Exploring seaport - dry ports dyadic integration to meet the increase in container vessels size

Jagan Jeevan,Violeta Roso

doi:10.1186/s41072-019-0047-4

Jagan Jeevan, Violeta Roso

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41072-019-0047-4

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Abstract

This paper explores the implications of vessel enlargement on seaport competitiveness and investigates the dyadic integration between seaports and dry ports to address drastic vessel size acceleration in the Malaysian seaport system. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal the seaport/dry port dyadic relationship to improve seaport competitiveness in light of the increase in vessel size in the arena of global trade. To achieve this aim, mixed methods were applied by conducting qualitative and quantitative approaches concurrently. The outcome of this paper indicates that vessel enlargement has caused several problems in seaports including reduction in operational efficiency, congestion, limited capacity and infrastructure support, outdated policies for existing seaport development, urgent needs for additional investment in spatial development, as well as requirements for new structure in manpower training. Furthermore, the integration of dry ports in the seaport system to deal with vessel size enlargement is expected to improve seaport accessibility through improved infrastructure and service quality as well as increased capacity and efficiency.

Highlights

Ideal X (1956, capacity of 500 Twenty-feet Equivalent Unit (TEU)), Fully cellular (1970, up to 2500 TEUs), Panamax (1980, capacity of 3000–4500 TEUs), Post Panamax (1988, up to 6000 TEUs), New-Panamax (2014, up to 12,500 TEUs), and Ultra Large Container Ship (2013, capacity of up 21,000 TEUs) are some generations of container ships from the 1950s (Rodrigue et al 2017)
This paper explores the issues faced by seaports due to vessel enlargement and investigates the role dry ports play in assisting seaports to face these issues
The aim of this section is to explore two main questions addressing issues faced by seaports due to vessel size enlargement and how dry ports play a role in assisting seaports in overcoming this issue

Summary

Introduction

Ideal X (1956, capacity of 500 TEUs), Fully cellular (1970, up to 2500 TEUs), Panamax (1980, capacity of 3000–4500 TEUs), Post Panamax (1988, up to 6000 TEUs), New-Panamax (2014, up to 12,500 TEUs), and Ultra Large Container Ship (2013, capacity of up 21,000 TEUs) are some generations of container ships from the 1950s (Rodrigue et al 2017) This evolution shows that the size of vessels is increasing to ensure economies of scale in the maritime transportation of containers. EOS is the main outcome resulting from vessel size enlargement This enlargement and the enormous volume of containers to be handled create diseconomies of scale (DOS) at seaports due to space limitation and unavailability to respond to changes in a timely manner. The EOS of vessel enlargement creates pressure on seaports due to their physical limitations, rigidity of business practices, and insufficient integration with inland components

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