To reduce the Sulphur emission from shipping and ensure clean shipping, a number of Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECA) were enforced in special areas around the globe. From 2015, in SECA, ship owners are not allowed to use fuel with more than 0.1% Sulphur content. One of the major concerns for the SECA regulation is that maritime stakeholders have had to take into consideration the costs as well as the tolerable risks of their compliance investment options. Besides that, low freight rates have increased the competition and had caused financial pressure on ship owners so that lower capital reserves and low credibility levels limit the manoeuvring space for investment activities. The indications from BSR after 2015 showed that the low fuel price has eased the economic effects of the SECA regulation and as a result, most ship owners have delayed their investment decisions. Even though the postponement of emission abatement techniques seems to have reduced the compliance expenses for SECA, they, however, did not improve the position of shipowners relative to their competitors. Consequently, new policy instruments to stimulate innovation, to raise competitiveness and to comply with the new environmental regulations are needed. It would have been easier to hedge fuel price volatility and offer maritime logistics services for a lower price, but to be able to ensure sustainable results in long-term, maritime stakeholders must be ready to device astute strategies that can propel them to unparalleled advantage. This research first appraised the investment risks and payback period associated with the scrubber using different capital budgeting methods. It further illustrated the Maritime Energy Contracting (MEC) model as a market mechanism for the delivery of a cost-effective emission reduction using the scrubber technology as well as an instrument to realise a competitive advantage for ship operators. The results are empirically validated by case studies from BSR.
Since the introduction of the Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECA) regulations in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) in 2015, the BSR has witnessed high compliance rate. However, a closer look to the situation reveals that the currently preferred compliance strategies depend on low oil price where ship owners shun investments in abatement technologies which may lead into an economic trap in the event of the oil price increase. The research considers incentive provisions for maritime investors who make investment decisions related to clean shipping and maritime fuel management. Traditionally, the financial assessments of these decisions are based on capital budgeting methods comprising cash flow analyses and net present value calculations. The findings reveal that the Real-Option approach represents a more realistic, reliable and promising method for the evaluation of abatement projects, especially under uncertainty and high volatility in material resource markets. The results can be applied to the evaluation of all projects in the maritime industry that depends on the price variation of the underlying asset during a specific period.
Regional economic performance is positively linked to entrepreneurship capital because it creates new direction for public policy that focuses on instruments to enhance entrepreneurship capital. However, studies related to Entrepreneurship and Innovation had somewhat established a disadvantage position for knowledge-intensive enterprises located in rural area. The EU Smart Specialization approach supports the promotion of innovation activities in regions and embraces the concept of open innovation, not just investment in R&D but a system approach that exploits complementarities, promises high potential, are new and aimed at experimenting and discovering technological and market opportunities that can provide learning spill overs to other economy. This paper present a case study of an Estonian production company for Maritime function wear. This example reveals that despite the fact that the company's headquarters is located in Western Estonia countryside (peripheral part of Europe and rural part of the country) an enterprise can gain the position of an international market leader based on interregional operations. The discussed model highlights how high-tech enterprises can benefit from different smart specialization strategies in different regions by implementing organizational innovation strategies. The underlying business concept and its related success factors, exhibits strong affinities with the concept of smart production and logistics in relationship with fractal enterprises, paved way for a sustainable development and demonstrated that even in rural areas high-tech entrepreneurship can be successfully implemented.
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