DIDGAH
Year:2013 | Volume:- | Issue:-|Papers Count:7

Marine accidents, particularly those involving pollution and large fatalities, bring into question the safety of shipping and the quality of ships and their crews. Whether or not such questions are justified, it is marine accidents that provide a poor image of the industry and attract considerable attention. Incidents that particularly attract attention are those resulting in the loss of life, pollution of the environment, and the loss of ship and/or cargo. People have a tendency to focus on the consequences of an accident rather than its root causes, Kristiansen S, (2005), so MCDM could be improved to find the root cause elements by providing more precise decision-making parameters.Marine Accident investigation is multi-dimensional and complex, so this study aimed to provide a systematic approach to determine the importance degree of the most influential parameters (dimensions) in accident occurrence in order to improve marine. In this paper, two phase procedures are proposed. At the first stage, the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is utilized to determine the critical factors of Marine Accident Investigation by interviewing the pertinent authorities. In the second stage, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) is applied to pair fuzzy numbers as measurable indices and finally to rank each influential criterion within accident investigation by its degree. This study considers 1 goal, 4 aspects, and 31 criteria (parameters) and establishes a ranking model that allows decision-makers to assess the.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between various aspects of quality of working-life (involvement of the staff in decision-making process, problem-solving, information sharing, constructive feedbacks, team-work, cooperation, and understanding the concept of challenge-ability and job security), and organizational commitment of the staff in the Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO). This study is a regression and correlation analysis and the statistical society of this study includes all managers and staff of the Ports and Maritime Organization who work in Tehran and whose number is 400 individuals. From among these 400 people, 196 individuals are selected as the sample of study using the Morgan's Table and the generic random sampling method. The research instruments are 2 questionnaires with 44 items prepared by the researcher on the working life quality and a standard questionnaire of the Allen and Mayer Organizational Commitment. The justifiability of both instruments is determined by formal and contextual method, and its sustainability is determined by a pilot test on a 30-person sample and calculating Cronbach's Alpha coefficient for Internal Consistency. Cronbach's Alpha for these two questionnaires is 0.97 and 0.92 respectively. Data that obtained in two descriptive and perceptive levels are analyzed using the Pierson and regression cohesion tests and results indicated that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between all the aspects of the working life priority of reasons and sort them from the most to least effective parameters involved in marine accident occurrence. The empirical study indicated that "people, working and living conditions, effect" is considered as the most important aspect, and "Ability, skills, and knowledge of workers" is considered the most important evaluation criterion. These results were derived from fuzzy Delphi analytical hierarchy processing (FDAHP). A demonstration of the prior ordering of accident-causing parameters by authorities was addressed as well.Therefore, ranking the priority of every influential criterion (parameter) will help marine transportation decision makers to emphasize the improvable areas in order to prevent future marine accidents.

One way to reduce the role of human error in maritime accidents is crew training and granting the certificate of competence. In this study, the main causes of marine accidents in non-conventional vessels are assessed and classified through analyzing the reported accidents. Then, four factors of human error, vessel organization, living and working conditions, and management of coastal zones are introduced as trainable effective factors which are analyzed through two separate questionnaires (A and B). in this paper, assessment work performed regarding three aspects of training defects, i.e., problems of crew training, educational institutions, and regulatory agencies. Surveying the questionnaires indicated that crews believe that two factors of informal training (i.e., group communication outside the workplace and non-homogenous scientific classes) has received less attention that other factors at provincial level; while trainers and educational institutions believe that most of educational problems and defects relates to the feedback received from regulatory agencies as well as the emphasis of trainers on English language learning. Finally, to solve educational problems and to increase the efficiency level, some strategies are provided including the improvement of relationships between maritime organizations and educational institutions in order to increase the received feedbacks, and emphasis on informal education in form of sailors' unions in order to experience exchange between crews.quality and the organizational commitment. Furthermore, share of sub-scales of information-sharing, communication, and job security in the prediction of the organizational commitment of the staff is more than other aspects.

With important transit corridors and easy access to Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea region, Iran is a short, affordable, accessible, and safe transit route for transporting grains to the target markets in Persian Gulf region and South Africa countries. In this study, required data for indicators and potentials of Southern Commercial Ports of Iran engaged in transit of grains is gathered using the knowledge and experience of data-collection experts and then they value these indicators using questionnaires filled by statistical population of study. Then, ports which have necessary potentials to operate as grain terminal are determined by SPSS Software. Afterward, importance and priority level of each indicator and their effects on ports determined using Expert Choice Software. SPSS results indicated that ports of Imam Khomeini, Bandar Abbas, and Chabahar have the required potential to operate as a grain terminal and results of Expert Choice reveal that the importance of rail and road networks, storage capacity, grain dock, required equipments, and distance to northern ports is respectively 35.6%, 26.9%, 18.6%, 11.1%, and 7.9%. And the absorption rate of indicators affect the transit of grain in Port of Imam Khomeini, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Khoramshahr, and Bushehr is respectively 46.5%, 27%, 9.9%, 9.5%, and 7.1%. Therefore, Port of Imam Khomeini is the best choice for operate as grain terminal.

The effects of use and development of information and communication technology on human life are becoming more and more apparent. Although, new technologies bring new opportunities for society, but it should be noted that these technologies grow in the context of social-cultural processes. Regarding global inequalities between developed and developing countries and social inequalities between rich and poor and rural and urban people, a phenomenon called "digital divide" has occurred. It is very necessary to find a solution for each digital divide resulted from new technologies. This paper tries to address the issue of how information technology affects the empowerment of staff who are the main reason for organizational progress? Findings of this study are based on documentation assessment and questionnaire survey on the employees of Sistan and Baluchestan Port Authority. These findings indicate that information technology has a direct impact on staff empowerment and creating clear policies on this issue can improve organizational efficiency and quality in both private and public sectors that unfortunately suffer from the lack of efficiency.

Inspecting of ships and working environment on them must be done in such a way that meets the requirements of commercial shipping and at the same time ensures the maritime safety and health of crew by precise control over safety and working conditions onboard the ships. Achieving this goal requires an appropriate legal regime. Drafters of Maritime Labor Convention (2006) have prepared a relatively detailed provision on the fifth chapter of this convention entitled as "adoption and implementation". In the meantime, there is also some legal remedies to ensure seafarers' rights include using Maritime Labor Certificate to control and monitor the effective implementation of maritime rules and regulations as well as working conditions onboard the ships through enhanced international co-operation; providing an easy, free, and proper method for seafarers to reflect their complaints on sea and shore and prompt and fair handling of these complaints; and providing necessary institutional arrangements to support the complainant seafarers, etc.