Asaf Ashar , PhD - Research Professor

National Ports & Waterways Institute (NPWI), USA

Dr. Ashar is the head of NPWI’s Washington DC office and an independent consultant. NPWI is a maritime research program of The University of New Orleans, with offices in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, LA and Washington D.C. Dr. Ashar has been with NPWI since 1985. Before that he was Senior Port Planner and Transportation Analyst with the Port of Seattle, USA (1981 – 1985), and Senior Advisor for Operations with the Port and Rail Authority of Israel (1972 – 1980). His academic background includes degrees in Industrial Engineering & Management (Technion, Israel, 1967), Marine System Management (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, 1982), Maritime Studies and International Transport (University of Wales, United Kingdom, 1993).

Dr. Ashar has participated in numerous conferences and was interviewed and quoted in many publications, among them: USA Today, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Journal of Commerce and National Public Radio. He has also developed and taught seminars and graduate courses on Ports & Shipping.

Dr. Ashar has over 50 academic and professional publications, among them the highly publicized series on The Fourth Revolution: Long-Terms Prospects of Liner Shipping (Containerization International, Dec 1999 & Jan 2000), Reversal of Fortune, Long-Term Forecast for US Ports, (Containerization International, Jan 2004, and WorldCargo, March 2004) and Revolution #4 (Containerization International, Dec 2006).

Dr. Ashar’s areas of expertise include, in ports:

• National port plans
• Strategic and master plans
• State intermodal plans
• On/off-dock intermodal railyards
• Port privatization schemes
• Port legislation and regulatory reforms
• Port cost and pricing strategies
• Port operations and productivity analysis
• Port handling system
• Facility planning (containers, general, grain and coal terminals)
• Port marketing

In shipping:

• Inland waterways barging
• Float-on/float-off shipping
• River/ocean shipping
• Integrated tug-barge systems
• Ship and shipping costs
• Deployment strategies of shipping lines
• Future shipping and transshipping service patterns
• Post-Panamax ship characteristics
• Coastal and short-sea shipping
• Fast ferries and Ro/Pax shipping

Dr. Ashar has more than 30 years of extensive experience with ports, shipping, and multi-modal transportation systems in the US and more than 20 countries in Asia, South & Central America, Africa, West & East Europe, and the Middle East. His recent projects of special interest include:

• Ship forecast for US container ports
• The Yangshan port complex in Shanghai, China
• Expansion of Panama Canal
• US short-sea shipping
• Inchon’s new port complex, South Korea
• Port privatization and regulatory port reforms in Peru, Colombia, Panama, Abu Dhabi and Cape Verde