Coastal vulnerability analysis to support strategies for tackling COVID-19 infection

Do China's pilot free trade zones promote green dual-circulation development? Based on the DID model

Accelerating the formation of a green dual-circulation pattern is an essential strategic choice for China to achieve high-quality development. As a vital link for two-way economic and trade cooperation, the pilot free trade zone (PFTZ) is an important window for promoting green dual-circulation development. From the perspective of green dual-circulation, this paper attempts to construct a comprehensive index system of green dual-circulation by entropy weight method based on Chinese provincial panel data from 2007 to 2020 and uses the Propensity Score Matching-Difference in Differences method to test the policy impact of PFTZ building on regional green dual-circulation. The empirical results show that: (1) the establishment of PFTZs significantly promotes regional green dual-circulation development by 3%-4%. This policy effect has a strong positive impact on the eastern regions; (2) PFTZs can improve regional green dual circulation through the effect of green finance, technological progress, and the agglomeration of innovative talents. The mediating effect of green finance and technological progress is more pronounced; (3) The promotion effect of PFTZs is primarily due to the local green circulation effect, with no significant effects on the surrounding areas; and (4) There is a positive policy linkage effect between PFTZs and the Belt and Road Initiative. This study creates the analytical perspective and empirical support for assessing the policy impact of PFTZs and provides management insights for PFTZ policymakers in promoting green dual-circulation development.

Improvement of a coastal vulnerability index and its application along the Calabria Coastline, Italy

The present paper further develops a coastal vulnerability index formulation (CVI) previously proposed by the authors by integrating a new variable and redefining three variables to improve the suitability of the index for low-lying coasts. Eleven variables are divided into three typological groups: geological, hydro-physical process and vegetation. The geological variables are: geomorphology, shoreline erosion/accretion rates, coastal slope, emerged beach width, and dune. The hydro-physical process group includes: river discharge, sea-level change, mean significant wave height and mean tide range. The vegetation variables are: vegetation behind the back-beach and coverage of Posidonia oceanica. The index was applied to a stretch of the Ionian coast in the province of Crotone in the Calabria region (Southern Italy), and a vulnerability map was produced. A geography information system (GIS) platform was used to better process the data. For the case study area, the most influential variables are shoreline erosion/accretion rates, coastal slope, emerged beach width, dune, vegetation behind the back-beach, and coverage of Posidonia oceanica. The most vulnerable transects are those near urban areas characterized by the absence of dunes and vegetation. Statistical and sensitivity analyses were performed, and the proposed CVI was compared with the previous formulation proposed by the authors and with two other CVI methods present in the literature.

Resilience Strategies of Ports against Covid-19 in Terms of Chaos Theory

During the Covid-19 pandemic, all sectors experienced chaotic dynamics worldwide. For example, maritime transport, particularly ports as one of its main elements, had to continue operating in this chaotic environment. Ports developed their own strategies to provide resilience against these challenges. However, any study in the related literature has not been reached that reveals resilience strategies of ports by combining literature review and interviews with port practitioners. As a novelty of the study, it was tried to evaluate resilience strategies of ports by grounding chaos theory. Therefore, this study had two aims: (1) identifying the Covid-19 strategies of Turkish container ports; (2) prioritizing these strategies in terms of impact level. First, interviews were conducted with Turkish container port representatives to find out their resilience strategies. These strategies were then validated with a literature review and new ones were detected. Second, separate relation analyses of the strategies were conducted for the interviews and literature. Finally, ports' resilience strategies against Covid-19 disruptions were prioritized using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on the port managers' evaluations. Fuzzy AHP is widely used and accepted in the maritime business literature. This method also diminishes inconsistencies and subjective evaluations by employing fuzzy logic. The results showed that 'Control Mechanism', 'Hygienic Measures', and 'Information Exchange' were the most effective resilience strategies. By using chaos theory, this study helped to theoretically clarify the role of port management approaches to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. These findings can therefore guide container port practitioners in overcoming pandemic conditions.

Quantitative analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on ship visiting behaviors to ports- A framework and a case study

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak leads to a significant downturn in the global economy and supply chain. In the maritime sector, trade volume slumped by 3.8% in 2020 compared with 2019. To explore the impacts of COVID-19 on ship visiting behaviors, a framework is proposed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on port traffic using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data. Firstly, a ship travel behavior-based model is proposed to identify the vessel anchoring and berthing. Then, the diversity in vessel anchoring and berthing time are analyzed, reflecting the impact of COVID-19. The port congestion caused by COVID-19 is quantified by accounting for the number of visiting ships and their residence time. Finally, a case study is carried out on vessels in the Beibu Gulf, China, operating from 2019 to 2020. The results show that the average anchoring time and berthing time increase by 62% and 11% for cargo ships and by 112% and 63% for oil tankers after the outbreak of COVID-19 compared with that before COVID-19. And the density of ships increases in the port area in 2020. Accordingly, the relevant improvements and countermeasures are proposed to reduce the adverse impact of the epidemic on the port navigation system. The paper has the potential to provide a reference for port management and improving port navigation efficiency in the post-pandemic era.

Cruise tourism in the context of COVID-19: Dilemmas and solutions

COVID-19 cases on international cruise ships have attracted extensive attention from the international community as well as the world's tourism and shipping industry. This virus highlighted the plight that must be faced by cruise ships in complicated times and situations such as pandemics. The comparative method is adopted to analyze the management measures taken by the "Diamond Princess", "Costa Serena", "Westerdam" and "Grand Princess" cruises in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and then to summarize the common dilemmas faced by these cruise ships, including defects of their internal environment, unclear health-care obligations during an epidemic, weak collaboration between the parties involved and their limited performance, and widespread infodemic and unfavorable public opinion. Given these dilemmas, measures are suggested to deal with the "cruise dilemma", including establishing and defining isolation standards on boards, enhancing the capacity of international organizations, the international community's joint response to the pandemic, promoting cooperation between countries, building an effective mechanism for the broad participation of the whole society, and standardizing the release of information and reasonably guiding public social opinion.

