdam- On 12 April 2007: ‘Some experiences with marginal cost pricing from the GRACE project’ by Dr. Thierry Vanelslander during IMPRINT-NET, Brussels- On 18 April 2007: ‘Tonnage, value added and market power: contemporary developments and research issues in port economics’ by Prof. Eddy Van de Voorde during Seminar ‘Population, Development and Environment’, Bari- On 19 April 2007: ‘Strategische conclusies voor logistiek in Vlaanderen’ by Dr. Thierry Vanelslander during Symposium ‘Bouwstenen voor Logistiek Vlaanderen’, Laakdal - On 9 – 11 May 2007: ‘The relation between location policy and sustainable mobility: an empirical study for commuting in Flanders’ by Ms. Nathalie Sellekaerts, Dr. Thierry Vanelslander and Prof. Ann Verhetsel and ‘Commuting behaviour in and round Brussels and the Belgian metropolises or The power of the Alonso-Muth model’ by Drs. Marjan Beelen, Prof. Isabelle Thomas and Prof. Ann Verhetsel during Nectar Conference, Porto- On 10 – 11 May 2007: ‘The importance of measuring port performance in intermodal supply chains’ by Drs. Feliciana Monteiro and ‘Port Congestion Problems: Some Evidence from European and US Ports’ by Prof. Hilde Meersman, Prof. Eddy Van de Voorde and Dr. Thierry Vanelslander during University of the Aegean Intermodal Conference, Chios- On 10 May 2007: ‘Een wereldhaven in het vizier – heden, verleden en toekomst’ by Dr. Jan Blomme, during ACTUA Seminar- On 14 May 2007: Panel discussion by Dr. Thierry Vanelslander during Symposium ‘De Schelde: Geld in het Water?’, University of Antwerp – view pictures |
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| - On 16 May 2007: ‘Transporteconomisch onderzoek aan de Universiteit Antwerpen’ by Prof. Hilde Meersman and Prof. Eddy Van de Voorde during a session organized by the Royal Belgian Marine Academy- On 16 May 2007: ‘The negative public image of ports – causes and effects’ and ‘Soft Values Management for Seaports: concrete policy and legal proposals’ by Prof. Eric Van Hooydonk, and ‘The public image of shipping and ports – a European issue’ by Drs. / Secretary-General of ESPO Patrick Verhoeven, at the Department’s Conference on ‘Strategies for the Restoration of the Public Image of Ports’.- On 24 May 2007: ‘Environmental Issues in Maritime Shipping’ by Prof. Hilde Meersman, Prof. Eddy Van de Voorde and Dr. Thierry Vanelslander during Symposium ‘Climate Change and Environmental Issues in Transportation’, Brussels- On 1 June 2007: ‘Economic Impact of Port Activity: A Disaggregate Analysis. The Case of Antwerp’ by Mr. François Coppens, Mr. George Van Gastel, Prof. Hilde Meersman, Ms Nathalie Sellekaerts, Prof. Eddy Van de Voorde, Dr. Thierry Vanelslander and Prof. Ann Verhetsel during the EcoMod Conference on Regional and Urban Modeling, Brussels- On 14 June 2007: ‘European Port Policy’ by Dr. Thierry Vanelslander during The 2nd Oxford-Kobe International Maritime Seminar: Sustainable Maritime Transport, Kobe – view pictures Further details on the conferences where members contributed are available on the Department’s website. | |
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| The Department welcomed a number of visiting groups at its premises during the past months:- On 15 March 2007: visit by Advanced Master students from IHEDATE, with a lecture given by Dr. Thierry Vanelslander on ‘Développements dans le secteur portuaire et maritime : impacts économiques et régionaux’.- On 14 May 2007: visit by Advanced Master students from Old Dominion University (USA), under supervision of Prof. Wayne Talley, with a lecture given by Prof. Em. Marc Huybrechts on ‘The difference in maritime law systems between the USA and Europe’ and by Dr. Thierry Vanelslander on ‘The Port of Antwerp facing new market challenges’.- On 7 June 2007: visit by IMAREST for a lecture on Ship Hydrology. |    |
| On 3 May 2007, the Department has hosted a guest seminar by Prof. Antonio Musso (Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza) on the topic of ‘New tools for the improvement of intermodal transport at freight border crossing terminals’. |
