9 October, 14.30- 17.00 – Chalmerska Huset, Södra Hamngatan 11, Göteborg
Welcome to a seminar with this years’ Håkan Frisinger scholarship recipient – Johan Woxenius, Professor of Maritime Transport Management and Logistics at the University of Gothenburg.
The seminar, organized by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF), will be held in English.
The seminar is free of charge and is aimed at anyone interested. If you plan to attend the seminar, please register your participation at secretariat@vref.se and mention your possible diet/allergy requirements. Questions regarding the seminar, can be addressed to Fabienne Niklasson at secretariat@vref.se.
Read more about Johan Woxenius and this years’award
SEMINAR PROGRAM
14.30 – 14.45 VREF welcome & scholarship ceremony Torbjörn Holmström, Chairman of the VREF
14.45 – 15.30 “Connecting the global and urban scales of transport” Johan Woxenius, Professor, University of Gothenburg and Guest professor, Lund University
Freight transport systems are designed to match individual demands that vary considerably in volume, distance and time preferences but also to consider requirements set by society. Johan Woxenius’ presentation starts on the local scale focusing the dynamic interplay between ports and the cities hosting them. The departure point is the asymmetric distribution of benefits and costs between the port city and the hinterland the port serves. This part is based on assignments for the World Bank and takes a developing country perspective.The second part is about the truly global scale of container shipping that serves as the backbone and propellant of international trade. Although playing a vital role for globalisation, creating immense values for billions of consumers as well as for factory workers lifted from extreme poverty, for long it was taken for granted and merely seen as a cheap utility. The pandemic, the ongoing Ukraine War and disruption of both the Panama and Suez canals have nuanced that picture but also raised the awareness of its importance among the general public.Finally, the plans for the guest researcher period at Lund University are outlined.
Johan Woxenius is professor of Maritime Transport Management and Logistics at University of Gothenburg since 2008. He received the degrees of M.Sc. (Industrial engineering), PhD and associate professor/docent at Chalmers University of Technology. Johan Woxenius served as visiting professor at Blekinge Institute of Technology 2005-2007 and at University of Nairobi, Kenya, in 2011. His main research field is maritime and intermodal freight transport and the research covers sustainability, industrial organisation, production systems, traffic designs and information systems. He has also published articles on urban freight, joint transport of freight and passengers and more fundamental articles on transport detours and global production systems. Johan Woxenius leads University of Gothenburg’s part of the maritime research and education programme Lighthouse and the Area of Advance Transport, run together with Chalmers. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. For the World Conference on Transport Research Society, he leads Topic Area B Freight and is also member of the Scientific Committee. He is associate editor of Transport Reviews and serves in the editorial boards of some other journals.
15.30 – 16.00 Coffee/tea and mingle
16.00– 16.30 Spatial and stakeholder perspectives on urban freight transport” Michael Browne, Professor, University of Gothenburg
Cities have a local, regional, national and international importance, and this can be especially true in the case of gateway cities with a major port or airport, or those which act as hubs within freight networks. Freight activities for gateway functions provide employment and economic benefits, but also environmental trade-offs and studies increasingly point out social equity issues in terms of the location selected for freight activities such as transhipment, storage and transport.Urban freight transport research typically focuses on the city centre. However, this narrow focus can be problematic, since developing an understanding of the flows of goods into and out of cities requires a more coherent spatial view, to ascertain how freight trip and activity patterns relate to wider logistics and transport structures and economic factors. The range of stakeholders engaged in urban freight transport creates complexities including difficulty in reaching agreement about priorities for action in both the long term (e.g. planning for future needs) and the shorter term (e.g. regulating freight movements). As a result, it is hard to find simple solutions that can be implemented quickly. The presentation will explore the features outlined above and identify the range of actions being taken to address them.
Michael Browne was appointed professor at the University of Gothenburg in 2015 having been part of the Visiting Professor Programme. His main research focus is on urban freight transport and he provides academic leadership of the Urban Freight Platform, a University of Gothenburg and Chalmers initiative supported by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF). He is committed to engaging practitioners and policymakers with the research community on all aspects of logistics impacting on future urban freight transport. Before his appointment in Gothenburg he was a professor at the University of Westminster in London and chaired the Central London Freight Partnership, a role he has continued since moving to Sweden. He has been the project leader for many research studies concerned with urban freight transport at national and international levels.
16.30 – 17.00 “Navigating through global disruptions” Åsa Demme, Head of Direct Transport Sales, Nordic Area, A.P. Moller-Maersk
Åsa Demme will present a high-level analysis of the impact that recent global disruptions have had on container logistics. She will also share insights into how the company navigates these challenges in a continually evolving environment. Furthermore, Åsa will address the role of innovation and technology in mitigating disruptions and strengthening supply chain resilience.Åsa will also address the importance of industry-academia collaboration and the mutual benefits of guest lecturing in Johan’s classes.
Åsa Demme holds a Master of Business Administration from the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, along with a Bachelor of Philosophy with a major in English, complemented with a minor in history. With over 13 years of experience in the shipping and logistics industry, she currently serves as Sales Manager at A.P. Moller-Maersk, where she manages a key sales channels in the Nordic region. A.P. Moller-Maersk is a Danish multinational company and a global leader in integrated shipping, logistics, and supply chain management. It operates one of the world’s largest container shipping fleets and provides services across ocean and inland transportation, port operations, and supply chain solutions. With a focus on sustainability and digital innovation, Maersk aims to connect and simplify global trade for businesses around the world.Åsa has a strong passion for global trade, with a keen interest in market dynamics and future trend outlooks. She is also a frequent guest lecturer at the International Logistics Programme at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, where she shares her expertise and fosters collaboration between industry and academia.
Moderator Henrik Pålsson, Professor, Packaging Logistics, Lund University