Explore the mechanism for seafarers to reconnect with work after post-pandemic psychological distress (PAPIST19): The moderating role of health-supporting climate

Covid-19 has disrupted the lives of employees all over the world. After experiencing a prolonged yet ongoing destructive event (i.e. Covid-19), finding an effective and non-invasive way to get employees back and engage in work is a huge challenge for scholars. Few studies have focused on returning to work after a traumatic event (limited time), but the post-pandemic psychological stress caused by the Covid-19 (PAPIST₁₉) has not received much attention. Current research addresses this gap and uses a comprehensive model drawn from the transactional model of stress and the Kahn psychological framework to advance the work of predicting PAPIST₁₉. Specifically, the current research investigates how PAPIST₁₉ is related to job engagement, and emotional exhaustion and how job reattachment mediates the relationship. In addition, we use health support climate (HSC) as a boundary condition in our model, which can weaken the impact of PAPIST₁₉ and enhance the effectiveness of job reattachment in reducing emotional exhaustion and increasing job engagement. To test our model, we collected data in multiple waves from Chinese seaports, where seafarers came to work after the restrictions were lifted in China. The current research is one of the earliest scholarly contributions. It paved the way for the research to solve the problem of workers returning to work after large-scale destructive events, and discussed important implications.

Beach tourists behavior and beach management strategy under the ongoing prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of Qingdao, China

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has led beach tourism to a complete halt in January 2020, disrupting millions of livelihoods and businesses. Due to the economic importance of beach tourism, many governments reopened tourist beaches after the number of confirmed cases decreased. It is essential to open beaches orderly to meet the needs of tourists, maintain beach's health and restore coastal economy under the new reality. This paper selected Qingdao in China as a case study, drew on a questionnaire survey among beach tourists, summarized the effects of the COVID-19 on beach tourism industry and tourism enterprise, analyzed beach tourists' psychology and behavior, and developed beach management strategy under the ongoing prevention and control of COVID-19. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic caused severe damage to beach tourism which bases on travel and mobility, and this industry was temporarily suspended. With the changing epidemic situation, beach tourism witnessed a gradual recovery from stagnation to local tourism. Meanwhile, tourism enterprises were hit by the devastating impact of the COVID-19, causing problems such as business reduction, tense cash flow, high operating cost and unclear market prospect. Under the normalization of pandemic prevention, tourists did not have severe fear and anxiety about the pandemic, and placed great importance on the prevention and control measures, emergency measures and pandemic risk level of the beach destination. The pandemic also reshaped the perception and mode of beach tourism. Ecological tourism, travelling with family, and local tourism became the primary choices for tourists. Beach congestion, health status, and the quality of tourism services were the biggest concerns for tourists. Additionally, social media and short video APP became the new marketing channels. Finally, beach management strategies were proposed from the aspects of pandemic prevention and control, emergency management, information communication, tourist management, service management, and environmental management.

Coastal Migration Index for Coastal Flooding Events Increased by Sea Level Rise due to Climate Change: Mexico and Cuba Case Studies

This paper presents a coastal migration index (CMI) useful for decision-making in the current scenario of sea-level rise (SLR) due to climate change. The CMI includes coastal human population density, degree of urbanization, and coastal-flooding penetration. Quantitative and qualitative statistical techniques and the geographic information system ArcGIS View 9.0 were used. Further, a panel of fifteen international experts in coastal management issues was consulted to establish and validate the CMI. Results led to three index components based on 22 indicators. CMI was applied in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico and in Santiago de Cuba province, Cuba. According to CMI estimates, the risk levels associated with SLR for human settlements analyzed in Mexico and Cuba were 5.3% and 11.0%, respectively. The most severely affected communities will require resettlement. Meanwhile, the CMI determined that 15.8% of the Mexican territory studied will be able to withstand the effects of SLR through the management of engineering works that will protect human settlements. The CMI determined that 79.0%, in the case of Tamaulipas, as well as 89.0% of the Cuban territory, will not require new policies or guidelines to promote conservation and protection of coastal natural resources. Lastly, the method used allowed for creation of a CMI stoplight map useful to coastal decision-makers to adopt sound management actions.

Coastal Vulnerability of the West Coast of Aceh Besar: A Coastal Morphology Assessment

The purpose of this study was to determine how vulnerable the west coast of Aceh Besar, Aceh province, Indonesia, is in terms of its coastal morphology. This research was conducted from August to December 2020 and data processing was carried out at the Geographical Information Systems Laboratory, Faculty of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Syiah Kuala University. The method used was the coastal vulnerability index (CVI) with four geological parameters, namely geomorphological parameters, beach elevation, beach slope and shoreline changes. The results obtained from the CVI method show that 20.60% of the west coast of Aceh Besar, which has a total coastline length of 93.2 km, is in the very high vulnerability category (19.2 km), while 23.18% (21.6 km) is in the high vulnerability category, 8.80% (8.2 km) in the moderate category, 6.44% (6 km) in the low category and 40.99% (38.2 km) in the very low category. Sub-districts classified as having very high vulnerability are Peukanbada (7.94%), Leupung (6.22%), Lhoong (4.94%), and Lhoknga (1.50%). The geomorphology of areas that have very high vulnerability is generally in the form of sandy beaches with a very gentle slope, while, geomorphologically, areas that have very low vulnerability have a high elevation and cliff beaches.