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| Under co-ordination of Prof. Chris Peeters, the Department of Transport and Regional Economics has hosted a series of four guest lectures as part of the Bachelor thesis for the Department’s students of Applied Sciences.- 20/2/2007: Mister Minister Kris Peeters, Flemish Minister of Public Works, Energy, the Environment and Nature, on ‘Flanders Logistics‘. - 5/3/2007: Mr. Eddy Bruyninckx, Director Port Authority of Antwerp and Hans Smits, President-Director Port of Rotterdam, on ‘Vision port of Antwerp and Rotterdam‘. - 6/3/2007: Mr. Etienne Schouppe, Senator and Member of Flemish Parliament, on ‘Liberalisation of public transport, sense and nonsense’. - 12/3/2007: Mr. Pierre Timmermans, PSA Europe, on ‘Container handling, strategy and operational issues‘. To see pictures of the guest lectures, please click here. |
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| Prof. Hilde Meersman and Prof. Ann Verhetsel from the Department have been nominated member of the Flemish Mobility Council (MORA). |  |
| The Department’s advanced masters of Maritime Sciences (Antwerp / Antwerp & Ghent) as well of Sea- and Transport Law are open for application for the coming academic year 2007-2008. Both programmes are taught in Dutch. Downloading further information and registration are possible here. |   |
| Two of the Department’s visiting Ph.D students, from its Asia Link Exchange Programme, Ms Min Wang and Mr. Jiaqi Yang, both from China, have just finished their stay in Belgium and returned to their home country. The two other fellows, Ms Lich Hoang Thi from Vietnam and Min Jin Jang from China will finish their stay at the end of this month. All fellows have enjoyed 6 months of research training at the Department. More information on the programme and the fellows is available on the Department’s Asia Link pages. In the frame of this exchange program, Wuhan University of Technology, supported by the Department of Transport and Regional Economics together with Vietnam Maritime University and Delft University of Technology is setting up an International Conference on Inland Shipping Technology on 19-20 November 2007. The goal of this conference is to promote the knowledge renewal on inland shipping technology covering ship design, shipbuilding, logistics and shipping management. Drs. Tom Pauwels and Dr. Thierry Vanelslander from the Department are members of the Technical/Scientific Committee, whereas Prof. Eddy Van de Voorde is a member of the International Organizing Committee. Abstracts are due 28 June 2007. More information is available through the conference website. |   |
| Members of the Department will contribute to the 2nd European Conference and Exhibition on Inland Terminals on 13 and 14 November 2007 in Antwerp. The topics of the conference are such that a large set of target groups will benefit, through following topics:- Supply Chain Developments: regional distribution centres support customer fulfilment and last mile logistics- Developments outside Europe: international examples (Asia, America) are important to further the efficiency of the inland transport network in Europe - Inland Terminals : increasing importance of inland ports/terminals as consolidation hubs for continental freight - The Intermodal Network: inland ports are extending their service offering to include also rail transport; rail and inland waterways are gradually creating synergism - Innovative Inland Logistics: innovation is key to enhance the competitive position of freight intermodalism throughout Europe The full conference program can be downloaded here. |  |
| The Department proposes a new book on Soft Values of Seaports which was written by Prof Dr Eric Van Hooydonk. This publication inventories the numerous non-socioeconomic assets of seaports. These range from port history, port heritage and port-inspired art over dockland redevelopment to port tourism and recreation and many other, often totally ignored, aspects. The book puts forward a vision for the design and implementation of comprehensive strategies for the management of these soft values. Finally, it argues that the EU has a responsibility of its own to support such initiatives. The book is richly illustrated with an original selection of over 400 photos, artworks, maps and other images. The book can be ordered online. |  |
Department of Transport and Regional EconomicsFaculty of Applied EconomicsUniversity of AntwerpCSTPrinsstraat 13B-2000 AntwerpenBelgiumT: -32-3-220 40 44F: -32-3-220 43 95http://www.ua.ac.be/tpr
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