• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.375-384
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• 2022

The shipping industry is cyclically impacted by complex variables such as various economic indicators, social events, and supply and demand. The purpose of this study was to analyze the operating profit of 13 Korean liner companies over 30 years, including the financial crisis of the late 1990s, the global financial crisis of the late 2000s, and the COVID-19 global pandemic. This study was conducted to also identify factors that impacted the profit ratio of Korea's liner shipping companies according to economic conditions. It was divided into ocean-going and short-sea shipping, reflecting the characteristics of liner shipping companies, and was analyzed by hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The time series data are based on the Korean International Financial Reporting Standards (K-IFRS) and comprise seaborne trade volume, fleet evolution, and macroeconomic indicators. The outliers representing the economic downturn due to social events were separately analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the China Container Freight Index (CCFI) positively impacted ocean-going as well as short-sea liner shipping companies. However, the Korean container shipping volume only impacted ocean-going liners positively. Additionally, world and Korea's GDP, world seaborne trade volume, and fuel price are factored in the operating profit of short sea liner shipping. Also, the GDP growth rate of China, exchange rate, and interest rate did not significantly impact both groups. Notably, the operating profitability of Korea's liner shipping shows an exceptionally high rate during the recessions of 1998 and 2020. It is paradoxical, and not correlated with the classical economic indicators. Unlike other studies, this paper focused on the operating profit before financial expenses, considering the complexity as well as difficulty in forecasting the shipping cycle, and rendered conclusions using relatively long-term empirical analysis, including three economic shocks.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.110 no.4
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• pp.648-657
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• 2021

This study was conducted to estimate the volume growth by forest type and major species using the national forest resource inventory and to predict the final age of maturity by deriving the mean annual increment (MAI) and the current annual increment (CAI). We estimated the volume growth using the Chapman-Richards model. In the volume estimation equations by forest type, coniferous forests exhibited the highest growth. According to the estimation formula for each major species, Larix kaempferi will grow the highest among coniferous tree species and Quercus mongolica among broad-leaved tree species. And these estimation formulas showed that the fitness index was generally low, such as 0.32 for L. kaempferi and 0.21 for Quercus variabilis. In the analysis of residual amount, which indicates the applicability of the volume estimation formula, the estimates of the estimation formula tended to be underestimated in about 30 years or more, but most of the residuals were evenly distributed around zero. Therefore, these estimation formulas have no difficulty estimating the volume of actual forest species in Korea. The maximum age attained by calculating MAI was 34 years for P. densiflora, 35 years for L. kaempferi, and 31 years for P. rigida among coniferous tree species. In broad-leaved tree species, we discovered that the maximum age was 32 years for Q. variabilis, 30 years for Q. acutissima, and 29 years for Q. mongolica. We calculated MAI and CAI to detect the point at which these two curves intersected. This point was defined by the maximum volume harvesting age. These results revealed no significant difference between the current standard cutting age in public and private forests recommended by the Korea Forest Service, supporting the reliability of forestry policy data.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.167-175
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• 2019

To effectively deal with the fire in tunnel which is mostly the vehicle fire, it's more important to suppress the fire at early stage. In urban tunnel, however, accessibility to the scene of fire by the fire fighter is very limited due to severe traffic congestion which causes the difficulty with firefighting activity in timely manner and such a problem would be further worsened in underground road (double-deck tunnel) which has been increasingly extended and deepened. In preparation for the disaster in Korea, the range of life safety facilities for installation is defined based on category of the extension and fire protection referring to risk hazard index which is determined depending on tunnel length and conditions, and particularly to directly deal with the tunnel fire, fire extinguisher, indoor hydrant and sprinkler are designated as the mandatory facilities depending on category. But such fire extinguishing installations are found inappropriate functionally and technically and thus the measure to improve the system needs to be taken. Particularly in a double-deck tunnel which accommodates the traffic in both directions within a single tunnel of which section is divided by intermediate slab, the facility or the system which functions more rapidly and effectively is more than important. This study, thus, is intended to supplement the problems with existing tunnel life safety system (fire extinguishing) and develop the remote-controlled automatic fire extinguishing system which is optimized for a double-deck tunnel. Consequently, the system considering low floor height and extended length as well as indoor hydrant for a wide range of use have been developed together with the performance verification and the process for commercialization before applying to the tunnel is underway now.